5 UFC champions who lost in their first octagon appearance

#4. Luke Rockhold – former UFC middleweight champion

Luke Rockhold's title win erased the memories of a downright terrible octagon debut

Former Strikeforce middleweight champion Luke Rockhold entered the UFC in the spring of 2013 with plenty of fanfare behind him. An exciting fighter with finishing ability both on the feet and on the mat, he was riding a nine-fight win streak. Hopes were high of him quickly entering title contention.

However, those hopes went up in smoke when Vitor Belfort brutally knocked him out in his octagon debut, finishing him with a spinning wheel kick inside the first round.

It was the kind of knockout that could easily have made Rockhold into at best, highlight-reel fodder, and at worst, somewhat of a laughing stock.

Despite the loss, though, the former Strikeforce champ wasted no time in recovering. He took a few months off to heal up and then returned with a vengeance in 2014, violently taking out Costas Philippou, Tim Boetsch and Michael Bisping. He then dispatched top contender Lyoto Machida in early 2015.

Those wins set him up for a shot at then-middleweight champion Chris Weidman. In an epic battle that lasted for four rounds, Rockhold was eventually able to come out on top, capitalizing on an error from ‘The All-American’ to eventually finish him via TKO.

The lengthy title reign that many fans expected Rockhold to have didn’t quite go as planned. He lost the belt in a rematch with Bisping just six months after winning it. However, his title win was still excellent and if nothing else, it erased memories of Belfort’s spinning heel kick somewhat.

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#3. Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua – former UFC light heavyweight champion

After an embarrassing octagon debut, Mauricio 'Shogun' Rua eventually reached the top of the mountain

Once widely recognized as the greatest 205lber on the planet thanks to his exploits in PRIDE, when Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua signed with the UFC in 2007, great things were immediately expected.

After all, the Brazilian had violently taken out fighters like Alistair Overeem, Ricardo Arona and ‘Rampage’ Jackson in Japan. His only loss came via a freak injury in a fight with Mark Coleman.

So when the UFC announced a fight between ‘Shogun’ and TUF 1 champion Forrest Griffin, it seemed academic that the Brazilian would destroy his opponent before moving onto challenge for the promotion’s light heavyweight title.

However, when he appeared at the weigh-ins for the fight in what appeared to be less-than-peak shape, alarm bells began to ring. The svelte ‘Shogun’ from PRIDE suddenly appeared to be a little bloated, suggesting he was carrying an injury.

Sure enough, Rua simply couldn’t keep up with Griffin’s pace in the octagon and ended up falling to a third-round rear-naked choke in one of the biggest upsets of 2007.

Rua would not appear in the octagon again for over a year. When he returned and struggled to a win in a rematch with an ancient-looking Coleman, his time at the top appeared to be over.

Incredibly, though, ‘Shogun’ was able to recapture his best form just months later, knocking out Chuck Liddell to set up a light heavyweight title bout with Lyoto Machida. That ended with the former PRIDE champ coming up short in a controversial decision.

The UFC rewarded him with an immediate rematch. This time Rua did not disappoint, becoming the first man to stop Machida and taking his title in the process. The victory immediately turned ‘Shogun’ into a legend of the octagon as well as PRIDE, a label he still holds today.