Top 10 UFC champions who never successfully defended their titles

#8 Evan Tanner

Do you remember this underrated middleweight?

Of course, it makes sense that most fans would think of the likes of Anderson Silva and Rich Franklin when they think of dominant middleweight champions. But Tanner is one of the most underrated middleweights that the UFC has ever seen and it’s an unfair reality.

Tanner spent most of his career bulldozing his middleweight competition and it’s recorded in his record, which is a wickedly rare 40 fights with 29 finishes.

Considering the fact that we’ve seen fighters struggle aplenty to even finish fights, Tanner’s feat is pretty damn impressive. Another one of his feats that is often forgotten is his short period as the UFC middleweight champion in 2005.

He won the vacant belt against David Terrell at UFC 51 but then lost it in his first title defense against the legendary Rich Franklin.