5 times the aura of a UFC champion was destroyed completely

#2 Anthony Pettis vs. Rafael Dos Anjos

While he’d spent a lot of time on the shelf – a total of 16 months – following his Lightweight Title win over Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis was still seen as one of the brightest young champions in the sport as he went into his UFC 181 title defence against Gilbert Melendez.

After choking Melendez out in the second round, his stock soared to the point where he was considered one of the best pound-for-pound fighters on the planet. A follow-up title defence against Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 185 seemed almost like a challenger-of-the-month deal.

Instead, the Brazilian challenger humbled ‘Showtime’ in the most brutal way possible. Dos Anjos walked through the champion’s flashy strikes to hammer him with heavier punches, took him down with ease and absolutely dominated him on the ground too.

The fight went the distance, but was one of the most one-sided title fights in UFC history in favour of the challenger. Pettis went from a possible all-time great to a broken man in 25 minutes.

Since then Pettis has simply been unable to regain the aura he once had, as he lost further fights to Eddie Alvarez and Edson Barboza – and a drop to 145lbs didn’t help him either as he struggled past Charles Oliveira before being smashed to pieces by Max Holloway.

He has since beaten Jim Miller in a return to 155lbs, but he’s miles away from another title shot now and talk of him on the pound-for-pound list has long been forgotten.