5 UFC champions who took a bumpy road to the top

#4. Fabricio Werdum – former UFC heavyweight champion

Fabricio Werdum washed out of the UFC in 2008, making his heavyweight title win in 2015 a big surprise

After a semi-successful run in Pride that saw him defeat the likes of Alistair Overeem and Alexander Emelianenko, Fabricio Werdum made his way to the UFC in 2007 with a reputation as one of the best heavyweight grapplers on the planet.

However, when he sandwiched wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Brandon Vera with losses to Andrei Arlovski and the debuting Junior dos Santos, ‘Vai Cavalo’ was quickly released from the promotion and looked like he’d go down as another footnote, a fighter who simply couldn’t quite cut it at the top level.

Rather than vanish from the sport, though, Werdum made his way to Strikeforce and promptly stunned everyone when he submitted legendary former Pride champion Fedor Emelianenko, who at the time was seen as unbeatable.

That was enough for the UFC to bring him back when they absorbed Strikeforce’s heavyweights onto their own roster in 2012. Werdum then went on an excellent run, defeating Roy Nelson and Mike Russow before taking out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Travis Browne.

Those wins netted him a title shot, which turned into an interim title bout against Mark Hunt, which the Brazilian won in impressive fashion too. Still, nobody expected him to be able to overcome reigning champion Cain Velasquez when they eventually met in 2015.

Incredibly, though, not only did Werdum beat Velasquez, he dominated him, battering him from the clinch before submitting him with a guillotine choke in the third round.

The win was one of the biggest upsets in UFC history and nobody could’ve expected the grappler, who washed out of the promotion in 2008, to be the man to pull it off.

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#3. Glover Teixeira – UFC light heavyweight champion

Glover Teixeira took years to climb to the top of the UFC, eventually winning the light-heavyweight title despite being over 40

Even before he’d arrived in the UFC, it was safe to say that Glover Teixeira had taken a bumpy road to the top of the sport. Unable to secure a visa to compete with the promotion, the Brazilian had fought for years on the regional circuit, putting together an impressive 17-2 record before entering the octagon for the first time in 2012.

However, making up for lost time, Teixeira quickly ran through five straight opponents, ending with a knockout of Ryan Bader, to set up a shot at light heavyweight champion Jon Jones in early 2014. Unsurprisingly, though, Teixeira lost that fight in pretty dominant fashion.

Over the next few years, while he remained close to the top of the division, defeating the likes of Rashad Evans, Ovince St. Preux and Jared Cannonier, the Brazilian suffered a number of losses too, falling to Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Johnson, and Corey Anderson, amongst others.

That loss to Anderson was particularly disappointing and given that Teixeira was pushing 40 at the time, it seemed like his career at the top was all but over.

Remarkably, though, Teixeira not only bounced back from the loss, but reeled off a subsequent five-fight win streak to put himself in line for a surprising second chance at the title.

This time, the Brazilian made the most of his shot, upsetting champion Jan Blachowicz with a second-round rear-naked choke to claim the gold.

Not only did the win make Teixeira one of the most unexpected champions in UFC history, it also made him the oldest fighter to claim a title for the first time, making him the definition of a champion who’d taken an arduous road to the top.