5 times legendary UFC champions lost badly

#5 Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm – UFC 193

Holly Holm ended Ronda Rousey's title reign in stunning fashion

In 2015, there was no denying who the biggest star in MMA was – UFC Women’s Bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey. She’d come over to the UFC from StrikeForce in 2013 as their reigning champion, and immediately reeled off an incredible 6 title defences, with 5 of those fights ending in the first round and 3 of them ending in the first minute.

Her vicious finishing skills coupled with her good looks and electric personality made her the UFC’s biggest drawing card, but few people could’ve predicted how sudden – and hard – her downfall would be.

Having beaten the majority of her division, Rousey was matched with former professional boxer Holly Holm in the main event of the UFC’s first trip to Melbourne, Australia. Holm was 2-0 in the UFC, but hadn’t really convinced in her wins, and the feeling was that she was simply another warm body for ‘Rowdy Ronda’ to submit.

Shockingly though, that wasn’t the case at all. The fight turned out to be the worst possible style match for Rousey, as Holm played the matador to the champion’s bull to perfection. Rousey’s cruder strikes couldn’t get close to Holm’s pinpoint shots, and even when the champ secured a takedown, Holm was able to escape.

Despite losing the first round, it still came as a total shocker when Rousey still continued to charge like a bull in the second, swinging wild punches that simply weren’t close to catching Holm. Seconds later, the fight was over. Holm connected with a vicious left head kick that would go on to be replayed millions of times across the world – and the dominant champion was left unconscious.

Rousey’s astonishing reign as Bantamweight champion had been ended in the most violent way possible, and she never recovered from the crushing defeat – taking a year off before losing to new champion Amanda Nunes in equally brutal fashion. This was a defeat both jaw-dropping and nasty in equal measure.