5 greatest UFC fighters never to hold a title in the promotion

This weekend sees Joseph Benavidez challenge for the vacant UFC Flyweight title against Brazilian contender Deiveson Figueiredo, and should ‘Joe-B-Wan’ come away with the gold – he’s the big favourite, especially after Figueiredo missed the 125lbs Flyweight limit – his current status as one of the greatest UFC fighters not to hold a UFC title would finally come to an end.

But while Benavidez has his chance to right that wrong this weekend, there are plenty of other great fighters who did some tremendous things inside the Octagon, but unfortunately just couldn’t get their hands on a UFC title, be it because a monstrous champion stood in their way or due to various other reasons.

In no particular order, here are the 5 greatest UFC fighters to never hold a UFC title.

#1 Joseph Benavidez

3 of Benavidez's 5 losses came in major title fights

We may as well start with Joseph Benavidez, as he’s got the chance to remove himself from this list by beating Deiveson Figueiredo for the vacant UFC Flyweight title this weekend. For now though, ‘Joe-B-Wan’ could easily be considered the very best fighter to not get his hands on UFC gold. Incredibly, he could also be considered the best to miss out on WEC gold, too.

Benavidez debuted in the UFC in 2011 following the WEC roster’s move into the promotion, and at that point he was widely recognised as one of the best Bantamweights on the planet; 2010 had seen him miss out on winning the WEC 135lbs title after he lost a tight split decision to champion Dominick Cruz.

After 2 UFC wins at Bantamweight, it was announced that Benavidez would be dropping to 125lbs in early 2012 to take part in a 4-man tournament to decide the promotion’s first Flyweight champion. After knocking out Yasuhiro Urushitani, the Team Alpha Male stalwart advanced to the final, where he was to face off with fellow WEC veteran Demetrious Johnson for the title.

In yet another razor-close fight, Benavidez again came up short; despite knocking Johnson down in the fourth round and coming close with a guillotine choke, ‘Joe-B-Wan’ found himself on the wrong end of a split decision. Undeterred, Benavidez won his next 3 fights – two by KO – to set up a rematch against ‘Mighty Mouse’.

This time though, he was thoroughly outclassed, and suffered the first knockout loss of his career just 2 minutes into the fight. Since then, though, Benavidez has gone 9-1 with the only loss being a contentious split decision to Sergio Pettis, with future champ Henry Cejudo being one of his victims.

Take away the loss to Pettis, and Benavidez would have a record of 28-4 – with his only losses being to Cruz and Johnson, 3 times in title fights. Remove Johnson from the equation, and the likelihood is that we’d be talking about Benavidez as a pound-for-pound great and the best Flyweight of all time right now.

#2 Urijah Faber

Urijah Faber came up short in 4 UFC title fights

Benavidez’s mentor at Team Alpha Male, Urijah Faber also stands as one of the greatest fighters to never hold a UFC title. Incredibly, prior to the beginning of 2015, ‘The California Kid’ had a record of 32-7, with every single one of his losses coming in title fights; 1 to Tyson Griffin in the infancy of his career, 3 in the WEC and a further 3 in the UFC.

The closest Faber came to winning UFC gold was in his second fight in the promotion; he faced off with UFC Bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz – who he’d beaten in the WEC in his second Featherweight title defense – in the main event of UFC 132, and despite knocking ‘The Dominator’ down twice, he came out on the wrong end of a tight decision.

A win over former WEC champ Brian Bowles put him in line for another shot at Cruz, but when the champ injured his knee, an interim title fight with Renan Barao was put together instead – and Faber was firmly beaten by the Brazilian. Despite the loss, ‘The California Kid’ again climbed back up the ladder, winning another 4 fights in a row before suffering another loss to Barao, this time by KO.

Even then, there was still time for one last title shot; 3 more wins allowed him to finally net his trilogy fight with Cruz – who had re-captured his title in the interim – but Faber was again beaten, this time in much more convincing fashion.

The Californian retired less than 6 months after the loss to Cruz, and had it not been for the existence of ‘The Dominator’ and Barao, he probably would’ve gone down as a legendary UFC champion as well as a pioneer for the lighter weight classes.

#3 Yoel Romero

Yoel Romero could've worn UFC gold had he made weight at UFC 221 for his title fight with Luke Rockhold

Cuban Olympic wrestler Yoel Romero is all set to fight Israel Adesanya for the UFC Middleweight title in a few weeks’ time at UFC 248, and if he manages to win the title, naturally he’d be removed from any kind of list like this one. If he fails, though, he’ll only have himself to blame for his lack of gold.

