5 UFC champions who took a bumpy road to the top

#2. Michael Bisping – former UFC middleweight champion

Michael Bisping's middleweight title win was one of the biggest upsets in UFC history

To say that Michael Bisping’s career with the UFC had a number of twists and turns would be a massive understatement. After debuting via the third season of The Ultimate Fighter, which saw ‘The Count’ win the light heavyweight tournament, he quickly established himself as the promotion’s UK poster-boy, but that didn’t exactly make him popular in the US.

Instead, Bisping quickly became one of the promotion’s biggest villains. While he went onto headline multiple UFC shows, both in the UK and elsewhere, it seemed like he’d never realize his dream of becoming the first ever British fighter to capture gold in the octagon.

Simply put, ‘The Count’ just didn’t seem quite good enough for that level, no matter how hard he tried. Sure, he picked up major wins over the likes of Denis Kang and Yoshihiro Akiyama, but also suffered losses to fighters like Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva and Luke Rockhold, keeping him away from a middleweight title shot.

By early 2016, Bisping was on the wrong side of 35 years old. While he’d earned the respect of the fans who once despised him, he still seemed miles away from a title shot. When he beat former champion Anderson Silva, who was arguably past his prime at the time they fought, it felt like the closest he’d get to the top.

Just four months later, though, ‘The Count’ was given a massive opportunity. He stepped in to fight Rockhold, then the champion, in a rematch with the title on the line on just 17 days’ notice. Nobody expected him to win, but bizarrely, Rockhold was so confident that he simply didn’t take Bisping seriously.

When the champ dropped his hands one too many times, then, the Brit made him pay, turning his lights out with a left hand to shock the world.

Not only was the victory seen as one of the most unlikely title wins in UFC history, but it was also the culmination of a lengthy journey for Bisping, one that showed that sometimes, persistence pays off.

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#1. Charles Oliveira – UFC lightweight champion

Charles Oliveira proved his doubters wrong by winning the UFC lightweight title after over a decade of fights in the octagon

When Charles Oliveira knocked out Michael Chandler to win the vacant UFC lightweight title in 2021, it was hardly a stretch to suggest that, despite his considerable skills, ‘Do Bronx’ was one of the most unexpected champions in the promotion’s history.

Sure, the Brazilian had always been considered an exciting fighter to watch and held the UFC’s record for the most submission wins in the octagon, but he’d also gained the reputation of a somewhat flaky fighter who couldn’t really pull through adversity.

After all, in his first seven years with the promotion, ‘Do Bronx’ had lost a total of eight fights, with only one of those defeats going the distance. Overall, he’d been submitted on three occasions and stopped via strikes on four, with his losses to Max Holloway and Cub Swanson standing out as overly disappointing.

Things started to change for the Brazilian in late 2017. After taking time off following his loss to Paul Felder, Oliveira returned as a seemingly transformed fighter early the following year.

While his submissions remained as deadly as ever, ‘Do Bronx’, who appeared to have finally grown into his 155-pound frame, was now equally dangerous with his strikes and had developed a strong wrestling game to go with itm too.

Oliveira immediately began to reel off victories and after winning eight in a row – with the final one coming over former interim lightweight champ Tony Ferguson – the UFC granted him a shot at the title vacated by Khabib Nurmagomedov.

The fact that Oliveira survived a beating in the first round of his title bout to overcome Chandler via knockout in the second seemed poetic in itself, proving that he’d come a long way from his days as a flaky fighter who’d go down easily.