5 MMA fighters who could have become UFC champions if they didn't retire early

#4. Phillip Miller (16-0)

Phillip Miller left the sport of MMA undefeated. His 16-0 record features 10 knockouts, 2 submissions, and 4 decision wins. He is one of the undefeated phenoms from MMA's early days, with his competitive history spanning from 2000 to 2003.

In those 3 years, he picked up a win over future Strikeforce middleweight champion Jake Shields in only his 2nd fight.

With a 13-0 record by the time he signed with the UFC, Miller went on to claim 2 easy wins in his first 2 bouts with the promotion.

A matchup with Phil Baroni was in the works, but it never came to fruition. Allegedly, Miller demanded higher pay to face Baroni, who at the time was a 5-1 professional. In response, the UFC allegedly cut him from the promotion.

While Miller fought elsewhere, he promptly retired from the sport afterward, capturing his 16th career win without ever facing the promotion's then-middleweight champion Murilo Bustamante, with whom he was two bouts from clashing.

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#3. Jimmy Flick (16-5)

Jimmy 'The Brick' Flick was a one-time UFC fighter who glided across flyweight, bantamweight, and featherweight prior to signing with the promotion.

At first glance, his 16-5 record doesn't seem to indicate high potential. However, 4 of those 5 losses came at bantamweight, where Flick did not possess the massive size advantage he did at flyweight. With a height of 5 feet and 7 inches, Flick was an average-sized bantamweight, an undersized featherweight and a towering flyweight.

With only 1 loss at flyweight, his size was a powerful tool for his grappling-heavy approach. Typically, a size advantage denotes future champions and title contenders as the champions in most divisions possess a size advantage over the majority of their competition.

Cory Sandhagen, Dominick Cruz, Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier, Charles Oliveira, Kamaru Usman, Khamzat Chimaev, Israel Adesanya, Alexander Rakic, Jiri Procházka, Ciryl Gane, and Francis Ngannou are all on the larger side of their respective divisions.

So when Flick made his UFC debut with an exciting flying triangle submission win in the 1st round, the hype surrounding his potential in the division was palpable. Unfortunately, the former LFA champion promptly retired from MMA after this win, citing concerns about MMA's absent safety net in terms of benefits.