'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
In the world of MMA, there’s no higher-pressure situation than fighting for a UFC title. In that sense, it’s a wonder that the best fighters are able to perform so well.
Over the years, though, we’ve seen a number of tactical errors in UFC title fights, often leading directly to a devastating defeat. Quite what the following fighters were thinking is anyone’s guess, but it’s probably fair to say they regretted their choices later.
Here are five of the biggest tactical errors in UFC title fights.
#5. Chael Sonnen vs. Anderson Silva – UFC 148
Even though he came up short thanks to a miraculous fifth-round triangle choke, Chael Sonnen’s middleweight title challenge against longtime champion Anderson Silva in the summer of 2010 remains hugely memorable.
‘The American Gangster’ not only used his powerful wrestling to take Silva down and batter him on the ground, but he also bullied ‘The Spider’ on the feet with a remarkably aggressive striking attack.
The bout was the first time that anyone had really made Silva look human inside the octagon. Even though Sonnen later tested positive for banned substance, after pushing ‘The Spider’ to his absolute limit, everyone wanted to see a second fight between the two.
Eventually, the UFC were able to sign the rematch for the summer of 2012, almost exactly two years after the initial bout. It was, without a doubt, one of the most highly anticipated fights of all time.
In the early going, it looked like Sonnen was about to repeat the trick, and maybe come out on top, too. He took Silva down and dominated the first round, with the Brazilian barely having any offense.
However, in the second round, ‘The American Gangster’ made a truly fatal error. When he couldn’t take Silva down early on, he instead chose to brawl with him, and for reasons known only to him, he threw an ill-advised spinning backfist at ‘The Spider’.
The strike missed by a mile, and caused Sonnen to slip to his back. From there, Silva pounced, nailing him with a knee to the chest, and quickly finished him off with follow-up strikes.
Whether Sonnen would’ve won the fight had he not thrown the spinning attack is still debatable, but it’s certainly true to state that the whiffed strike led directly to his downfall. It remains one of the biggest tactical errors in any title bout in the octagon.
#4. Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso – UFC 285
Back in 2015, Chris Weidman threw an ill-advised spinning wheel kick in his middleweight title defense against Luke Rockhold that missed, and eventually led to him losing his crown.
However, Weidman’s failed spinning attack came in the third round, and ‘The All-American’ actually survived into the fourth before the fight was stopped.
The same cannot be said for former flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko, though. ‘Bullet’, who held the title from 2018 until 2023 and made seven successful title defenses, fell to Alexa Grasso last year.
Her loss to the Mexican counts amongst the greatest upsets in UFC history, and came directly after a failed spinning back kick in the fourth round. Had she not thrown the kick, it’s likely she would’ve gone onto win the bout via decision.
Unfortunately for Shevchenko, her choice to throw such a low-percentage strike proved to be her undoing. Usually perfectly timed with her stand-up game, this kick was so telegraphed that Grasso not only ducked under it, but also used it to hop onto the back of the champion.
From there, the Mexican sunk in a tight face crank, and with nowhere to go, ‘Bullet’ was forced to tap out.
Nobody really saw Grasso’s victory coming. And while she later proved her worth by defending successfully against Shevchenko in a rematch, her win may not have been possible without ‘Bullet’ making such a huge error.
#3. Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman – UFC 162
Throughout his legendary seven-year reign as UFC middleweight champion, Anderson Silva became known as the greatest virtuoso in the promotion’s history.
Not only did ‘The Spider’ defeat his opponents, but he did so with remarkable panache. Often, it felt like he was operating in a completely different dimension to his foes. His incredible reflexes, particularly on the feet, allowed him to make top fighters like Forrest Griffin and Yushin Okami look silly.
The only apparent weakness he had seemed to be against the takedown, something that let Chael Sonnen get within less than a minute of outpointing him in 2010.
When top-class wrestler Chris Weidman, who’d won five bouts in a row in the octagon, was matched against ‘The Spider’ in 2013, then, many fans wondered how Silva would combat his grappling.
