Champ Fight / Nagannou Info

Since UFC 1, an undisputed championship belt has been on the line 192 times – keep in mind this does not include interim title fights. In those bouts, the reigning champion is

Now, I know what you are thinking. This number is skewed because of the dominance of champions like Georges St-Pierre, Anderson Silva and Demetrious Johnson. However, if we remove all five fighters who have defended their UFC belt seven-plus times (Johnson, Silva, GSP, Jon Jones and Jose Aldo), the record for champions is still .

Even excluding those truly dominant champions mentioned above, UFC champions win roughly two out of three times.

But what if you want to back the challenger? Theoretically, the challenger should enter a championship bout as an underdog. As Ric Flair said, “To be the man, you gotta beat the man.”

Though challengers have successfully won the title in just 28.6 percent of UFC championship bouts, there is an interesting wrinkle. Challengers who have won the UFC title have done so by knockout 65.5 percent of the time. Comparably, champions have won by T/KO at just 40 percent. In addition,

That basically means that if you are backing the title challenger, you may want to also look at that fighter to win by T/KO or to win within the first two rounds.

However, the longer a championship fight goes, the more it tends to favor the titleholder. . This likely has something to do with the length of a championship fight being 25 minutes compared to the usual 15. Champions are more accustomed to fighting a longer fight compared to challengers who – more often than not – are only used to three rounds.

Mixed martial artists spend years of their lives in an attempt to climb the ladder of the UFC in hopes of one day becoming a member of the select few who have the privilege of holding on to the company’s gold. That belt is meant to signify that you have reached the mountaintop, that you are the best fighter in the world at your weight class.

However – that is not always the case.

There are times when the holder of the belt is seen as more of a paper champion. As a fighter who is simply keeping the seat warm for the next, true heir apparent. Sometimes, the champion is an underdog.

This is a trend that has continued to grow more and more as the relevance of championship belts has seemingly diminished. Since November 12, 2016 – the date of UFC 205 – a champion has entered the Octagon as an underdog on seven occasions. To put that into perspective, from the beginning of 2009 until UFC 205 that had only occurred a grand total of six times.

Within the span of 18 months, we have seen more champions as underdogs than we had seen in the more than seven years prior.

UFC 205 has been the catalyst for the shift of the landscape of the UFC title picture. The main event of the UFC’s first-ever card in the state of New York saw Conor McGregor – maybe the most famous mixed martial artist ever – move up in weight to take on Eddie Alvarez. With a dominant performance, McGregor not only won the lightweight gold, he also proved the perceived fallacy of weight classes.  

No longer is the titleholder the best. The titleholder is simply the best right now. A person whom we tend to overlook in the moment while constantly looking toward who will dethrone him or her.

However, in the new era of MMA, we need to learn just how valuable that title is.

Since the beginning of 2009, UFC champions who have faced a challenger as an underdog are a combined 8-4-1. From Frankie Edgar at UFC 118 to Robbie Lawler at UFC 189 all the way up to Amanda Nunes at UFC 215, champions have proved time and time again to be worthy of the gold.

Let’s say that you bet $100 on each of those underdog champions since the beginning of 2009. You would be up $725.00.

However, what about recently? Using UFC 205 as the turning point, how have dog champs done? From UFC 205 onward, underdog UFC champions are 4-2-1. One of those losses is also tainted, as Jon Jones later tested positive for an anabolic steroid after defeating Daniel Cormier at UFC 214. Again, assuming you bet $100 on each of those champs, you would have made $230.

Yet another UFC champion will step inside the Octagon as an underdog soon, as Stipe Miocic will put his heavyweight crown on the line vs Francis Ngannou at UFC 220.

“Listen, I feel a little bit disrespected, but I’m not going to dwell on it,” . “All the pressure is on [Ngannou], honestly. … The best guys he’s faced, I knocked them out two years ago. So, whatever.”

Does Miocic deserve to be the underdog? History says “no.” But we won’t truly know that answer until January 20 in Boston. However, there is one thing I know for sure – history says you should not be disrespecting the champ.