5 times legendary UFC champions lost badly

#4 Shogun Rua vs. Jon Jones – UFC 128

Jon Jones' beatdown of Shogun Rua was one of the most vicious in UFC history

When legendary Light-Heavyweight champion Chuck Liddell was dethroned in 2007, the title seemed to become a hot potato of sorts. Rampage Jackson, Forrest Griffin and Rashad Evans all failed to make a single successful defence, and Lyoto Machida was gifted a win over ‘Shogun’ Rua in his first defence.

Shogun put things right in a rematch however, knocking Machida unconscious, and it seemed like the UFC had found their new dominant champ. Due to his prior success in PRIDE – and his UFC knockouts of Liddell and Machida – Shogun had a claim to being the greatest 205lber in the sport’s history.

Unfortunately, he was sidelined for almost a year after winning the title. Upon his return, he was supposed to defend against Rashad Evans, but when Evans blew his knee out, the division’s hot new thing – Jon Jones – was granted the fight instead.

Jones had won 6 straight UFC fights – with his only loss being a weird DQ to Matt Hamill in a fight that saw him destroy the wrestler – but there was still a feeling that a title shot could be too much, too soon for the youngster.

Instead, Jones dismantled Shogun over 15 minutes, finally finishing him off with a vicious combination at the end of the third round. It was a beating so vicious that Shogun actually appeared to tap out as he went down from the strikes.

Jones had destroyed Shogun standing, on the ground, and in the clinch – the legendary Brazilian barely had any offense at all; it was as if Jones was fighting a rank amateur, such was the difference inside the cage.

This was a beating on another level – perhaps the most vicious ever suffered by a reigning champion in UFC history.