5 UFC fighters who never should've returned from retirement 

This weekend at the UFC’s Fight Night event in London, former light heavyweight title challenger Alexander Gustafsson will attempt to right the ship after suffering a defeat following his return from retirement in 2020.

Alexander Gustafsson isn’t the first UFC fighter to return from retirement and struggle. While he might turn things around, the same cannot be said for some fighters who attempt a comeback.

The following fighters received plenty of hype when they returned to the octagon, only to find it hard to recapture the magic.

Here are five UFC fighters who made a big return, but probably should’ve stayed retired.

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#5. Miesha Tate – former UFC bantamweight champion

Miesha Tate has suffered two bad losses since returning from retirement in 2021

When former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate hung up her gloves in November 2016 following a loss to Raquel Pennington, it felt like a fitting end for ‘Cupcake’.

After all, she had realized her career goal earlier that year by winning the title she’d dreamed of for years. After dropping it to Amanda Nunes and then subsequently losing to Pennington, she had little else to prove.

More to the point, Tate had fought most of the top fighters in her weight class, had been competing for nearly a decade, and at the age of 30, seemed ready to move on with her life.

Sure enough, two years later, ‘Cupcake’ became a mother for the first time, and then gave birth to her second child with former TUF contestant Johnny Nunez in the summer of 2020. At that stage, a return to the octagon felt like the furthest thing from Tate’s mind.

However, early 2021 saw her announce a return to action. When she defeated Marion Reneau via TKO, it seemed like Tate was not only back, but she hadn’t really lost a step.

Unfortunately, that wasn’t quite the case. Since that win, ‘Cupcake’ has been badly beaten by Ketlen Vieira and Lauren Murphy, the latter defeat coming after she got into the best shape of her career to cut to 125lbs for the first time.

Overall, given that she turns 36 next month, it seems unlikely that Tate will move back into title contention any time soon, bringing into question whether she should’ve come back in the first place.

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#4. Chuck Liddell – former UFC light heavyweight champion

Chuck Liddell struggled during his comeback in 2010

One legendary fighter who almost certainly should never have attempted to return from retirement is former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell. At his peak, ‘The Iceman’ was undoubtedly the promotion’s biggest star – but his downfall proved to be far quicker than his rise.

2005 saw Liddell claim the light heavyweight title from Randy Couture. He went onto defend it against the likes of Renato Sobral, Jeremy Horn and bitter rival Tito Ortiz, drawing millions of dollars on pay-per-view in the process.

However, when he was knocked out by ‘Rampage’ Jackson in 2007, losing his title in the process, Liddell suffered a swift slide. He won just one of his next four fights, outpointing Wanderlei Silva but falling to defeat against Keith Jardine, Rashad Evans and Shogun Rua – the latter two opponents knocking him out badly.

Those losses were enough to push ‘The Iceman’ to hang up his gloves, but just over a year later, the former champion announced a return to action. He coached TUF 11 against his old rival Ortiz, but when ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ suffered a neck injury and was forced out of the planned bout with Liddell, Rich Franklin stepped in.

Unfortunately for Liddell, ‘Ace’ was far closer to his prime than Ortiz, and after a thrilling bout, he landed a right hand that knocked ‘The Iceman’ out at the end of the first round, sending him back into retirement and making everyone question why he’d returned in the first place.

Bizarrely, in 2018, Liddell later attempted another comeback, albeit outside the UFC. At the age of 48, he suffered a horrible knockout at the hands of Ortiz, and has thankfully not fought since.

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#3. Urijah Faber – former UFC bantamweight contender

Urijah Faber suffered a horrible beating at the hands of Petr Yan after returning from retirement

Few UFC fighters get to retire off the back of a big win, but that’s what happened to former bantamweight and featherweight contender Urijah Faber in 2016.

He announced that, at the age of 37, he’d be hanging up his gloves after one more fight. When he edged out fellow veteran Brad Pickett, his decision felt like the right one.

However, just under three years later, ‘The California Kid’ announced that he’d signed a new deal with the UFC to return, and found himself matched with up-and-comer Ricky Simon on a Fight Night event in July 2019.

Faber actually pulled off an impressive victory over Simon in what was a wild, frantic bout that saw both men eat some big shots. Even then, there was nothing to suggest that the head of Team Alpha Male could get back into title contention.

That didn’t stop the promotion from matching him with the bantamweight division’s most dangerous prospect, Petr Yan, in his next fight, though. Few fans were giving Faber a chance, and sure enough, ‘The California Kid’ suffered a brutal third-round TKO after being beaten down throughout the fight.

Faber has not fought since that loss, but he remains under contract with the promotion as an active fighter. We could see him make another ill-advised comeback at any time in the near future.

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#2. Carlos Condit – former UFC welterweight champion

Carlos Condit found things hard going when he returned from his 2016 retirement

When Carlos Condit announced his retirement after a loss to Demian Maia in 2016, it was a decision that seemed to have come out of nowhere. After all, just one fight prior to the Maia defeat, he’d come inches away from defeating Robbie Lawler for the UFC welterweight title.

Still, ‘The Natural Born Killer’ was 32 years old at the time, and had been competing at a high level for well over a decade, meaning he’d taken a ridiculous amount of damage. With that considered, few fans questioned his choice.

However, just over a year later, Condit was back, announcing his return to action against Neil Magny in December 2017. Given that he hadn’t looked past his prime when he retired, many fans expected him to return to form quickly, but that wasn’t the case.

Condit suffered a clear defeat to ‘The Haitian Sensation’, and followed that loss with a pair of submission defeats to Alex Oliveira and Michael Chiesa. Had ‘The Natural Born Killer’ been in his prime, he’d have been favored to defeat all three men.

The native of New Mexico did win both of his fights in 2020, outpointing Court McGee and Matt Brown, but a loss to Max Griffin in 2021 pushed him back into retirement, having won just two of five bouts since returning. In reality, he’d have been better off staying on the shelf.

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#1. BJ Penn – former UFC lightweight champion

All three of BJ Penn's comebacks were ill-advised

Perhaps no other UFC fighter harmed their legacy by making ill-advised returns from retirement quite so badly as former lightweight and welterweight champ BJ Penn.

‘The Prodigy’ initially hung up his gloves in 2011, but came back on multiple occasions, all to diminishing returns.

Initially, his return seemed to make sense. The Hawaiian’s decision to step away following a loss to Nick Diaz seemed like a snap one, and in the fight prior to that, he’d taken top contender Jon Fitch to a majority draw.

However, after being battered by Rory MacDonald in his return bout, Penn looked very much past his best, and nobody was surprised when he headed back into retirement.

More fans were shocked when he announced another comeback, 18 months after his first one, in an attempt to defeat old rival Frankie Edgar, who ended his lightweight title reign in 2010. Of course, by mid-2014, ‘The Prodigy’ was miles past his best, and it was sad more than anything else to see him stopped by Edgar in the third round of their bout.

Remarkably, Penn then returned for a third time, despite having nothing to prove and the fact that his previous comebacks had already damaged his legacy.

This time he suffered four straight losses, all to fighters he probably would’ve destroyed in his prime, before being released by the UFC due to his embroilment in legal issues outside the octagon.

With his career now seemingly over for good, Penn’s record stands at 16-14-2. It's a far cry from the 16-7-2 ledger he boasted when he initially walked away. In this case, there’s no disputing that he’d have been better off staying retired.