Julianna Peña and 4 other UFC champions who never successfully defended their belt
It is often said that a UFC champion who is yet to defend their belt is not a true champion. That sentiment was first echoed by Hall of Famer and former UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes. In Hughes' view, having UFC President Dana White wrap the belt around one's waist is not enough to warrant true championship status.
Instead, it was the welterweight great's opinion that a fighter must, at least once, successfully defend their newly claimed title. While the fairness of such a statement has been frequently contested, there have been more than a handful of UFC champions who have failed to successfully defend their titles even a single time.
Former light heavyweight champions Glover Teixeira and Forrest Griffin, for example, never successfully defended their titles, yet their respective legacies in the sport are spotless. The outcome of the UFC 277 main-event bout between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Peña added yet another champion who failed to defend their title.
This list looks at Peña and 4 other champions who have never mounted a single successful title defense.
#5. Luke Rockhold
When Chris Weidman was penning his name in the history books of MMA by snapping Anderson Silva's 17-fight win streak, Luke Rockhold—a rising contender at the time—stormed through the middleweight rankings. By the time the All-American Weidman had defended his title 3 times, although against aging Brazilian legends [Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida and Vitor Belfort], Rockhold had earned a title fight against Weidman himself.
The two men crossed paths at UFC 194, headlined by Conor McGregor and José Aldo. The bout with Weidman was hotly contested for the first 2 rounds before the defending champion threw an ill-advised kick, allowing Rockhold to drag him to the ground. It was the beginning of the end for Weidman as Rockhold secured top control en route to brutalizing his foe with a vicious ground-and-pound.
While Weidman survived the third round, he would not survive the fourth. Basking in the glory of a hard-fought victory, Rockhold seemed primed for a championship run as the next great middleweight champion. Unfortunately, when Michael Bisping replaced the injured Chris Weidman in what was originally booked as a rematch, Rockhold's first title defense ended with a fairytale victory for Bisping.
Jun4.2016
1 year ago today,
Michael Bisping shocked the world,
when he knocked out Luke Rockhold to become the UFC Middleweight Champion. https://t.co/ikNFaCqaXG
In the very first round, Rockhold paid for his habit of dropping his lead hand after exiting the pocket as Bisping slipped a left hook through his foe's open side, flooring him. Rockhold sprang to his feet but was dropped a second time before being knocked unconscious by Bisping's follow-up punches, hence losing the middleweight title in his first bout since capturing it.