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For UFC fighters, losing is about as enjoyable as it is in any other sport. No one likes the taste of defeat. There have been many fighters over the years who learned from their mistakes to bounce back and become superior to their former selves.
A recent example of this would be Francis Ngannou following his losses to Stipe Miocic and Derrick Lewis in 2018. Displaying humility and good sportsmanship, Ngannou worked on his fighting style and grappling, becoming a much more complete combatant in the process. In 2021, he's UFC heavyweight champion.
Sadly, not everyone can quite follow this example. Many come out all guns blazing with a variety of plausible and, in some cases, utterly implausible reasons for their latest professional setback. Regardless of the reason, none of the five fighters ahead came anywhere close to having a loss expunged from their record.
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Here are five UFC fighters who gave bizarre explanations for fights they lost.
#5. Nick Diaz at UFC 158
One could almost make a top five of just the excuses Nick Diaz has given for losing this one.
Georges St-Pierre vs Nick Diaz was a blockbuster fight which drew an impressive 950,000 in buy rates in March 2013. According to Nick’s brother Nate, Nick Diaz’s IV was poisoned prior to his UFC 158 clash with GSP. Elaborating on his brother’s shocking accusation, Nick Diaz revealed he was in the best shape of his career for the fight. That was, at least, until his IV was poisoned with “some kind of weird drug”.
As if being drugged wasn’t extreme enough, Diaz claimed that the Quebec Athletic Commission were out to get him also. Alleging a bias towards Quebec homeboy GSP, Diaz then took it even further when he stated that the QAC didn’t even bother with drug testing ‘Rush’ before the fight.
Rather unsurprisingly by this point, the zero testing accusation led directly into Diaz implying GSP was on PEDs for their fight.
So there you have it, four different excuses in one go for why Nick Diaz lost by unanimous decision to Georges St-Pierre. Needless to say, all four were highly questionable at best. GSP himself would go on to lampoon the Diaz brothers’ conspiracy theories during an appearance on the Joe Rogan Experience.
#4. Minotauro Noguiera at UFC 140
The second time former UFC star Noguiera lost to Frank Mir also marked the first time he lost via technical submission. While scoring the submission win on an MMA stalwart like Noguiera was grand news for Mir, Minotauro had other ideas.
Going into their first bout at UFC 92, Noguiera blamed a severe staph infection and knee problems for his loss. His explanation was understandable as both health calamities would inhibit any fighter’s performance. The question that remained was why didn’t he simply postpone the fight at the time?
For UFC 140, with his arm now broken in half owing to his refusal to tap out in time, Noguiera revealed a new problem. Initially dominating Mir in the first round with ground and pound, Noguiera went for a guillotine choke (not the last time someone makes that error on this list). Mir rebounded almost immediately from the submission attempt to pick up a submission win of his own.
Noguiera later claimed he wanted a submission victory to finish the fight “beautifully”. Needless to say, there was nothing beautiful about the horrifying state of his arm when all was said and done.
He later changed his mind and blamed referee Herb Dean. Minotauro claimed Dean was getting on his back over shots to the back of Mir’s head, prompting him to change strategy. Why he couldn’t have simply re-angled his punches to Mir so they weren’t nailing his cerebellum is anyone’s guess.
#3. Tito Ortiz at UFC 106
UFC 106 was originally meant to be headlined by then-UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar facing Shane Carwin. Due to the debilitating symptoms of his diverticulitis at the time, Lesnar had to pull out. Tito Ortiz’s second fight with Forrest Griffin (the first was at UFC 59 where Ortiz won via split decision) was then bumped up to the main event slot.
The light heavyweights duked it out for three rounds before the end result came down to the judges. Griffin got his win back on ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ via split decision in a fight Ortiz himself can’t remember.
Following the defeat, Ortiz revealed he’d actually been operating with a concussion he sustained towards the end of his training camp. Ortiz explained that an inadvertent head butt during sparring not only rattled his brain but fractured his right orbital bone as well.
Ortiz went on to explain the reason he didn’t pull out of the fight despite these secret injuries was due to Lesnar’s fight cancelation. He feared that if he too pulled out, the UFC would be in dire straits. The crowd appeared unconvinced, ultimately booing Ortiz for his comments.
#2. Alistair Overeem at UFC 203
Finally, after more than five years in the UFC, Alistair Overeem got his crack at the heavyweight title in September 2016. Going into battle with new champ Stipe Miocic, Overeem was riding high on a four-fight win streak.
Renowned for his astonishingly devastating striking, ‘The Demolition Man’ managed to floor Miocic in round one. Despite grappling having never been his strong suit, Overeem went in for a guillotine choke on the champion. Miocic, an exceptional wrestler, managed to turn things in his favor on the ground and quickly picked up a KO win on the K-1 veteran.
In his post-fight interview, a clearly dazed Overeem revealed to Joe Rogan that he let go of the guillotine because Miocic tapped. Replays revealed this clearly wasn’t the case. Miocic’s Cleveland home crowd proceeded to boo the Dutchman into next week. The interview left many wondering if fighters who lose by KO should be spoken to at all immediately after fighting.
#1. Dominick Cruz at UFC 249
Following his second-round stoppage loss to Henry Cejudo at UFC 249, Dominick Cruz made an extraordinary claim regarding referee Keith Peterson. Furious with Peterson’s decision, Cruz revealed that the referee “smelled like alcohol and cigarettes”. While an inebriated referee is obviously unacceptable, one can’t really find much of an issue with an official having a quick smoke on the day.
Perhaps Cruz believed alcohol was to blame for Peterson allegedly not taking his words during the fight into account:
“I mean I’m not happy with the stoppage obviously because I specifically asked the ref to let me go ’til I was out and I was standing up,” Cruz said during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan.
With no proof of Peterson doing shots before bell time, Cruz’s accusation not only seems ridiculous but potentially defamatory. Having not fought in four years, Cruz was no doubt disappointed by the flurry of shots Cejudo landed to end his night. His comments drew the ire and scrutiny of several notable MMA figures, including veteran UFC referee Herb Dean, who Cruz had previously praised.
