5 UFC title reigns that were less dominant than they were expected to be
Whenever a new champion is crowned in the UFC, an obvious question is immediately asked: How dominant will the title reign turn out to be?
Often, it's easy to see that a new UFC champion isn't likely to keep their title for long, but other times, a dominant reign is predicted.
However, there have been instances where fans expected a lengthy and dominant title reign, only for it to end more suddenly than was imagined.
Here are five UFC title reigns that were less dominant than they were expected to be.
#5. Anthony Pettis - UFC lightweight title reign (2013-2015)
It's often easy to predict how dominant a UFC champion might be by how much the promotion gets behind them when they first win their title.
In the case of Anthony Pettis, if Dana White and company had had their way, his reign as lightweight champion definitely would've lasted far longer than 18 months it actually did.
'Showtime' claimed the 155-pound title by submitting Benson Henderson inside a round in the summer of 2013, and made it look scarily easy.
When he did the same thing to Gilbert Melendez in his first title defense - albeit over a year later - it was hard not to imagine a dominant title reign following.
After all, with incredible, explosive striking and a venomous ground game, Pettis appeared to have basically no weaknesses.
This was clearly the view of the UFC, who decided to market the events of early 2015 as 'Welcome to the Show', in reference to Pettis' nickname.
Unfortunately, though, 'Showtime' ran into Rafael dos Anjos in his second defense. Despite most observers favoring him to win, the Brazilian was simply too big and too strong and bullied Pettis largely from the clinch en route to a clear-cut decision win.
That was the end of his title reign, and despite all of his hype, 'Showtime' never came close to the gold again. In the end, what was expected to be a dominant run turned out to be little more than a footnote in lightweight history.
#4. Luke Rockhold - UFC middleweight title reign (2015-2016)
It's rare that one dominant title reign is followed immediately by another, but at one stage it felt like the UFC's middleweight division was going to see nothing but dominant champions.
Anderson Silva obviously ruled the division with an iron fist between 2006 and 2013, defending his title successfully on 10 occasions.
When Silva was dethroned by Chris Weidman, though, 'The All-American' was also dominant for over two years, making three successful defenses of his own.
Weidman was, in turn, beaten by Luke Rockhold, and it was hard not to imagine the new champion having just as successful a reign with the gold.
Rockhold smashed Weidman in their title fight, and before that, he'd whitewashed tough contenders like Lyoto Machida and Michael Bisping. With a lethal ground game and incredible kickboxing, he looked unstoppable.
When Bisping was positioned as Rockhold's first challenger, it seemed unfathomable that the champ would lose, and if anything, the fight felt like a gimme.
Of course, that wasn't the case. 'The Count' pulled off one of the UFC's all-time great upsets, and knocked out an overconfident Rockhold in the first round, ending his reign instantly.
The fight meant that rather than produce a dominant title reign, Rockhold almost became a laughing stock - and unfortunately, it's arguable his career never fully recovered.
#3. Johny Hendricks - UFC welterweight title reign (2014)
Arguably, the most dominant title reign in UFC history belongs to legendary former welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre.
'GSP claimed his title in April 2008 and held it until he voluntarily relinquished it in December 2013. In that time, he turned back the challenge of nine different challengers.
His final challenger, though, was definitely his hardest. Johny Hendricks pushed St-Pierre to his limits and arguably did enough to earn a win, although he came up short on the scorecards.
When 'GSP relinquished his crown, though, Hendricks quickly capitalized. He beat Robbie Lawler for the vacant title in an instant classic, and it looked like he was destined to follow in the footsteps of his predecessor.
Instead, though, things couldn't have gone more wrong for 'Bigg Rigg'.
He was left on the shelf following the Lawler fight, nursing a bicep injury. 'Ruthless', meanwhile, quickly earned another shot at the title by beating Jake Ellenberger and Matt Brown.
When Hendricks returned at the end of 2014, he was faced with a resurgent Lawler, and despite another epic fight, ended up losing the title in his first defense.
Rather than having a dominant reign like 'GSP', then, 'Bigg Rigg' ended up being more of a transitional champ - something that felt unthinkable when he first claimed the title.
#2. Petr Yan - UFC bantamweight title reign (2020-2021)
This weekend's UFC event will see former bantamweight champion Petr Yan look to climb further back into title contention when he faces former flyweight kingpin Deiveson Figueiredo.
Back in 2020, though, when he won the gold, it would've been hard to believe 'No Mercy' would be basically out of the title picture by 2024. Most observers probably would've suspected his reign as champion would still be going, in fact.
At that time, the Russian was essentially the division's boogeyman. By late 2019, he was already 5-0 in the octagon, and when he ended the year by crushing legendary veteran Urijah Faber, it was clear that he was the biggest threat to then-champ Henry Cejudo.
In fact, when 'Triple C' expressed an interest in defending his crown against Jose Aldo rather than 'No Mercy', fans accused him of ducking the Russian.
Of course, fate intervened in the form of COVID-19. The pandemic resulted in multiple UFC shows being canceled, and when things got going again, Cejudo made a late-notice defense against Dominick Cruz before retiring.
With the bantamweight crown now vacant, the promotion booked Yan to fight Aldo to decide the new champion. 'No Mercy' shellacked the veteran, and it was hard not to imagine him going on to have a dominant reign.
Remarkably, though, Yan lost his title in his first defense, albeit in the strangest fashion. He was disqualified in his bout with Aljamain Sterling for using an illegal knee strike, despite dominating 'The Funk Master'.
The outcome felt like a fluke, though, and when 'No Mercy' then beat Cory Sandhagen for an interim title to set up a rematch, it felt like a no-brainer that he'd regain his crown.
However, it wasn't to be. Sterling overcame him in a rematch, and this time there was no controversy, as he exposed Yan's weaknesses on the ground in particular.
'No Mercy' then went on to lose his next two bouts, causing him to fall from contention entirely. To say this was unexpected given how dominant people figured he would be is an understatement.
#1. Lyoto Machida - UFC light-heavyweight title reign (2009-2010)
Longtime announcer Joe Rogan has made some famous - and infamous - calls during his lengthy tenure with the UFC. Perhaps his most memorable one, though, came in May 2009.
The call in question saw Rogan announce that "the Machida Era" had begun at 205 pounds, and at the time, it was hard to argue.
Lyoto Machida came into his light-heavyweight title bout with champion Rashad Evans with an unbeaten record of 14-0. And while 'The Dragon' had received some criticism for his karate-based style, nobody could deny its effectiveness.
After all, he'd beaten the likes of Tito Ortiz and Thiago Silva en route to his title shot, all while barely even absorbing a single significant strike.
Even though Evans was also unbeaten coming into the fight, it quickly turned out to be a massacre in favor of Machida. His pinpoint striking sliced through Evans' defenses, and 'Suga' was left unconscious following a second-round barrage of punches.
Given how effective his style was, Rogan's 'Machida Era' call didn't seem too far off. Essentially, everyone expected 'The Dragon' to dominate the division going forward.
Remarkably, though, the code to beat him was cracked in his very first defense.
Given his struggles with injuries and form, nobody expected Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua to have a chance against Machida, but instead, he discovered the chink in the new champ's armor.
Rather than a headhunt, Shogun used low kicks to break 'The Dragon' down, preventing him from utilizing his trademark in-and-out striking attacks.
And while Machida won a controversial decision in their first clash, he wasn't so lucky in a rematch, which saw Shogun knock him unconscious.
Far from producing a title reign worthy of being called an 'Era', then, Machida had basically fallen at the first hurdle - something that felt unthinkable when Rogan made his famous declaration.