Top 5 undeserving title challengers in UFC history

#4 Brock Lesnar – Heavyweight title vs Randy Couture (2008)

Brock Lesnar had just 3 professional fights to his name when he challenged Randy Couture in 2008

It’s arguable that Randy Couture himself deserves a spot on this list; after all, ‘The Natural’ had retired in 2006 after two KO losses to Chuck Liddell at 205lbs, only to return in 2007 as a Heavyweight and be instantly granted a title shot against Tim Sylvia, but Couture was at least a UFC legend and at the time, Sylvia had no clear-cut top contender.

Brock Lesnar, on the other hand, definitely didn’t deserve a shot at Couture’s Heavyweight title in 2008. ‘The Beast Incarnate’ had only debuted in the UFC 9 months before the fight and he’d gone 1-1, bouncing back from his debut loss to Frank Mir by beating Heath Herring. He’d looked good against Herring, but still, it was only his third professional fight.

More to the point, due to Couture’s contractual dispute with the UFC keeping him out of action for over a year, the promotion had crowned an interim champion in the form of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. So surely a unification fight made more sense than simply awarding Lesnar a title shot?

The UFC evidently didn’t believe so, feeling that Lesnar’s popularity – stemming from his WWE days – would make him a huge box office smash against Couture. And so the former professional wrestler was awarded a hugely undeserved title shot.

In the end, Lesnar actually got the last laugh; he stunned everyone by knocking Couture out to claim the title, and when Frank Mir defeated Nogueira to win the interim belt, ‘The Beast Incarnate’ stopped him in a rematch too, unifying the titles en route to becoming the UFC’s biggest ever draw to that point.