5 times a former UFC champion failed to regain their title in a rematch

#2 Rich Franklin vs. Anderson Silva – UFC 77

UFC 77 saw former UFC middleweight king Rich Franklin outclassed by Anderson Silva for the second time

Rich Franklin won the UFC middleweight title in 2005, defeating Evan Tanner, and it immediately became clear that the promotion saw ‘Ace’ as one of their new poster boys.

Franklin was given a huge push by the promotion, including a coaching stint on the second season of The Ultimate Fighter, and defended his title in devastating fashion against Nate Quarry and David Loiseau.

And so when he was booked to defend it against Anderson Silva at UFC 64, a show subtitled ‘Unstoppable’ in reference to Franklin, few UFC fans imagined that he’d lose.

But unfortunately, ‘Ace’ was thoroughly outclassed by Silva, who abused him with knees from the clinch en route to a first round TKO win. It was one of the most one-sided title fights in UFC history, but at the time, nobody really knew how dominant Silva would go onto become.

And so despite beating Travis Lutter and Nate Marquardt in the meantime, when Silva was booked in for a rematch against Franklin with the title on the line in Franklin’s hometown, many fans figured ‘Ace’ would find redemption by reclaiming his title.

Oct20.2007Anderson Silva makes the 2nd defense of his UFC Middleweight title, when he finishes Rich Franklin in their rematch at UFC 77 pic.twitter.com/m7986Rxvxj

— MMA History Today (@MMAHistoryToday) October 21, 2020

It simply wasn’t to be. Once again, Franklin was thoroughly outclassed by Silva, who finished him off in the second round with an absolutely vicious combination. Franklin was a great champion, but essentially Silva was far better, and this rematch only proved it for good.

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#1 Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman – UFC 168

Anderson Silva's rematch with Chris Weidman ended his dominant run in the UFC for good

While many fans favored Rich Franklin to regain his title from Anderson Silva at UFC 77, hardly anyone was picking Chris Weidman to dethrone ‘The Spider’ at UFC 162 some six years later.

That’s because Silva had gone onto become arguably the most dominant champion in UFC history, defending his title on 10 straight occasions.

He’d even taken a number of non-title fights during that time, and coming into UFC 162, he’d won a ridiculous 16 UFC bouts in a row. For anyone to defeat him would be a monumental task.

But Weidman refused to be sucked into the hype, and when Silva attempted to play mind games with him, ‘The All-American’ refused, and shocked the world by knocking the Brazilian out in the second round.

UFC fans were stunned and nobody was surprised when the promotion booked an immediate rematch, feeling Silva had basically thrown the title away with his risky behavior in the octagon.

But at UFC 168, Weidman proved once and for all that his win was no fluke. He battered the Brazilian and almost knocked him out again in the first round, and in the second, ended the fight by checking a leg kick and causing Silva’s leg to snap like a twig.

Anderson Silva posted a message to Chris Weidman after Weidman severely injured his leg at #UFC261 Weidman was Silva's opponent seven years ago at UFC 168 when Silva suffered a similar-looking injury. pic.twitter.com/hqtxTsnOep

— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) April 25, 2021

The end of the fight was a shocker, but the truth was that ‘The Spider’ had been well beaten by Weidman. The defeat marked the end of the Silva era in the UFC, as he would win just one of his next seven fights before retiring in 2020.