5 UFC past fighters you've probably forgotten about

#4 Costas Philippou

Costas Philippou has been forgotten despite main eventing a UFC show in 2014

It’s almost hard to believe that former Middleweight contender Costas Philippou has been essentially erased from the minds of the collective UFC fanbase, given he was ranked as highly as #7 in the 185lbs division at one time and even main evented a 2014 Fight Night show against Luke Rockhold. But that’s the case, as barely a mention of him has been made since his 2015 retirement.

Philippou began his UFC career strangely – he washed out of TUF 11 with a loss to Joseph Henle in the pre-house fights, but then came into the UFC proper as a late replacement for Dan Miller and lost to Nick Catone – another long-forgotten fighter. But turning his career around, Philippou then reeled off 5 wins in a row to gain a spot in the UFC’s top 10.

A huge fight with Jacare Souza was mooted for May 2013, but Philippou had to withdraw due to an injury, and then lost his subsequent fights with Francis Carmont and with Rockhold, knocking him out of title contention. He picked up a win over Lorenz Larkin after that, but was then sidelined for a year with injuries, and after he lost to Gegard Mousasi in May 2015, he chose to retire.

With a hugely exciting fighting style based around his heavy hands, it’s surprising that Philippou has faded so badly from the memories of the fans – especially given the prominence he was given on the UFC’s cards for a while – but his quiet personality never really caught on – which probably explains the lack of mention he receives now.