5 times the UFC handed title shots to more marketable fighters instead of deserving contenders

#2. Georges St-Pierre vs. B.J. Penn – UFC 94

The UFC overlooked Thiago Alves in order to book BJ Penn's second fight with Georges St-Pierre

Despite not being all that exciting on a rewatch, Georges St-Pierre’s clash with B.J. Penn at UFC 58 was instantly considered a classic by some UFC fans.

The fight saw Penn start quickly, hurting St-Pierre with his superior striking. GSP then came back to edge the final two rounds, taking a win via a contentious split decision. It was the biggest win of his career to that point and yet plenty of fans still believed Penn had deserved the nod.

Therefore, three years later, with GSP ruling over the UFC welterweight division and Penn holding the UFC lightweight title, it seemed to make sense to book a rematch, giving ‘The Prodigy’ the chance of becoming the UFC’s first simultaneous double champion in the process.

However, while the fight was hugely intriguing and massively marketable, there was one issue with it. The booking was totally unfair to Thiago Alves. At the time, ‘The Pitbull’ had become arguably the most feared 170-pound fighter on the roster and was riding a lengthy winning streak of seven fights.

More impressively, Alves was knocking off some of the UFC’s best, including Karo Parisyan, Josh Koscheck and former champion Matt Hughes. The Brazilian was not as marketable as Penn, though. In particular, a fight with GSP was never going to draw as much money as St-Pierre’s rematch with ‘The Prodigy’.

Therefore, Alves was overlooked, although in the end, things turned out pretty well. GSP beat Penn in a fight that drew a huge buyrate of 920,000 on pay-per-view and the Canadian duly fought ‘The Pitbull’ just six months later, defeating him, too.

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#1. Randy Couture vs. Brock Lesnar – UFC 91

Brock Lesnar's marketability - rather than his fighting ability - earned him a shot at Randy Couture

Perhaps the greatest example of a deserving contender for a UFC title being overlooked in favor of a more marketable fighter remains Brock Lesnar’s fight with UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture at UFC 91.

This was an interesting situation as, realistically, it wasn’t so much a case of a deserving contender being overlooked, it was more that basically any heavyweight in the promotion would’ve been more deserving than Lesnar at the time.

‘The Beast Incarnate’ had just two fights in the octagon prior to his title shot. They were a submission loss to Frank Mir and a decision win over Heath Herring. He was just 2-1 in MMA overall after starting his fighting career in 2007. However, Lesnar had already established himself as a huge draw, as the two events he’d appeared on, UFC 81 and UFC 87, drew unusually large numbers for the time.

Fascinatingly, too, the two fighters who probably would’ve been considered the most deserving of a shot at Couture were already booked against one another. Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira were already set to fight for the interim heavyweight title by the time the UFC booked Couture vs. Lesnar.

This was because prior to agreeing to fight Lesnar, Couture had been out of action for over a year, embroiled in a legal battle with the UFC. Purportedly, a fight with Lesnar, which guaranteed a big paycheck, was part of his reasoning for returning.

If that was the case, then it backfired, as Lesnar surprisingly knocked out the far more experienced champion in violent fashion. Despite this, there’s still no disputing that the former WWE superstar definitely didn’t deserve a UFC title shot and only got one due to his marketability.