5 of the worst title challengers in UFC history

#5 Elvis Sinosic

Elvis Sinosic was badly overmatched in his title fight with Tito Ortiz in 2001

A pioneer of MMA in Australia, Elvis Sinosic is widely regarded as one of the nicest guys to ever compete in the sport, and without him, who knows whether the UFC would ever have taken off Down Under as it has. With that said, there’s simply no way ‘The King of Rock N’ Rumble’ should’ve had a shot at the UFC Light-Heavyweight title in 2001, and it’s telling of the climate in the promotion back then that he actually did.

Sinosic actually came into the UFC with a questionable record – 3-3-1 – and off a loss, but as that loss had come against former UFC champ and legend Frank Shamrock, and the Aussie had pushed him to his limit, it was felt that he was worth a go-around in the Octagon. Matched with Jeremy Horn, the feeling was that Horn would dispatch the Aussie in easier fashion than Shamrock had done, thus securing a title shot at reigning 205lbs champion Tito Ortiz.

It didn’t quite go down that way, though, as Sinosic shocked the world by catching Horn in a triangle choke/armbar combination, forcing him to tap out after just 3 minutes of action. Now, if that happened today – a debutant beating the top contender to a title – the likelihood is that said debutant would be given at least another tough bout to follow up, while the title shot would go elsewhere entirely.

In 2001 though, Sinosic had beaten Horn and thus the UFC decided he’d taken his title shot, too. And so Sinosic was booked to challenge Ortiz at UFC 32 – and promptly got destroyed in one-sided fashion, losing by TKO in the first round. Elvis would go on to a further 5 UFC appearances, losing them all, and his career ended with his record at 8-11-2. He was a far better fighter than that suggests, but in all honesty he should never have received a UFC title shot.