The Rousey Curse: Ranking The Six Title Upsets Since UFC 193
For the UFC’s champions, the last nine months have been like a game of Russian Roulette, but perhaps with more than one loaded chamber.
Since Holly Holm brutally dethroned Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 on November 15, 2015, six other heavy underdogs have become UFC champions. Call it the Rousey Curse. Not every titleholder who went down has disappeared as completely as the “Rowdy” one has since her loss, but many have been finished in just as grisly a fashion. The next champion who goes into his or her title defense as more than a slight favorite has to be sweating bullets.
Only two champions have defended their straps as more than 2-1 favorites since that November night in Australia. The first was Rafael dos Anjos. The Brazilian whipped a kick into Donald Cerrone‘s liver, and followed up by pummeling “Cowboy’s” face until he could do nothing but cover up.
The second was Demetrious Johnson continuing his run at Anderson Silva‘s consecutive title defenses record. “”Mighty Mouse” styled on his latest challenger, Henry Cejudo, tenderizing his body with clinch knees until the former Olympian cried “Uncle””.
Other than those two instances, however, every other champion who was expected to walk through his or her challenger has been bounced from the mountaintop in shocking fashion. This piece ranks the championship upsets that have occurred since Rousey tumbled from her throne.
6. Miocic Sleeps Werdum
When Stipe Miocic met Fabricio Werdum in the main event of UFC 198 on May 14, 2016, he was an underdog, but not as significantly as others on this list. This, along with the fact that he was fighting for the heavyweight belt, kept the Cleveland native from climbing higher on this list.
The heavyweight strap has been historically difficult to hold on to, as the record for consecutive defenses is just two. Still, Werdum entered his first title defense with a good argument to be called the greatest heavyweight in history. Aside from his newly minted UFC title, he owned victories over the three other men who are in the conversation as the greatest ever. Werdum ended the unprecedented winning streak of Fedor Emelianenko with a triangle/armbar, submitted jiu-jitsu and MMA pioneer Rodrigo Nogueira, and pummeled and choked out the heir apparent to the GOAT mantle, Cain Velasquez.
The Kings MMA representative entered the bout with distinct advantages on the mat, at long range, and in close quarters. A long-time BJJ ace, the common belief was that if Miocic chose to use his wrestling, he would quickly be ensnared in Werdum’s lethal guard. The Brazilian also showed off his deadly Muay Thai skills against Velasquez, battering him with kicks and knees. Miocic might have had a pure boxing advantage, but it seemed he would be outgunned in a striking battle as well.
When it came down to it, the former Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling gold medalist was far too cocky, and it ended up costing him. He charged after Miocic with reckless abandon, failing to protect himself as he swung wild haymakers at the American. Miocic calmly retreated and ran Werdum into a right hand counter that knocked him cold. The Brazilian crashed face-first into the mat, his reign an exceedingly brief one.
Miocic climbed over the fence amid his cornermen, proclaiming “I’m a world champ!” While his was not the most shocking championship victory on this list, it was impressive and devastating nonetheless.
He will make his own first title defense at UFC 203 on September 10, in his native Cleveland, Ohio. Werdum, meanwhile, will look to rebound on the same card against Ben Rothwell.
5. Nunes Smashes Tate
After much reshuffling amid controversy swirling around Conor McGregor and Jon Jones, Amanda Nunes found herself in the main event of perhaps the grandest fight card to date: UFC 200. She also found herself a +195 underdog to new champ Miesha Tate at the July 9 event. Tate was coming off a vintage performance to capture the belt at UFC 196 (more on this in a bit), while Nunes had taken a unanimous decision from Valentina Shevchenko on the same night.
Despite being the dog, Nunes was not completely written off in Tate’s first defense of her new title. She was known for her brutal punching power and equally destructive top game. Tate, meanwhile, had a reputation for starting slow and taking damage in the first round before coming on strong and dominating late.
“Cupcake’s” Achilles heel reared up once again, and Nunes capitalized. Tate never got the opportunity to test Nunes’ suspect cardio in the later rounds, as the Brazilian smashed her with brutal offense. After breaking the champion’s nose, Nunes took the fight to the mat and cinched a rear naked choke to close out the fight. It was an utter drubbing, and cast the women’s bantamweight division back into utter confusion.
Nunes, a relative unknown, took advantage of the brightest spotlight of her career. She doesn’t climb higher on this list because her path to a win was clear and she executed it beautifully. Her division has also been wracked by inconsistency at the top ever since the Rousey Curse went into effect. But it was an impressive performance nonetheless, and gave the UFC its first openly gay champion.
4. Woodley Blasts Lawler
Many believed Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley did not deserve his shot at Robbie Lawler’s belt at UFC 201 on July 30 in Atlanta, GA. Lawler was coming off yet another Fight of the Year candidate against Carlos Condit at UFC 195, and many called for a rematch of their epic bout. Rumors of Georges St. Pierre returning also had Woodley sweating that he wouldn’t receive the title fight he had been promised.
