by - soumya ranjan
The UFC is the most competitive MMA promotion in the world, and to be a champion in any division is extremely hard. But winning the championship is one thing; successfully defending it against top competitors is quite another. Here's the list of champions who had to vacate their titles without a single defense.
Frank Mir Frank Mir is a UFC legend who, at the age of 25, fought Tim Sylvia for the vacant UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 85. Mir submitted Sylvia in the very first round and won the belt. Before he could fight top contender Andrei Arlovski, Mir was stripped of his title after suffering a broken femur in a bike accident.
Georges St-Pierre Georges St-Pierre is one of the UFC's GOATS, and he came out of retirement in 2017 to compete for the Middleweight title against Michael Bisping.St-Pierre won the fight in the third round and proved why he's one of the best to ever grace the MMA octagon. However, the Canadian announced his retirement right after the win and vacated his title without any title defense.
Jiri Prochazka Jiri Prochazka came into the UFC in 2020 and rose to the top immediately. The former Rizin champion got the opportunity to fight for the UFC title after two fights. At UFC 275, Prochazka defeated Glover Teixeira to win the vacant title. Later, the fighter announced that he had vacated the title as he had suffered an injury and didn't want to hold back the division.
Nicco Montano UFC introduced the women's flyweight division in 2017, and Nicco Montano became the first individual to take the belt. Montano defeated Roxanne Modafferi via unanimous decision and was expected to defend her belt against Valentina Shevchenko. But during the preparation for the fight, Montano got hospitalised due to a bad weight cut, and the UFC forced her to vacate the title.
Conor McGregor Conor McGregor has a reputation for doing whatever and whenever he likes, and he did exactly the same during his title defenses. In 2015, McGregor defeated Jose Aldo, moved up in weight to fight Eddie Alvarez, and won the fight via TKO. However, following his victory, he vacated both belts in order to compete in a boxing match against Floyd Mayweather.