5 former UFC champions who switched weight classes unsuccesfully

In the UFC, there are few more fascinating things than seeing a former champion attempting to find success by switching weight classes - something former bantamweight king Aljamain Sterling will try to do this weekend.

For every Jon Jones or Alex Pereira who switched weight classes successfully, though, there are more former UFC champs who struggled.

Which way will Sterling go? Only time will tell, and we may not fully know even after he fights Calvin Kattar this weekend.

With this considered, here are five former UFC champions who switched weight classes unsuccessfully.

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#5. Rashad Evans - former UFC light-heavyweight champion

When Rashad Evans, still unbeaten at 12-0-1, demolished Forrest Griffin to claim the UFC light-heavyweight title in late 2008, it looked like the beginning of a new era for the division.

Few fans could've predicted at the time that Evans' reign would last just five months before he was dethroned by Lyoto Machida.

However, 'Suga' still maintained his spot near the top of the 205 pound division for the next few years. He beat the likes of Rampage Jackson and Chael Sonnen, and fought for the title again in 2012, albeit unsuccessfully.

By mid-2016, though, Evans appeared to be on a slide in his career. After falling to back-to-back defeats to Glover Teixeira and Ryan Bader, then, he decided to drop to 185 pounds to attempt to reignite his career.

On the surface, it didn't seem like a bad idea, particularly as Evans had long been considered an undersized light-heavyweight.

Unfortunately, the move came far too late into his career to be any good for him. 'Suga' looked listless in a bad loss to Dan Kelly in his middleweight debut, and then fell to another unheralded foe in Sam Alvey in his second fight at 185 pounds.

With the experiment a definite failure, Evans moved back up to 205 pounds for one final fight - which he lost via KO - before hanging his gloves up in 2018.

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#4. Chris Weidman - former UFC middleweight champion

Last month saw a surprising return to form for former middleweight champ Chris Weidman, as he defeated Bruno Silva to earn his first win since 2020.

Before that, Weidman's UFC career looked all but over, particularly after he suffered a horrific leg injury in a fight with Uriah Hall.

The truth, though, is that 'The All-American' had been struggling ever since losing his middleweight crown to Luke Rockhold back in 2015. That loss set him on a downward spiral that saw him lose four of five bouts leading into 2019.

Sensing his career needed a change, Weidman made the decision to move to 205 pounds at the back end of that year.

Given that many fans blamed his downfall on weight-cutting problems stemming from USADA's ban on the use of an IV to rehydrate, it didn't seem like a bad idea at all.

Unfortunately, in his first fight in his new weight class, Weidman ran into the buzzsaw that was Dominick Reyes. The fight lasted just under two minutes before 'The Devastator' destroyed the former champ with punches.

Whether 'The All-American' could've succeeded against lesser opponents at 205 pounds remains a mystery of sorts, of course.

After taking the best part of another year off, he returned at 185 pounds in 2020 and has stayed there since. However, with four years of hindsight, it's fair to call his move a failure.

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#3. Cody Garbrandt - former UFC bantamweight champion

This weekend at UFC 300, former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt will hope to break back into the division's top fifteen.

He is set to face former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo, a fighter who, at this point at least, seems to have done well in moving weight divisions.

The same cannot be said for 'No Love', who saw his move down to 125 pounds go up in smoke in 2021 in the worst way possible.

Garbrandt had only won one of five bouts after losing his title to TJ Dillashaw in 2017, and after a listless decision defeat to Rob Font, it was clear that he needed to change something up.

Rather than change his often-reckless fighting approach, though, 'No Love' decided to drop ten pounds in an attempt to kickstart things.

Unlike his old rival Dillashaw, Garbrandt looked healthy when he made the move to 125 pounds to fight Kai Kara-France. Unfortunately, he didn't look like that in the octagon.

His fight with 'Don't Blink' lasted just over two minutes before a right hand dropped him, and he was unable to recover. Kara-France blitzed him with further punches, and Garbrandt fell via TKO.

It would've been easy for 'No Love' to hang up his gloves following the loss, but instead, he has since moved back to 135 pounds, and if he can win this weekend, his career should be back on track.

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#2. Johny Hendricks - former UFC welterweight champion

When Johny Hendricks claimed the welterweight title vacated by the great Georges St-Pierre by outpointing Robbie Lawler in early 2014, it looked like a fresh start for the division.

Hendricks was already seen by some as the de facto champion after he pushed 'GSP' to a razor-close split decision in late 2013, and his win over Lawler only affirmed his spot as the new kingpin.

However, things didn't quite work out for 'Bigg Rigg'.

He lost his title to Lawler in a rematch later that year, and despite beating Matt Brown in a comeback fight, a weight-cutting issue then ruled him out of a top contender's fight with Tyron Woodley.

That weight-cutting issue would then rear its head over and over again. Hendricks ended up losing his next three fights, missing the 170 pound welterweight limit for two of them.

The issue forced 'Bigg Rigg' to move up to 185 pounds, but even that move couldn't reignite his sputtering career.

He did win his middleweight debut by beating Hector Lombard, but it wasn't a great showing, and when he lost his next two fights at the weight, it was painfully clear that his time was up.

Hendricks hung up his gloves in 2017, and his move to middleweight remains one of the most unsuccessful weight class moves from a former UFC champion.

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#1. BJ Penn - former UFC lightweight and welterweight champion

The second fighter in UFC history to hold two titles in different weight classes, BJ Penn made his name by his willingness to move around in weight.

During his brief period outside the UFC, for instance, 'The Prodigy' even moved to 205 pounds for a fight, even if it didn't go well for him.

However, few fans could've foreseen that the total downfall of his latter career would stem from an ill-advised move down from 155 pounds, rather than up.

Penn had already stepped away from MMA on two occasions by 2014, announcing his retirement following a loss to Nick Diaz and then hanging up his gloves again after a 2012 defeat to Rory MacDonald.

When it was suddenly announced that 'The Prodigy' was making another return, though, this time at 145 pounds, it was hard not to get excited.

After all, when the Hawaiian had been in shape, he'd looked unstoppable, and a move down in weight practically guaranteed he'd be in shape.

All Penn had to do was defeat his old rival Frankie Edgar, and a potential shot at featherweight kingpin Jose Aldo was probably his.

Unfortunately, it didn't go down that way. 'The Prodigy' looked awful in his fight with Edgar, going down to a third round TKO, and another two bouts at 145 pounds saw him fall to defeat too, with a knockout to Yair Rodriguez being exceptionally bad.

Penn did move back to 155 pounds for his final two octagon bouts, but by that point, the magic was long gone. In the end, the Hawaiian ended his career on the back of a seven-fight losing streak - something that would've been unthinkable in his prime.