5 longest losing streaks in UFC history

The UFC is always advertised as the promotion where the best of the best compete. Unfortunately, that doesn't prevent even great fighters from suffering bad losses.

Over the years, we've seen a number of fighters who found themselves on the wrong end of lengthy losing streaks in the UFC.

Often, these fighters were fallen legends who simply hung on for too long. On other occasions, they would win fights outside the octagon, but would fail again and again on the big stage.

With that in mind, here are the five longest losing streaks in UFC history.

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#5 Elvis Sinosic - former UFC light-heavyweight title challenger (6 losses in a row)

The first Australian to ever challenge for a UFC title, in many ways, Elvis Sinosic was ahead of his time. Without 'The King of Rock n Rumble' paving the way, the likes of Alexander Volkanovski and Robert Whittaker may never have reached the top.

Unfortunately, Sinosic was often overmatched in the octagon, and ended up suffering six losses in a row on the big stage, albeit in two separate runs with the promotion.

The Aussie actually debuted with an impressive win, submitting top 205-pound contender Jeremy Horn with a wicked armbar in early 2001.

The win allowed Sinosic to leapfrog Horn and earned him a shot at then-light-heavyweight kingpin Tito Ortiz. Despite putting up a solid fight, though, Sinosic lost to 'The Huntington Beach Bad Boy' inside a round.

From there, it was all downhill for 'The King of Rock n Rumble'. He was defeated by Evan Tanner and Renato Sobral in one-sided fashion in 2002, resulting in the end of his tenure with the UFC.

Despite only picking up a single win on the regional circuit in the three years that followed, Sinosic made his way back to the octagon in 2005. However, he suffered a knockout loss to Forrest Griffin and took another beating just four months later, this time at the hands of Alessio Sakara.

That appeared to be the end of his octagon career, but in 2007, Dana White and company bought him back one more time, seemingly to give a young Michael Bisping a comfortable win over a well-known foe.

Sure enough, 'The Count' crushed Sinosic in the second round, but not before the Aussie scored a shock knockdown.

That loss was enough to end Sinosic's octagon career with six defeats on the bounce, although those losses were separated by wins on the regional scene.

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#4 Phil Baroni - former UFC middleweight contender (6 losses in a row)

Once considered one of the UFC's most popular middleweight contenders, Phil Baroni's time near the top of the promotion didn't last too long.

'The New York Bad A*s' burst onto the scene in 2002 with thrilling wins over the likes of Dave Menne and Amar Suloev. A pair of wild brawls with Matt Lindland then turned him into a cult favorite, even if he lost both fights in the end.

Unfortunately, Baroni never seemed to fully round out his skills, and often had problems on the ground and with his cardio. These issues led him to follow his second loss to Lindland with two defeats to Evan Tanner and another to newcomer Pete Sell.

It came as no surprise to see 'The New York Bad A*s' depart the UFC after those losses, but remarkably, Baroni did revive his career in PRIDE with another handful of violent knockouts.

When he hit a skid in StrikeForce and EliteXC, though, the chances of him ever returning to the octagon seemed slim.

Surprisingly, though, Dana White and company bought their old favorite back into the fold in 2009, despite the fact that he'd lost his last fight.

Sadly for Baroni, a career revival never happened. He was comfortably beaten by Amir Sadollah and Brad Tavares upon his return, meaning he ended his time in the octagon with six straight losses.

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#3 Hector Lombard - former UFC middleweight contender (6 losses in a row)

It's arguable that Hector Lombard is the biggest bust in UFC history.

Signed in 2012 after putting together a huge 25-fight unbeaten streak and claiming the Bellator middleweight title, he was expected to quickly become a threat to Anderson Silva's 185 pound crown.

However, that idea quickly went up in smoke when he looked like a shadow of his former self in a terrible debut loss to journeyman Tim Boetsch.

