'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
In the world of the UFC, a bad defeat can affect a fighter greatly. It's common that a defeated fighter looks to rebound quickly, and this can often backfire.
Some UFC fighters, though, choose to take a longer time away from the octagon to recover from a loss or two, and this can often be beneficial.
Right now, there are a handful of such fighters on the roster; fighters who managed to take time off to recharge their batteries and came back looking better than ever.
Here are five UFC fighters who clearly benefited from some time away from the octagon.
Trending
Get the latest updates on One Championship Rankings at Sportskeeda and more
#5. Petr Yan - former UFC bantamweight champion
At the peak of the COVID-19 pandemic, Petr Yan was by far the bantamweight division's most feared fighter.
Boasting a record of 14-1, when he smashed Jose Aldo to score his seventh octagon win and claim the vacant 135-pound title, it felt like a new era had arrived in the division.
Unfortunately, that new era was short-lived. 'No Mercy' lost his title to Aljamain Sterling via disqualification in his first defense, failed to regain it in a rematch, and then lost to Sean O'Malley and Merab Dvalishvili.
The Dvalishvili fight in particular was disheartening for Yan, as he took a five-round beating and looked a completely different fighter to the one who'd destroyed Aldo and Urijah Faber.
Some fans began to claim 'No Mercy' was nothing but hype, while others figured he was shot after his bad run.
Smartly, though, rather than return right away, Yan took a full year off to recover and attempt to regain his mojo. His approach worked perfectly.
'No Mercy' outpointed Song Yadong in his comeback fight last March, and then looked firmly back to his best in a win over Deiveson Figueiredo in November.
Yan's next fight has yet to be announced, but based on the Figueiredo win, he could well prove to be a title threat once again. It's absolutely fair to say that taking some time off probably saved his UFC career.
#4. Sean Brady - UFC welterweight contender
In late March, Sean Brady picked up the biggest win of his UFC career to date. The grappling ace dominated and submitted former welterweight champ Leon Edwards in front of a hostile crowd in London, England.
Brady is now ranked at No.1 in the 170-pound division, and could well receive a title shot in the near future.
If he does manage to secure a shot at the gold, his current win streak will obviously be the primary reason. The secondary one, though, could be the 14 months he spent away from the octagon from October 2022 to December 2023.
Brady suffered the only loss of his career to Belal Muhammad at UFC 280 on the earlier of those two dates, going down via knockout in the second round. The bout showed that his striking was a major weakness and was some way off his grappling skills.
Since his return 14 months later, though, he's gone from strength to strength. His grappling is still deadly, as he showed against Edwards and Kelvin Gastelum, but his striking has also improved immeasurably, as he showed in his win over Gilbert Burns.
In this instance, it could be argued that Brady benefited from a couple of injuries as well as his time off. He was initially linked with fights against Michel Pereira and Jack Della Maddalena during his period away but was unable to compete in either one.
Either way, though, it's safe to say that Brady used his absence to not only rehabilitate his injuries but to hone his overall skills, too - and it's paid off for him in spades.
#3. Carlos Ulberg - UFC light-heavyweight contender
Right now, Carlos Ulberg is riding the longest winning streak in the UFC's light-heavyweight division, with eight wins in a row.
Thanks to his most recent win over former champion Jan Blachowicz, the chances are that he'll receive a title shot in the near future.
If 'Black Jag' does indeed fight for the gold, he'll probably look back and regard his decision to take a period away from the octagon following his debut as one of the best of his career.
Ulberg first stepped into the octagon in March 2021 with some hype around him. 'Black Jag' had a strong reputation from his kickboxing days, and was a training partner of then-middleweight champ Israel Adesanya.
However, he was also very raw at just 4-0 and ended up gassing out in a TKO loss to Kennedy Nzechukwu.
It would've been easy for Ulberg to simply jump back into action, and had he done that, he probably would've suffered further losses.
Instead, he took a year away to hone his overall skills, and when he returned, he'd clearly improved dramatically. He took out Fabio Cherant in his return bout and hasn't looked back since, showing far better abilities in the clinch and on the ground in particular.
Ulberg's hard-hitting style may lead him to the ultimate success in the UFC, but his patience should receive equal adulation, too.
#2. Dominick Reyes - UFC light-heavyweight contender
This past weekend at UFC 314, Dominick Reyes landed one of the night's best knockouts when he took out Nikita Krylov with a clean left hand in the first round.
'The Devastator' was arguably unfortunate not to receive a $50k bonus for his handiwork, but with everything considered, he probably didn't mind all that much.
The win was his third in a row and took him up to No.8 in the light-heavyweight division, his highest ranking for some time.
It seems hard to believe now, but if you rewind back to the start of 2023, most fans believed Reyes was done as a top-level fighter entirely.
After narrowly failing to defeat Jon Jones for the 205-pound title at the start of 2020, 'The Devastator' fell to Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka, suffering a pair of bad knockouts.
When he returned after just over a year away and was knocked out again, this time by the lower-ranked Ryan Spann, it felt like his durability and ability to compete at the top level were both gone entirely.
However, rather than hang up his gloves or look to return too quickly, Reyes instead sat out for the entirety of 2023 in an attempt to regain his mojo.
After missing a March 2024 bout with Carlos Ulberg due to injury, 'The Devastator' finally returned in June and surprised everyone by stopping kickboxer Dustin Jacoby in his best showing for years.
He followed that by finishing Anthony Smith, and his stoppage of Krylov this weekend was arguably the best of his entire career.
Reyes now seems poised to make another run at the 205-pound title, and if he pulls it off, it's fair to say he probably saved his UFC career by taking a stretch away.
#1. Alexander Volkanovski - UFC featherweight champion
While he didn't take quite so long away from the octagon as some of the other fighters on this list, Alexander Volkanovski certainly benefited from a year out of action.
After all, before his win over Diego Lopes this past weekend - which saw him regain the UFC featherweight title - 'Alexander the Great' was written off by some fans as past his best.
It was easy to see why. The Australian was knocked out by Islam Makhachev in an unsuccessful challenge for the lightweight title in October 2023. He then returned just four months later to defend his 145-pound crown against Ilia Topuria.
While there's no disputing the talent of 'El Matador', it's probably fair to suggest Volkanovski came back too soon. He didn't look at his best physically and was violently knocked out in the second round.
It probably would've been easy for 'Alexander the Great' to take a return bout later in 2024 in an attempt to bounce back. Instead, he took the first real extended absence of his UFC career (excluding his time filming TUF 29) and stayed away, instead returning this past weekend.
It was clear from Friday's weigh-ins that the Aussie was back to his physical best at least, and sure enough, he produced his best showing since his 2023 victory over Yair Rodriguez to reclaim his title.
Now sitting at the top of the featherweight mountain once again, Volkanovski has a very fair claim of being the best 145-pounder of all time. If his second reign as champ is as good as his first, he may well have his year-long absence to thank for it.
