Israel Adesanya, Alexander Volkanovski and more: 5 UFC fighters who proved to be kryptonite for a legendary champion

Across its history, the UFC has seen a great number of amazing champions who have looked unbeatable at times. But in the world of MMA, every fighter has their kryptonite.

Over the years, we’ve seen numerous examples of fighters who turned out to be kryptonite for a UFC champion who once seemed invincible, even if they didn’t always go onto the same kind of success.

Often, these fighters seemed perfectly designed to find a single hole in the champion’s game. On other occasions, they simply pulled through with the perfect gameplan.

Will Israel Adesanya prove to be the next champion to find his kryptonite when he faces old kickboxing rival Alex Pereira at UFC 281 next month? Only time will tell, but if he does, he won’t be the first to suffer in this way.

Here are five UFC fighters who were kryptonite for a legendary champion.

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#5. Randy Couture – Kryptonite for UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz

Randy Couture stunned everyone when he proved to be Tito Ortiz's kryptonite

Back in the early 2000’s, there was no question around who the UFC’s most dominant champion was. It was light heavyweight kingpin Tito Ortiz.

By the end of 2002, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ had held his title for two years, and had dispatched of five successive challengers. His takedowns looked unstoppable, he was a proven submission threat on the ground, and his striking seemed to be improving dramatically, too.

Essentially, nobody in the promotion seemed capable of beating him. When former heavyweight champion Randy Couture, who was 40 years old and looked past his best, upset Chuck Liddell to win an interim title and position himself as Ortiz’s top challenger, that didn’t seem likely to change.

Remarkably, though, when they faced off in a title unification bout, ‘The Natural’ not only defeated Ortiz, but he made it look simple, too.

In hindsight, it shouldn’t have been a surprise to see Couture take Ortiz down with ease and batter him on the ground. He had far better wrestling credentials, after all. However, to see such a dominant champion treated like a child, with ‘The Natural’ even spanking him in the dying seconds of the fight, was still jaw-dropping.

Essentially, Couture was Ortiz’s kryptonite, and with his aura of invincibility shattered after the defeat, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was never the same fighter.

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#4. B.J. Penn – kryptonite for UFC welterweight champion Matt Hughes

BJ Penn was always a horrible match for legendary welterweight Matt Hughes

While his dominance of the welterweight division has since been surpassed by Georges St-Pierre and – arguably – Kamaru Usman, Matt Hughes remains one of the most accomplished champions in the history of the UFC, with two title reigns and a total of seven successful title defenses under his belt.

However, while GSP’s win over him in late 2006 signaled the end of his time atop the 170lb division, it’s arguable that the fighter who really proved to be kryptonite for the Illinois native was B.J. Penn.

Not only did ‘The Prodigy’ end Hughes’ first epic title reign in early 2004, but he also defeated him in their 2010 trilogy bout. He probably would’ve won their second fight were it not for an unfortunate injury, too.

Few fans gave Penn a hope of defeating Hughes in their first meeting. Not only had the Hawaiian never fought at 170lbs at that point, but he appeared to be up against a fighter who was far too big and strong for him to handle.

‘The Prodigy’ proved that idea wrong, though, by taking the powerful wrestler down before stunning him with a right hand on the ground. The shot allowed Penn to take Hughes’ back. From there, a rear-naked choke followed to set up one of the biggest upsets in octagon history to that point.

Their rematch, which took place just over two years later, seemed to be going the same way as Penn hurt Hughes standing in the first round and dominated him on the ground in the second. However, a rib injury meant he had nothing left in the third and succumbed to a TKO.

Still, the Hawaiian had the last laugh in their final clash, needing just 21 seconds to knock the former champion out and prove once and for all that despite all of Hughes’ skills, Penn was always a horrible match for him.

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#3. Israel Adesanya – Kryptonite for UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker

Israel Adesanya has now proven his dominance over Robert Whittaker twice

While he wasn’t quite as dominant a champion as some of the others named on this list, there’s no denying that by 2019, Robert Whittaker was clearly dominant over the rest of the UFC’s middleweight division.

