5 UFC fighters who gave bizarre reasons for losing fights

#4. Minotauro Noguiera at UFC 140

Mir on the cusp of breaking Noguiera's arm

The second time former UFC star Noguiera lost to Frank Mir also marked the first time he lost via technical submission. While scoring the submission win on an MMA stalwart like Noguiera was grand news for Mir, Minotauro had other ideas.

Going into their first bout at UFC 92, Noguiera blamed a severe staph infection and knee problems for his loss. His explanation was understandable as both health calamities would inhibit any fighter’s performance. The question that remained was why didn’t he simply postpone the fight at the time?

For UFC 140, with his arm now broken in half owing to his refusal to tap out in time, Noguiera revealed a new problem. Initially dominating Mir in the first round with ground and pound, Noguiera went for a guillotine choke (not the last time someone makes that error on this list). Mir rebounded almost immediately from the submission attempt to pick up a submission win of his own.

Noguiera later claimed he wanted a submission victory to finish the fight “beautifully”. Needless to say, there was nothing beautiful about the horrifying state of his arm when all was said and done.

He later changed his mind and blamed referee Herb Dean. Minotauro claimed Dean was getting on his back over shots to the back of Mir’s head, prompting him to change strategy. Why he couldn’t have simply re-angled his punches to Mir so they weren’t nailing his cerebellum is anyone’s guess.

#3. Tito Ortiz at UFC 106

Tito Ortiz at UFC 106

UFC 106 was originally meant to be headlined by then-UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar facing Shane Carwin. Due to the debilitating symptoms of his diverticulitis at the time, Lesnar had to pull out. Tito Ortiz’s second fight with Forrest Griffin (the first was at UFC 59 where Ortiz won via split decision) was then bumped up to the main event slot.

The light heavyweights duked it out for three rounds before the end result came down to the judges. Griffin got his win back on ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ via split decision in a fight Ortiz himself can’t remember.

Following the defeat, Ortiz revealed he’d actually been operating with a concussion he sustained towards the end of his training camp. Ortiz explained that an inadvertent head butt during sparring not only rattled his brain but fractured his right orbital bone as well.

Ortiz went on to explain the reason he didn’t pull out of the fight despite these secret injuries was due to Lesnar’s fight cancelation. He feared that if he too pulled out, the UFC would be in dire straits. The crowd appeared unconvinced, ultimately booing Ortiz for his comments.