The 5 worst UFC title fights of the decade (2010-2019)
The past decade has seen the UFC put on some truly amazing title fights. The likes of Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald (2015), Frankie Edgar vs. Gray Maynard (2011) and Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum (2019) would all be up there with the very best title fights in promotional history.
Unfortunately, there have been some title fights in the past ten years that just didn’t live up to the hype. Various factors – from bad style clashes to injuries suffered during the fights – have played their part, but the following five title fights definitely rank amongst the very worst that we’ve seen from 2010 to 2019.
#5 Georges St-Pierre vs. Jake Shields, UFC 129 – 04/30/201
The UFC’s first show in Toronto, UFC 129 was looking all set to be one of the greatest MMA shows of all time after an undercard filled with highlight reel finishes was topped off by a classic title Featherweight title fight between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick. All it needed to send it into the stratosphere was a big win from Canadian hero Georges St-Pierre, who faced Jake Shields in a Welterweight title main event.
Well, St-Pierre did win the fight, but it wasn’t in the fashion he – or the Toronto crowd – would’ve liked. ‘GSP’ completely outclassed Shields for five rounds, stopping his takedown attempts and easily outstriking him, but the fight was full of inactivity from start to finish, with St-Pierre seemingly attempting to force a knockout via an overhand right that just wouldn’t come.
The explanation for the bad showing seemed simple when it was revealed that an errant eye poke from Shields midway through the fight had essentially rendered GSP blind; he’d been content to do just enough to edge the win after the injury. It was understandable, but it didn’t make the fight any better to watch.