5 obscure UFC fighters who were suddenly pushed into headline bouts

The UFC prides itself on being the world’s biggest and best MMA promotion, and so it stands to reason that their events are usually headlined by big stars.

On occasion, though, particularly since they started to produce a huge number of events, the UFC has had to pluck fighters from obscurity and elevate them into headliner status.

Often this has been due to the late-notice cancellation of a different headliner, but on other occasions, the promotion’s choice made little sense.

Here are five obscure UFC fighters who were suddenly pushed into headline bouts.

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#5. Shamil Gaziev – UFC heavyweight contender

This weekend’s UFC event was initially pegged to be the promotion’s first one in Saudi Arabia, but in January, it was announced that the visit to Riyadh had been postponed until the summer.

Although Dana White denied that this decision had anything to do with the promotion proposing a weak card for the event, it’s safe to say that this weekend’s headliner likely would not have gone down well in the Middle East.

That’s because one of the fighters in this weekend’s headliner is an obscure one to say the least.

Heavyweight prospect Shamil Gaziev, who is set to face veteran Jairzinho Rozenstruik in a five -ound bout, has only ever stepped into the octagon once before.

Sure, that fight saw him decimate Martin Buday, and he does have a 12-0 record, but should that be enough to make him a UFC headliner in 2024? Probably not, but the promotion has taken the decision to stack UFC 299 a week later and so there were few options for the matchmakers this weekend.

Gaziev could well go onto heavyweight title contention in the future, but for now, the native of Bahrain definitely stands as one of the most obscure headliners in octagon history.

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#4. Paddy Holohan and Louis Smolka – former UFC flyweight contenders

The UFC’s visit to Dublin in 2014 was one of the most memorable events of that year, largely thanks to the presence of Conor McGregor in the headline bout.

However, when the promotion returned to Ireland in late 2015, ‘The Notorious’ had moved onto bigger and better things, and so the event was never going to be quite as big.

Still, a headline bout pitting Ireland’s up-and-coming star Joe Duffy against Dustin Poirier sounded like fun, as did a co-headliner between heavyweight contenders Ben Rothwell and Stipe Miocic.

Unfortunately, with just days to go before the event, both of those fights fell apart, with Miocic and Duffy suffering injuries and Rothwell and Poirier failing to agree to take on different opponents.

That left the UFC scrambling, and they ended up elevating a largely obscure flyweight bout between Paddy Holohan and Louis Smolka into the headline slot.

The decision appeared to be down to the fact that ‘The Hooligan’ was a teammate of McGregor’s at the SBG gym, but realistically, he’d never appeared in a televised bout before, while Smolka had appeared just once.

While the fight turned out to be fun, it was a letdown as a headliner, not least because Holohan lost via second-round submission.

He never fought again, while Smolka unsurprisingly slipped back into obscurity soon after this bout.

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#3. Sean Salmon – former UFC light heavyweight contender

Largely due to the acquisition of a handful of rival promotions and their rosters, 2007 was the year that saw the UFC really begin to produce far more events than they’d done before.

That decision led to a number of questionable headline bouts that year, but one in particular stood out for featuring an obscure fighter making his octagon debut.

The first UFC Fight Night event of the year featured a main event pitting Rashad Evans against the largely unknown Sean Salmon in a real head-scratcher.

Evans was, at the time, considered to be one of the best prospects in the light heavyweight division, and he’d already beaten recognized contenders such as Stephan Bonnar and Jason Lambert to break into the top 10.

Salmon, on the other hand, had never fought on the big stage before and at 9-1, his record was hardly the most outstanding either.

Given that most fans had expected Evans to be given a big name opponent in his next fight, it was hard to get excited for the clash. Thankfully, ‘Suga’ scored one of the most memorable knockouts of his career with a head kick in the second round, sending fans home happy.

As for Salmon, he fought once more in the octagon, losing to Alan Belcher, and never returned to the promotion before retiring in 2013.

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#2. Patrick Cote – former UFC middleweight contender

Back in late 2004, former light heavyweight champ Tito Ortiz was at somewhat of a low ebb thanks to back-to-back losses to Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell.

Still one of the UFC’s poster-boys, the promotion decided to throw ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ a bone by matching him with an old rival in the form of Guy Mezger in the headliner of UFC 50 that October.

Unfortunately, just days before the event, Mezger suffered a stroke, leaving the matchmakers with a major problem.

They solved that problem by elevating undercard fighter Patrick Cote to the headliner to face Ortiz in what was a surprising move. Cote was making his octagon debut, only had five professional fights to his name, and was about as obscure as it got at the time.

Despite his lack of name value, ‘The Predator’ actually acquitted himself well against the former titleholder, dropping him in the first round and lasting the distance over three rounds, gaining plenty of fans in the process.

And unlike many of the other fighters on this list, he went onto a notable career afterwards, fighting in the octagon on 21 occasions and challenging for the middleweight title in 2008.

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#1. Joe Soto – former UFC bantamweight contender

Perhaps the best example of an obscure fighter being elevated into a major headliner is Joe Soto.

After winning and losing the Bellator featherweight title in 2010, Soto floated around on the regional scene before earning a shot in the UFC in 2014.

Initially pegged to fight Anthony Birchak on the preliminary card of UFC 177 that August, Soto felt like the kind of under-the-radar signing that wouldn’t make much of an impact in the promotion.

That all changed on the day of the event’s weigh-in. Headliner Renan Barao, who was set to challenge T.J. Dillashaw for the bantamweight title, botched his weight cut and ended up knocking himself out.

The incident naturally meant the Brazilian could not fight, and with Soto and Birchak the only other 135 pounders on the card, the former Bellator champ was offered an incredible opportunity.

He stepped into the main event on zero notice to make his octagon debut, and while he lost to Dillashaw, he did put up a valiant fight.

Unfortunately, Soto wasn’t able to follow this up with anything special, as he lost his next two bouts in a row too. While he remained on the promotion's roster until 2018, it’s safe to say that after his big headline bout, he slipped right back into obscurity.