There’s no shame in a loss to Adesanya of course, but the truth is that Romero should already have won a title; 2018 saw him knock out Luke Rockhold in an interim Middleweight title fight, but because he failed to make the 185lbs limit in the pre-fight weigh-in, he was ineligible to hold the title.

Outside of that, Romero’s only UFC losses – prior to last summer’s razor-close decision loss at the hands of Paulo Costa – came at the hands of Robert Whittaker in a pair of title fights. And in the form of Rockhold, Chris Weidman and Lyoto Machida, ‘Soldier of God’ can list three former UFC champions amongst his victims.

Perhaps the worst part for Romero? He became the top contender for the Middleweight title after his win over Weidman – but due to the UFC choosing to match champion Michael Bisping with former Welterweight kingpin Georges St. Pierre rather than the Cuban, he never got his chance at ‘The Count’ – a fighter he likely would’ve beaten. Still, there’s always the Adesanya fight.

#4 Alexander Gustafsson

Slightly different circumstances would've seen Alexander Gustafsson crowned UFC Light-Heavyweight champion

The UFC’s first real Swedish superstar, Alexander Gustafsson retired last year after a loss to Anthony Smith, but had circumstances been slightly different – basically, had a couple of razor-close decisions gone his way – ‘The Mauler’ could well be recognised as perhaps the greatest UFC Light-Heavyweight champion of all time right now.

After putting together a 7-1 record after debuting in the UFC in 2009, including a big win over former UFC champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua, Gustafsson was handed a title shot against longtime champion Jon Jones at UFC 165, with ‘Bones’ looking for his 6th successful defense.

Nobody really gave the Swede a chance – but incredibly, he took the fight to the champion like no other had done, and it was only a late rally by Jones that allowed him to squeak out a decision. Many fans in fact had Gustafsson winning the fight.

Two years later, ‘The Mauler’ was handed a case of déjà vu; after a loss to top contender Anthony Johnson, he was awarded a surprising title shot against new champion Daniel Cormier, who had claimed the title when Jones was stripped following a hit-and-run incident.

Once again, Gustafsson gave an incredible effort, hurting ‘DC’ on numerous occasions – but despite many fans expecting to see his hand raised, the judges thought otherwise and awarded Cormier a split decision win.

A third title shot wasn’t quite as close; the Swede fought Jones for a second time with the vacant UFC Light-Heavyweight title on the line – but came up painfully short when ‘Bones’ finished him off in the third round by TKO.

Forgetting that loss for a second though, Gustafsson’s career is one defined by his two sliding doors moments – moments where he could’ve become a champion had things been slightly different.

#5 Gray Maynard

Gray Maynard came remarkably close to winning the UFC Lightweight title on two occasions

Hard-nosed wrestler Gray Maynard’s UFC career might not have ended so well; ‘The Bully’ won just 2 of his final 8 Octagon appearances before being released from the promotion in 2018, but prior to that, he was widely recognised as one of the best Lightweights on the planet – and still stands as probably the best 155lber to not hold the UFC title.

Maynard’s UFC career began with his stint on the 5th season of The Ultimate Fighter; just 2-0 in professional MMA at the time, the wrestler made it to the semi-finals before being submitted by the far more experienced Nate Diaz. When he made it into the UFC proper though, he was largely unstoppable.

‘The Bully’ reeled off 8 straight wins – including a win over Diaz, avenging his loss on TUF – to set up a title shot at UFC 125 against then-champion Frankie Edgar. And given that Maynard already had a previous win over ‘The Answer’, it seemed likely that he’d finally get his hands on the gold.

Early on in the fight, it looked like that’d be the case. Maynard took the fight to Edgar, beating the stuffing out of him in the first round and having him on the verge of being finished more than once.

But somehow ‘The Answer’ survived, and managed to work his way back into the fight to the shock of everyone watching. Eventually, the fight was declared a split draw – leaving Maynard just inches away from winning the title.

The UFC understandably booked an immediate rematch, and incredibly, the fight followed the same pattern; ‘The Bully’ once again destroyed Edgar in the opening round, but once again he failed to put him away. And this time, when ‘The Answer’ fought back, he was able to land a killer blow and put Maynard away.

The second loss to Edgar eventually led to Maynard’s slide in form; a bizarre win over Clay Guida preceded a 4-fight losing streak, but due to how close he came to holding the Lightweight crown on two separate occasions – as well as his stellar record prior to his slump in form – he remains one of the best fighters to never hold a UFC title.