5 biggest upsets in UFC title fights

#4. Julianna Peña vs. Amanda Nunes - UFC 269

Like every fight on this list, the initial matchup between Amanda Nunes and Julianna Peña was written off as a certain win for the Brazilian.

Nunes was the most dominant female fighter in history, having beaten every single UFC women's bantamweight champion. Miesha Tate, Ronda Rousey and Holly Holm all populate her list of victims. Even former women's featherweight champions Germaine de Randamie and Cris Cyborg are among those who fell before her might.

If Nunes' record against former champions need be any more impressive, she has also twice defeated reigning women's flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko. Peña, by contrast, had won but a single fight since her shocking submission loss to former kickboxing champion Germaine de Randamie, an opponent she shared in common with 'The Lioness'.

It was a stunning defeat considering de Randamie's supposed grappling experience compared to Peña's credentials as a Brazilian jiu-jitsu purple belt. So, off the back of one win, 'The Venezuelan Vixen' challenged Nunes for the bantamweight title.

While she certainly felt the Brazilian's vaunted punching power, Peña refused to bend, relying on her grit as she interrupted Nunes’ jabs with her own, stopping her foe from building off of her jab.

By the second round, 'The Lioness' shocked the MMA world with her visible exhaustion, succumbing to Julianna Peña's rear-naked choke with no hooks sunk in. Nunes tapped out, and every spectator stood in disbelief.

While the rematch ended differently, their first encounter will forever remain in the history books as one of MMA's biggest upsets.

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#3. Holly Holm vs. Ronda Rousey - UFC 193

At one point in time, Ronda Rousey was surrounded by so much hype that Joe Rogan made the flattering claim that the then reigning UFC women's bantamweight champion could defeat half of the men's bantamweight division, a statement that the UFC's resident color commentator recanted years later. This, however, illustrates how unstoppable Rousey seemed at the height of her career.

Before UFC 193, 'Rowdy' finished all 12 of her foes, with only Miesha Tate escaping the first round before surrendering to a third-round armbar. The Olympic bronze medalist looked as unbeatable as any fighter ever had.

Holly Holm, a relative newcomer to MMA, was nothing more than a lamb fattened up for slaughter. At least, that's what the UFC had hoped for. Instead, what ensued was one of the most lopsided losses in championship history.

In front of one of the largest crowds in UFC history, Holm outworked Rousey like no other. She used lateral movement and pivots to evade her opponent's linear charges, making the judoka pay for her linear charges by intercepting her with straight left-counters every time Rousey lunged forward with her chin exposed. The Olympic bronze medalist never moved her head off the center-line nor cut off Holm's angles of escape, instead repeatedly running into counters.

When Rousey managed to force her way into the clinch, Holm wisely tucked her arms close to her torso, denying the judoka an arm to set up a throw or trip with. After the first round, Rousey was bloodied and stunned. The second was more of the same until finally, Holm dropped her foe with a left hand before flattening her with a thunderous left high kick.

Herb Dean mercifully called off the bout, and Rousey was unstoppable no more, suffering her first career loss.