Islam Makhachev, Conor McGregor and more: 5 UFC champions who won their titles with flawless victories
For any MMA fighter, winning a UFC title is likely to be the pinnacle of their career. Naturally, for most fighters a title win doesn’t come easily. However, there have been some exceptions.
Over the years, we’ve seen a number of fighters who were able to claim UFC gold inside the octagon by producing a flawless victory, completely destroying the previous titleholder.
On some occasions, this flawless victory turned out to be a false dawn of sorts, with the new champion’s title reign going onto failure. On others, it was the start of a legendary run with the gold.
With this in mind, here are five UFC champions who won their titles with flawless victories.
#5. Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira – UFC 280
The latest entry into this list is new lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, who thoroughly whitewashed former kingpin Charles Oliveira to claim the vacant title at UFC 280 last weekend.
Coming into this clash, it was hard to guess who might win. Both Makhachev and Oliveira had been on fantastic runs, with Makhachev winning his last 10 fights in a row and Oliveira’s streak of victories standing at 11 fights and dating back to 2018.
However, despite ‘Do Bronx’ having more wins over top-level opposition, when it came down to it, the fight wasn’t even close. Makhachev simply dominated the Brazilian and didn’t let him get out of first gear.
The first round saw the Dagestani hurt Oliveira with strikes, easily force him to the ground, and avoid his submission attempts while punishing him with elbows, and the second round saw him score a knockdown before securing an arm triangle to force him to tap out.
ISLAM MAKHACHEV IS THE UNDISPUTED LW CHAMPION OF THE WORLD! 🏆
[ @MakhachevMMA | #UFC280 ] https://t.co/aJzHlS6fxF
Remarkably, Oliveira landed just 25 strikes during the fight compared to Makhachev’s 72, and also had just 42 seconds of control compared to the Dagestani’s 5:05.
Essentially, this was a totally one-sided bout and a flawless victory for Makhachev, something that felt unthinkable going in. All that’s left for him to do now is to go onto an equally dominant title reign.
#4. Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Hughes – UFC 65
When Georges St-Pierre first faced legendary UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes with the gold on the line in late 2004, he lost via first-round submission. GSP later claimed that he had the skills to beat his rival then, but simply felt out of his depth from a mental standpoint.
Two years later, the Canadian showed exactly how true that was by thoroughly shellacking Hughes in their rematch, making the legend look practically amateurish en route to a second-round TKO that kickstarted a new era at 170lbs.
Before this fight, Hughes – a remarkably powerful wrestler – had basically been able to outmuscle and take down every opponent he’d ever faced. That wasn’t the case with St-Pierre, though.
The Canadian simply shrugged off Hughes’ takedown attempts, astonishing both the fans in attendance and those watching on pay-per-view. On the feet, meanwhile, the fight was a total mismatch.
St-Pierre seemingly landed huge strikes at will from the start of the bout until the very end, hurting Hughes with brutal leg kicks, dropping him with a Superman punch at the end of the first round, and finally sealing the deal with a nasty head kick midway through the second.
años, la consagración de Georges St-Pierre 
noqueaba 
en el 2º round a Matt Hughes en #UFC65 , tomándose la revancha y coronándose Campeón UFC 
@UFConThisDay#UnDiaComoHoy hace 1️⃣5️⃣ años, la consagración de Georges St-Pierre 🙌
El canadiense 🇨🇦 noqueaba 💣💥 en el 2º round a Matt Hughes en #UFC65 , tomándose la revancha y coronándose Campeón UFC 🏆 del peso wélter
🎥 @UFConThisDay https://t.co/dZQCxb4Jma
In the end, the stats showed that St-Pierre landed 49 strikes to Hughes’ 10, only absorbed six shots to the head, and shrugged off three takedown attempts. This was as flawless a performance as it could get in the octagon. The fact that it made GSP a champion only made it sweeter.
#3. Jon Jones vs. Shogun Rua – UFC 128
It seems hard to believe now, but when young upstart Jon Jones was handed a late-notice UFC light heavyweight title shot against reigning champion Shogun Rua in early 2011, many observers felt that ‘Bones’ would probably be out of his depth.
