5 UFC title reigns that were widely hated by the fans
UFC champions are usually seen as the promotion’s biggest stars. Thus it stands to reason they tend to become the most popular fighters in the promotion, too.
Not every UFC title reign is popular with fans, though. Over the years, we’ve seen a number of reigns that either frustrated or outright turned spectators away from the promotion entirely.
Sometimes injuries were to blame for these disliked title reigns, while other times, the quality of the champion’s fights inside the octagon was brought into question.
Regardless of the reasons, here are five of the most hated title reigns in UFC history.
#5. Germaine de Randamie – UFC women's featherweight title (2017)
Germaine de Randamie’s reign as UFC featherweight champion was a relatively short one, only lasting for five months. However, it’s still fair to say that it remains one of the most disliked reigns in the promotion’s history.
When everything is taken into context around this title reign, though, it’s easy to see why the fans failed to accept ‘The Iron Lady’ as a champion.
Firstly, nobody really expected de Randamie to be involved in the promotion’s inaugural featherweight title bout. When plans to introduce the division in late 2016 were announced, it was widely anticipated that Cris Cyborg would be part of any title bout.
However, the promotion failed to come to terms with the Brazilian and so de Randamie was chosen to face Holly Holm for the new title instead. If that wasn’t bad enough, the title fight was an atrocious fight, with de Randamie edging a decision despite committing a couple of flagrant fouls during the bout.
#OTD in 2017, Germaine de Randamie was crowned the UFC's first ever Women's Featherweight Champion 🇳🇱🏆
An incredibly close fight - fours years on, how are you scoring it? https://t.co/AJIL6Qh6bu
Secondly, and more importantly, when Cyborg did get on-side with the promotion, ‘The Iron Lady’ outright refused to defend the title against her due to the Brazilian’s checkered past with PED usage.
That forced the promotion to strip her of the title altogether, rendering her whole reign, as well as the terrible title bout with Holm, largely pointless.
UFC announces decision to officially strip Germaine de Randamie of featherweight title (@Mckeever89) bloodyelbow.com/2017/6/19/1583…
As the only time a champion has been stripped for refusing outright to face the top contender in the octagon, it should hardly be surprising that de Randamie’s reign remains one of the most disliked in the promotion’s history.