5 UFC fighters who were unbeaten in their home country

The UFC is truly a global promotion with fighters from all over the world. Some of those fighters have definitely used home advantage to help them more than others.

Over the years, we’ve seen a number of UFC fighters who would often suffer losses when fighting outside of their home country, only to produce their best in front of their own fans to remain unbeaten there.

Whether this was down to blind luck or was actually down to the home support given to these fighters by their countrymen remains a fair question to ask.

Either way, here are five UFC fighters who were unbeaten in their home country.

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#5. Charles Oliveira – UFC lightweight champion – unbeaten in Brazil

Charles Oliveira has never fallen to defeat in Brazil

While he’s now undoubtedly the best lightweight on the planet, it’s probably fair to say that Charles Oliveira’s career in the UFC has been an up-and-down one.

‘Do Bronx’ debuted in the promotion as an unbeaten prospect back in 2010, but it didn’t take long for him to lose that unbeaten status. Over the years that have followed, Oliveira has actually fallen to defeat on no fewer than eight occasions, although he hasn’t lost since 2017.

Fascinatingly, all of those losses have come outside of Oliveira’s native Brazil, where he remains unbeaten overall.

11 of Oliveira’s 12 pre-octagon wins came in his home country. Since he arrived in the promotion, he’s won a further six bouts in front of his countrymen, first returning there in February 2014 to submit Andy Ogle.

Oliveira’s biggest win in Brazil was probably his March 2020 victory over Kevin Lee. Interestingly, that bout came in front of no fans at all, as it turned out to be the headliner of the first show to take place during the COVID-19 pandemic.

As for his eight losses? Three took place in the US, but remarkably, ‘Do Bronx’ has lost four times in Canada, meaning that he should probably avoid fighting in that country in the future!

#4. Jimmy Crute – UFC light heavyweight contender – unbeaten in Australia

Unlike the likes of Robert Whittaker and Tai Tuivasa, Jimmy Crute remains unbeaten in Australia

The UFC has seen plenty of oceanic stars enter the octagon over the years, with the likes of Robert Whittaker, Alexander Volkanovski and Israel Adesanya reaching the top of the promotion by claiming gold.

However, the two City Kickboxing products have lost in their home country, while to name Adesanya, who is unbeaten overall in his MMA career aside from a sole loss at light heavyweight, would practically be cheating for a list like this.

So which oceanic star has never lost in front of his home fans? Aussie stars such as Tai Tuivasa and Mark Hunt suffered a number of defeats at home, but the same cannot be said for current light heavyweight prospect Jimmy Crute.

‘The Brute’ entered the octagon for the first time in 2018 as an unbeaten prospect, with all but one of his eight wins, his victory on Dana White’s Contender Series, coming Down Under.

Since then, Crute has gone 4-3 in the octagon. Despite that spotty record, he has never lost in front of his home fans. His first two wins came in Adelaide and Melbourne, respectively, and saw him defeat Paul Craig and Sam Alvey.

His loss to Misha Cirkunov, meanwhile, came in Vancouver, while his most recent defeats to Anthony Smith and Jamahal Hill both took place in the US.

Whether Crute can keep up his winning run in Australia probably depends on how the UFC match him next time around and whether he’s still with the promotion for the next time they head Down Under. For now, he qualifies for this list.

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#3. Deiveson Figueiredo – UFC flyweight champion – unbeaten in Brazil

Deiveson Figueiredo remains unbeaten in his native Brazil

Current UFC flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo is undoubtedly one of the most successful 125lbers of his generation. Given that he’s only lost two fights in his career, it shouldn’t be a surprise that he remains undefeated in his native Brazil.

‘God of War’ spent his entire pre-UFC career fighting at home, where he put together an impressive 11-0 record from 2012 to 2016 before signing for the world’s biggest promotion.

Even in his early days in the octagon, he fought almost exclusively in Brazil. His first three bouts all came there, reeling off wins over Marco Beltran, Jarred Brooks and Joseph Morales. In fact, his 2018 KO of John Moraga was the first time he’d fought outside of his home country.

Fascinatingly, since that fight, Figueiredo has not returned to Brazil to fight, largely because of the COVID-19 pandemic. His two losses, as well as his draw with Brandon Moreno, all came in the US.

Given the current success he’s found, winning the flyweight title on two occasions, it’s easy to see a scenario in which the UFC returns to Brazil in 2023 with ‘God of War’ as a headline act. Based on his current form, it’s hard to see him failing to remain undefeated at home for the foreseeable future.

#2. Georges St-Pierre – former UFC welterweight and middleweight champion – unbeaten in Canada

None of the great Georges St-Pierre's losses came in his home country of Canada

Given that he’s probably the greatest fighter of all time and easily the greatest fighter ever produced by Canada, it should hardly come as a surprise to learn that former UFC welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre never lost at home.

Indeed, ‘Rush’ only lost two fights throughout his epic career, falling to Matt Hughes in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Matt Serra in Houston, Texas.

What makes St-Pierre’s run at home most impressive, though, is that he was such a big star for the UFC that he almost exclusively fought in Canada for the majority of his lengthy five-year reign as welterweight king.

Of his 26 career wins, 11 of them came in front of his countrymen, with five of them coming prior to his octagon career and five of them coming in title fights, including four in a row between 2010 and 2013.

Interestingly, the closest that GSP came to losing in his pomp was against Johny Hendricks in November 2013, which marked his first bout outside of Canada since March 2010. Essentially then, it was hard to defeat St-Pierre anywhere, but it was practically impossible in Canada.

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#1. Michael Bisping – former UFC middleweight champion – unbeaten in the UK

None of Michael Bisping's nine UFC losses came at home in the UK

A former UFC middleweight champion as well as a Hall of Famer, Michael Bisping remains easily the greatest fighter to enter the octagon hailing from the UK. If anything, the fact that ‘The Count’ paved the way for the likes of Dan Hardy, and later Paddy Pimblett and Tom Aspinall, remains the greatest part of his legacy.

However, to say that things were never plain sailing for Bisping in the octagon would be an understatement. He had to fight in the promotion for an entire decade before he finally won gold, famously knocking out Luke Rockhold in June 2016, and suffered a number of brutal losses over the years.

Despite tasting defeat on nine occasions, though, Bisping was always able to win in front of his home fans. After hanging up his gloves at the end of 2017, he did so having never fallen to defeat in the UK.

It wasn’t like Bisping didn’t fight at home, either. In fact, the UFC would regularly visit the UK during his tenure with the promotion, usually with ‘The Count’ either in the headline or co-headline bout.

Of Bisping’s 30 MMA wins, 19 came in the UK. While 10 of those wins came prior to his octagon tenure, most in the Cage Warriors promotion, he also picked up some huge UFC wins at home, including over Anderson Silva, Chris Leben, Yoshihiro Akiyama and his title defense against Dan Henderson.

Overall, then, ‘The Count’ will be remembered as a true great everywhere, but in his native UK, his legacy may never be surpassed.