5 fighters who made their UFC debuts in a title fight

Most fighters who debut in the UFC have to take a long and tricky path to a title fight. However, there have been a number of exceptions over the years.

On a handful of occasions, a fighter has competed for a UFC title in their octagon debut, usually not with positive results. Whether someone will change this pattern in the future, only time will tell.

Here are five fighters who made their UFC debuts in a title fight.

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#5 Kai Asakura - UFC flyweight title (2024)

Assuming he isn't forced out of his planned debut due to injury or something similar, the next fighter to fight for a UFC title in his first bout with the promotion will be Kai Asakura.

Despite there being a handful of potential challengers for current flyweight kingpin Alexandre Pantoja already in the promotion, Asakura is being allowed to jump the queue. It was announced this weekend that their title fight will go down at UFC 310 in December.

Why is this? Put simply, Asakura is probably the biggest acquisition that Dana White and company have made from Japan since Yoshihiro Akiyama back in 2009.

Boasting an impressive record of 21-4, Asakura has held RIZIN's bantamweight title on two occasions, and has beaten the likes of Kyoji Horiguchi and Manel Kape.

More intriguingly, though, Asakura is a huge star in his native Japan, reportedly building a huge following on social media. That makes him a potentially huge star for the promotion.

Whether he can topple 'The Cannibal' is another thing entirely, of course, but he's definitely talented enough to give it a good go. If he does, he'll buck the trend of debutants in title fights.

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#4 Hayato Sakurai - UFC welterweight title (2002)

Kai Asakura will not be the first Japanese fighter to debut in the UFC in a title bout. Back in 2002, former Shooto champion Hayato Sakurai entered the octagon for the first - and only - time, fighting Matt Hughes for the welterweight crown.

Hughes had claimed his title from Carlos Newton in semi-controversial fashion in late 2001, but with 'The Ronin' not quite ready for a rematch, the promotion looked for an alternative challenger.

Remarkably, that challenger was initially pegged to be Anderson Silva. 'The Spider', who was still early in his MMA career, had beaten Sakurai for the Shooto title in mid-2001.

However, he chose to head to PRIDE rather than come to the US, and so Dana White and company went with 'Mach', essentially the next best thing, as Hughes' challenger.

Unfortunately, the Japanese star simply wasn't powerful enough to deal with Hughes' wrestling. Despite landing some good strikes, he constantly succumbed to the takedown, and eventually lost in the fourth round via ground-and-pound.

Strangely enough, Sakurai never did return to the octagon afterwards, instead departing back to Japan, where he eventually had a career resurgence - albeit at 155 pounds.

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#3 Frank Trigg - UFC welterweight title (2003)

Hayato Sakurai wasn't the only UFC debutant to challenge Matt Hughes for the welterweight title during his legendary first reign as champion.

After dispatching Sakurai, defeating Carlos Newton in a rematch and brushing aside Gil Castillo and Sean Sherk, there was a dearth of challengers for the powerful wrestler.

That meant that Frank Trigg, who'd held the welterweight title in the WFA promotion - which became defunct in late 2002 - was able to jump the queue when he came aboard in 2003.

'Twinkle Toes' boasted a record of 10-1, had torched Dennis Hallman - the last fighter to beat Hughes - and had a stellar record as a collegiate wrestler.

Despite all of that, Trigg simply wasn't quite good enough to find a way past Hughes. After an early scramble, the champion hoisted Trigg into the air, slammed him down, and eventually took his back.

With 'Twinkle Toes' in trouble, Hughes then slapped on a rear naked choke that basically resembled a sleeper hold, and forced him to submit as he fell backwards to the ground.

It was hardly the best debut for Trigg, although he rebounded with two straight wins. That pushed him back into a rematch with Hughes - and the two produced a legendary clash that is considered one of the greatest fights ever.

'Twinkle Toes' lost again, of course, and after slowing his career down a few years later, became renowned as a color commentator in Japan. These days, he's back in the octagon - albeit as a referee!

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#2 Gilbert Melendez - UFC lightweight title (2013)

The UFC has absorbed a number of rival promotions over the years, with many of the titleholders from those promotions eventually receiving title shots.

However, only a handful of them received instant title bouts, and most of them had already fought in the octagon previously.

The exception to that rule was Gilbert Melendez. 'El Nino' held the StrikeForce lightweight title when that promotion's roster was absorbed in 2013. With UFC champ Benson Henderson's next challenger not quite clear, it made sense to give Melendez his shot.

After all, 'El Nino' held wins over the likes of Josh Thomson, Jorge Masvidal, Shinya Aoki and Tatsuya Kawajiri. Many fans, in fact, saw him, not Henderson, as the world's best 155 pounder.

The two men fought in the headline bout of a major event on Fox, and the fight lived up to all expectations. It was a back-and-forth five rounder that could've gone either way, but in the end, two of the three judges sided with Henderson.

The future still looked bright for Melendez, who inked a long-term contract with the promotion in 2014 after beating Diego Sanchez in an instant classic.

Unfortunately, things didn't pan out. After losing another title shot - this time to Anthony Pettis - 'El Nino' went on a major slide. His career ended in 2019 on the back of a five-fight losing streak, making him arguably one of the promotion's biggest-ever busts.

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#1 Joe Soto - UFC bantamweight title (2014)

The most curious case of a UFC debutant whose first octagon appearance was in a title fight is definitely Joe Soto.

Nobody expected him to challenge for the bantamweight title in his first bout in the promotion, including Soto himself.

Indeed, his debut was supposed to come on the preliminary card of UFC 177, against the unheralded Anthony Birchak.

Soto wasn't even a big-money signing for Dana White and company. Sure, he was a former Bellator champion who was riding a six-fight win streak, but he was hardly a big star by the time 2014 came around.

Despite that, he turned out to be in the right place at the right time when Renan Barao was hospitalized during an attempted weight cut for his title bout with champ TJ Dillashaw.

With no other bantamweight bouts scheduled for the card, Soto was offered the opportunity of a lifetime - and ended up taking it.

Of course, it came as no surprise when he lost to Dillashaw via KO, but he did far better than anyone could've expected, lasting to the fifth round of the fight.

Soto never did go onto major success in the octagon, but his last-ditch title challenge remains one of the most curious incidents in the promotion's history.