The Cuban did recover with a win over Rousimar Palhares, but another loss to Yushin Okami knocked him out of title contention again, resulting in a move to 170 pounds.

The move seemed to revitalise Lombard, and big wins over Nate Marquardt and Jake Shields followed. Disaster struck, though, when he tested positive for banned substances following a win over Josh Burkman in early 2015.

Lombard was suspended for a year, and when he returned, he wasn't even the same fighter who faced Boetsch. His strength, power, cardio and speed all seemed to be gone, and he ended up suffering six losses in a row, both at 170 pounds and 185 pounds. Three of those losses came via knockout.

Quite why the UFC kept him around for so long was a mystery, but unsurprisingly, his 2018 loss to Thales Leites proved to be his final appearance in the octagon. No fighter has been such a disappointment since.

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#2 BJ Penn - former UFC lightweight champion (7 losses in a row)

A UFC Hall of Famer, BJ Penn remains a true legend of MMA. 'The Prodigy' claimed the welterweight title in 2004 by dethroning dominant champ Matt Hughes, and four years later, became lightweight champion too.

In terms of sheer talent, in fact, it's arguable that Penn remains the greatest 155 pound fighter to ever step into the octagon. In his prime he possessed world class boxing, a ridiculous Brazilian jiu-jitsu arsenal, and near-impenetrable takedown defense.

Unfortunately, like so many other great fighters, 'The Prodigy' simply hung around for way too long after he'd left his prime years behind. He ended his career on the back of seven straight losses, and could've suffered more had Dana White not released him in 2019.

Penn's downward spiral started back in 2011. After returning to 170 pounds with a knockout of his old rival Hughes in their trilogy bout, he then pushed top contender Jon Fitch to the limit and came away with a draw.

However, a beating at the hands of Nick Diaz made the Hawaiian decide to step away from the game. At the time, it felt like a premature decision in many ways.

Sure enough, Penn returned a year later, but after suffering an even more one-sided loss to Rory MacDonald, quickly slunk back into retirement. Realistically, he should've stayed there.

Unfortunately, 'The Prodigy' would return for two more runs in the octagon, and failed to secure a win in any of them. He lost in violent fashion to Frankie Edgar and Yair Rodriguez, and even suffered defeats to lower-level foes like Dennis Siver and Ryan Hall - fighters he'd have buzzsawed in his prime.

In the end, Penn's behavior outside the octagon, which saw him involved in embarrassing drunken brawls, ended his tenure with the UFC. A planned fight with Nik Lentz, which could've led to an eighth straight loss, was canceled.

Realistically, though, someone should've stopped Penn from competing years before that. Thankfully, he's better remembered for his time as a great champion than the horrible losing streak that ended his career.

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#1 Tony Ferguson - former UFC interim lightweight champion (8 losses in a row)

This past weekend saw former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson suffer a one-sided defeat at the hands of Michael Chiesa. The loss was the eighth in a row for 'El Cucuy', setting an unfortunate UFC record.

It's been a rapid fall for the TUF 13 winner, particularly when you consider what came before his streak of losses.

Remarkably, coming into 2020, Ferguson was riding a 12-fight win streak in the octagon. That streak is the joint sixth-best in UFC history, and still stands as the third best run in the history of the lightweight division.

However, the wild style of 'El Cucuy', which saw him take plenty of damage even in his wins, was always likely to catch up with him.

He suffered a violent beating at the hands of Justin Gaethje in an interim title bout in 2020 that was tough to watch. Since then, he's never fully recovered.

In the four years that have followed, Ferguson has lost to Charles Oliveira, Beneil Dariush, Michael Chandler, Nate Diaz, Bobby Green, Paddy Pimblett, and now Chiesa. He's been knocked out twice during this run and submitted three times.

With any hope, Ferguson will now hang up his gloves for good, but even if he doesn't, his time in the UFC will likely be over. With eight losses in a row, it's a sad end to a once-great fighter's career - even if this streak has landed him in the record books.