After claiming the interim title by beating top contender Yoel Romero in the summer of 2017, Whittaker was upgraded to be recognized as undisputed champion a year later. He then defended his title against Romero in a rematch.

At that stage, ‘The Reaper’ held wins over the likes of Jacare Souza, Derek Brunson and Uriah Hall too, and it was hard to imagine anyone stopping him.

However, when he met deadly striker Israel Adesanya in late 2019, he found himself outgunned for the first time at 185lbs. ‘The Last Stylebender’ was simply too accurate, too quick and too good for Whittaker to handle. He handed ‘The Reaper’ his first loss since 2014 by knocking him clean out in the second round.

The idea that Adesanya was kryptonite for Whittaker was only cemented further by what happened next. Three wins in a row set ‘The Reaper’ up for a rematch with the new champion, but despite performing far better the second time around, he still found himself dominated by the New Zealand-based kickboxer, as he was unable to manage to land a killer blow.

Since then, Whittaker has once again proven his own brilliance by comfortably outpointing former title challenger Marvin Vettori. However, he simply doesn’t have the right style to ever beat ‘The Last Stylebender’, who is the definition of kryptonite for ‘The Reaper’.

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#2. Alexander Volkanovski – Kryptonite for UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway

Alexander Volkanovski has proven to be kryptonite for Max Holloway, beating him three times

Max Holloway dethroned the legendary Jose Aldo in the summer of 2017 to claim the UFC featherweight title. He then smashed the Brazilian later in the year in a rematch. With that, it felt like a new era had begun at 145lbs.

That feeling only intensified when ‘Blessed’ then dispatched top contenders Brian Ortega and Frankie Edgar. The likes of Joe Rogan were quick to label the Hawaiian the greatest featherweight of all time.

However, that idea was quickly shattered – on three occasions nonetheless – by current titleholder Alexander Volkanovski.

‘Alexander the Great’ had definitely earned his first title shot, which took place in 2019. Few fans could believe it when he used his leg kicks and combination work to thoroughly outpoint Holloway, claiming his title in a major upset.

Nobody was surprised when ‘Blessed’ was handed an immediate rematch seven months later. But despite coming closer this time, once again he came up short and was defeated by Volkanovski on the scorecards.

Despite losing their first two meetings, a pair of impressive wins put the Hawaiian in line for a third crack at ‘Alexander the Great’ earlier this year. Once again, Volkanovski came out on top, this time leaving no doubt whatsoever by completely dominating Holloway on the feet over five rounds.

Essentially, it seems like whatever Holloway can do, Volkanovski can do slightly better, making him a perfect example of kryptonite in the UFC.

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#1. Holly Holm – Kryptonite for UFC bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey

Holly Holm destroyed Ronda Rousey's aura of invincibility in 2015

Perhaps no other UFC champion in the history of the promotion gave off as much of an aura of invincibility as former bantamweight queen Ronda Rousey did in her prime.

During her reign as bantamweight champion, ‘Rowdy’ was so good that she’d dispatch top-ranked challengers in a matter of seconds without barely breaking a sweat. She was so dominant, in fact, that Joe Rogan even suggested that she could compete with the promotion’s best male 135lbers.

However, that was all before Rousey met the fighter who proved to be her kryptonite – former multiple-time world boxing champion Holly Holm.

By the time of her UFC debut in 2015, Holm had some MMA experience, but had never really fought at the top level. Her unconvincing wins over Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau certainly didn’t suggest that she stood a chance against Rousey.

However, when the two women met in Melbourne, Australia in late 2015, Holm proved definitively that styles made fights. She dismantled Rousey en route to a second round knockout victory.

Remarkably, the fight wasn’t even close. Rousey didn’t come close to taking Holm out on the ground, and was painfully outgunned standing – charging forward with ineffective combinations and eating huge shots on the counter in turn.

When ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ landed the killer blow – a head kick – it almost felt merciful, such was the one-sided nature of the bout.

Rousey’s reign had come to an end, and while Holm didn’t go onto the kind of dominance that her predecessor did, she’d definitely proven herself to be kryptonite to the legendary ‘Rowdy’ champion.