Sure, Jones had looked fantastic in wins over the likes of Ryan Bader and Brandon Vera, but Shogun – who held wins over the likes of Chuck Liddell, Rampage Jackson, Lyoto Machida and Alistair Overeem – was widely seen as the best 205lbs fighter of all time.
When the two men met in the octagon, though, the MMA world was left stunned when Jones produced a flawless performance to absolutely destroy the Brazilian, finally dispatching him with a flurry of strikes in the third round.
Ten years ago today, Jon Jones got his first taste of UFC gold by dominating Shogun Rua at UFC 128 🏆
On that night, Bones became the youngest champion in UFC history (23 years, 242 days old), a record that still stands a decade later. https://t.co/PhkIu8oZ0j
‘Bones’ began the fight with a flying knee that connected cleanly. From there, he never really let up. Every one of the three rounds saw utter domination for him, as he took Shogun down with no problem at all and landed basically every strike he threw.
When the bout was mercifully called off, Jones had landed a ludicrous 102 shots to his legendary opponent and had taken him down three times. In return, he absorbed just 11 strikes in total, with just six of them connecting to the head.
It was painfully clear by this flawless victory that ‘Bones’ was now the top dog at light heavyweight. Nobody was really surprised when he went onto produce the most dominant title reign that the division had ever seen, too.
#2. B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson – UFC 80
When B.J. Penn made his long-awaited return to the UFC lightweight division in 2007, he made it immediately clear that his goal was a showdown with then-UFC champion Sean Sherk. However, by the time he was ready for his title shot in early 2008, things had changed.
Sherk had tested positive for anabolic steroids and was stripped of his title. So ‘The Prodigy’ was left to face top contender Joe Stevenson for the vacant belt instead.
Clearly angered by Sherk’s actions, the Hawaiian came into his clash with ‘Joe Daddy’ like a man possessed. Heswiftly went about taking all of his frustrations out on the TUF 2 winner in a scarily flawless performance.
Penn dropped Stevenson with basically the first punch he threw. From there, the bout was utter domination in favor of the Hawaiian. He immediately took a dominant position on his foe on the mat, and smashed him with ground-and-pound before hurting him on the feet for a second time later on.
The round ended with ‘The Prodigy’ slicing Stevenson’s head open with an elbow, leaving him a bloody mess as the buzzer sounded. While ‘Joe Daddy’ did come out for the second round, it probably wasn’t a good idea.
Penn comfortably outstruck him before dropping him again. This time, he took full mount, then took the back before strangling ‘Joe Daddy’ with a rear-naked choke, forcing him to submit.
The dominance that the Hawaiian showed in this fight was remarkable, as he ended up landing 71 strikes while only taking 17 significant shots in return. Remarkably, 92% of the shots he threw at Stevenson’s head connected cleanly.
Four months later, Penn would destroy Sherk in a slightly less flawless fashion – proving once and for all that he was the world’s best lightweight.
#1. Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez – UFC 205
Conor McGregor is probably unique in UFC history in that he was able to capture two titles in different weight classes with equally dominant performances.
While his 13-second knockout of Jose Aldo for the featherweight crown was crazy, though, his most flawless victory came over Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight title.
There was perhaps an argument that had Aldo fought a little smarter and not over-extended himself early, he’d have stood more of a chance against ‘The Notorious’. That wasn’t the case with Alvarez, who found himself abused for two rounds before finally succumbing to a knockout loss.
"He didn't just do it, he did it flawlessly."
Calm. Composed. Clinical.
Conor McGregor with one of the great title fight performances vs Eddie Alvarez 🙏
#UFC246 | January18 | BT Sport Box Office https://t.co/UKliXiTJF8
McGregor essentially used his superior reach, length, footwork, and timing to full effect in this bout. He allowed ‘The Underground King’ to wade forward and throw strikes, and simply dodged them like a matador before returning fire.
In the end, the striking totals weren’t too wildly in favor of ‘The Notorious’, who landed 40 shots overall to Alvarez’s 12. However, what was remarkable was the fact that 32 of McGregor’s 40 strikes were significant ones. He somehow managed to land three knockdowns during the fight, a ridiculous total for a title bout.
Essentially, McGregor’s showing against Alvarez was as flawless a victory as anyone had ever seen in a UFC title bout. It’s hard not to look back and wonder what more he could’ve achieved had he remained active in the two years that followed it.