In the end, the Brazilian’s unique approach turned out to be responsible for his downfall.
After struggling on the ground in the first round, Silva decided to taunt Weidman on the feet in the second. By dropping his hands, dancing around and “clowning,” ‘The Spider’ was clearly hoping to draw his challenger in.
Unfortunately for him, he had clearly underestimated Weidman’s long reach. When he attempted to lean back to avoid a flurry from ‘The All-American’, his hands down by his waist, he simply didn’t lean back far enough – and ate a crushing left hook.
Silva was sent crashing down to the mat, and a follow-up flurry from Weidman left him unconscious for the first time in his career.
There’s definitely an argument that Weidman’s style was always kryptonite for Silva, but equally, had he not taken such an unorthodox approach in this fight, it’s arguable that the result could have been very different.
Therefore, it’s hard not to see his error as one of the biggest in a UFC title bout.
#2. Petr Yan vs. Aljamain Sterling – UFC 259
When Petr Yan won the vacant bantamweight title by stopping the legendary Jose Aldo in the summer of 2020, a lengthy title reign for the Russian felt inevitable.
Not only had ‘No Mercy’ destroyed every opponent that the UFC had put in front of him – racking up a 7-0 octagon record – but he also appeared to have no weaknesses.
The only question mark hanging over him was his wrestling game, an area that challenger Aljamain Sterling was hoping to exploit when he faced off with Yan at UFC 259.
However, through the first three rounds of the fight, ‘Funk Master’ couldn’t get anything going. Yan stuffed most of his takedowns and was picking him apart on the feet. It looked like the Russian was cruising to a decision victory.
Bizarrely, though, a fourth-round error ended up costing him his title in one of the most bizarre finishes imaginable.
With Sterling struggling for any kind of traction and eating a number of nasty strikes, Yan again blocked a takedown attempt. This time, though, despite ‘Funk Master’ clearly being grounded, the Russian cracked him with a knee to the head, knocking him senseless.
Moments later, it was judged that the fight was over – a groggy Sterling simply couldn’t continue. Unsurprisingly, given the egregious nature of the illegal strike, Yan was then disqualified, losing his title in the process.
It’s hard to honestly quantify how big an error this was, as ‘No Mercy’ was comfortably winning the bout when he threw the knee and was clearly on his way to victory.
Had he won, his title reign could well have continued to this day. Instead, he is currently on a three-fight losing streak, making this tactical error a true sliding doors moment for the Russian.
#1. Cat Zingano vs. Ronda Rousey – UFC 184
It’s arguable that the biggest tactical error in a UFC title fight was also a completely justified one in many ways.
Faced with a juggernaut of a bantamweight champion in the form of Ronda Rousey, Cat Zingano probably did need to switch her style up. After all, Rousey had been finishing her opponents in a matter of seconds, dispatching of Sara McMann and Alexis Davis in a combined 1:22.
Zingano, meanwhile, was renowned as a slow starter and had almost been stopped in the first round of her fight with Amanda Nunes before she produced a stirring comeback to win in the third.
Therefore, it made sense for ‘Alpha’ to come out aggressively and on the attack once it came to fight time. However, nobody could’ve anticipated quite how reckless she would actually be.
After an intense staredown, Zingano came charging out of her corner and before Rousey could react, she leapt through the air with an attempted flying knee. Unfortunately for the challenger, the strike only glanced off the body of ‘Rowdy’, and left an opening in the process. Rousey used the momentum to clinch, throw Zingano to the ground, and float over into her trademark armbar in one movement.
A split second later, ‘Alpha’ tapped out, and the fight – as well as her long-awaited title challenge – was over in just fourteen seconds.
The result essentially wrecked Zingano’s UFC career, as she won just one more fight in the octagon before departing the promotion in 2019.
Whether she ever had the skills to defeat Rousey is obviously debatable, but it’s safe to say that she was better than this embarrassing defeat – one that was avoidable and was caused by a big mistake.