When the dust settled, he needn’t have worried. The American Top Team psuedo-teammates were set to clash. But just as most fans wrote off Woodley’s championship aspirations, they were similarly disdainful of his chances against the “Ruthless” one. Lawler had turned away several worthy opponents behind his craftiness, power, durability, and relentlessness. Woodley opened as a +200 underdog, set to be a mere blip in the Lawler championship story.
However, some saw the writing on the wall. The vast damage Lawler absorbed during his reign seemed destined to catch up to him, and so Woodley closed at around only +120.
On fight night, Woodley rewrote the welterweight championship book with one overhand right. Lawler crashed to the canvas, stunned. A few more jackhammer rights sealed it. When Dana White strapped the belt around Woodley’s waist, the latest in a long string of championship takeovers was complete.
3. Tate Comes From Behind On Holm
At UFC 196 on March 5, 2016, Miesha Tate got her second chance at a UFC title. The perpetual bridesmaid of the women’s bantamweight division, she had already failed to unseat Ronda Rousey for the throne, and had a previous loss to “Rowdy” in Strikeforce. But she was capable of beating just about any other woman in the weight class.
When Holly Holm head-kicked Rousey off the bantamweight mountaintop, she simultaneously gave Tate a new lease on life in the division. But Holm would not be an easy nut to crack. Her championship-level boxing and kickboxing pedigrees made her a master of maintaining distance, punishing forward-moving opponents, and dealing damage from long-range. Tate would need to close the distance, get on the inside, and drag the fight to the mat, something Rousey was unable to do. And her an Olympic judoka and the best grappler in women’s MMA history.
Tate was able to score a much-needed takedown in the second round, threatened with submissions, and did serious damage from dominant position. But the finish did not materialize. Entering the fifth and final round, Tate had dropped the first, third, and fourth rounds, and so needed a finish if she was to wrest the title away from Holm. She got it.
“Cupcake” was once again able to secure a takedown in the final frame, and this time, she did not let Holm slip away. Tate secured the fight-ending rear naked choke and the UFC strap in the process. She had opened as a +310 underdog.
2. Alvarez Blitzes Dos Anjos
Like many of his contemporaries on this list, Eddie Alvarez was viewed as undeserving of a title shot when he got his at UFC Fight Night 90 on July 7, 2016. Alvarez had exited Bellator nearly three years earlier as their champion, but had since gone just 2-1 in the UFC. Worse, his two wins had been razor-close, contested split decisions, while his loss had been definitive.
To go along with being lucky just to get the fight, fans and pundits generally agreed that Alvarez would also be outgunned in his matchup with champion Rafael dos Anjos. Dos Anjos was a combination of devastating Muay Thai, suffocating pressure, and world-class jiu-jitsu. Alvarez, meanwhile, possessed good boxing, wrestling, and an ability to recover when rocked. Few thought this skill set would give the champion much trouble, who had just dismantled Donald Cerrone, the man to decisively beat Alvarez.
One right hook from the Philadelphian changed the doubters’ tunes. A clearly dazed dos Anjos staggered away, and Alvarez swarmed for the finish. He never did put down the champion, but the hellacious blows Alvarez dealt out again and again forced referee Herb Dean to intervene. Like every other challenger on this list save Tate, Alvarez blew away the heavily favored champion in under a round.
His has truly been a long and winding road, but Alvarez eventually arrived at his destination nonetheless: the UFC lightweight summit. As he said in his post-fight interview, woe betide the man who “brings the dog out” of Eddie Alvarez. His odds to become champion had been pegged at +240.
1. Bisping Shocks Rockhold
Michael “The Count” Bisping takes the cake as the most unlikely and spectacular championship upset for a couple of reasons.
Unlike every other challenger on this list, Bisping’s title fight against Luke Rockhold was not scheduled months in advance. Rockhold was supposed to rematch the man from whom he took the belt, Chris Weidman, but the former champ had to pull out with a neck injury.
Bisping wasn’t even the first call when it came to finding a replacement for UFC 199 on June 4, 2016. “”Jacare” Souza was next in line, but an injury suffered in his UFC 198 fight with Vitor Belfort precluded him from challenging. Another more worthy contender, Yoel Romero, was finishing out a suspension. Bisping was coming off a close win over all-time great Anderson Silva, but he was filming a movie in Canada and wasn’t in camp when he got the call two weeks out.
He accepted anyway. A decade-long UFC veteran, Bisping seemed destined never to fight for the title. He had fallen short in several number-one-contender matchups, often against known or suspected testosterone users.
On top of the facts that he was taking the fight on very short notice, he wasn’t the number one contender, and he had been toiling away for so long without realizing a title shot, Bisping had already lost to Rockhold. A head kick from the Californian had spelled doom for the Brit not even two years earlier. With seemingly everything stacked against him, Bisping entered the bout as +590 underdog in some places.
The brash and charismatic Brit shook it off, claiming that he would get his revenge, and his belt. With a left hook and a few follow-up shots on a dazed Rockhold, he did just that. Bisping had never been known for his power; in fact, he was derided for his lack of it. But his steadily improving boxing made mincemeat of an over-confident Rockhold, and made Bisping one of the most unlikely champions in UFC history.
“The Count” will try to avenge another brutal loss when he takes on Dan Henderson at UFC 204 on October 10, 2016, in Manchester, England.
