We\u2019ve had some improbable champs through the history of the sport, I\u2019ll list five in no particular order that stand out to me. <\/p>\n
-. Michael Bisping (Middleweight Champion)\u2028After winning The Ultimate Fighter 3, Bisping spent a full decade in the UFC as a tough, consistent contender and frequent gatekeeper. He was widely seen as a high-level veteran who would never quite break through to the title. At 37, he stepped in on short notice (17 days\u2019 notice) against Luke Rockhold and scored a shocking second-round knockout to win the belt in 2016\u2014one of the most unlikely title wins in UFC history. <\/p>\n
-2. Jan B\u0142achowicz (Light Heavyweight Champion)\u2028B\u0142achowicz entered the UFC with a strong regional record but quickly looked like a journeyman after going 2-4 in his first six Octagon bouts. He was written off by many as a mid-tier striker. He then steadily improved, put together a strong late run, and at age 37 knocked out Dominick Reyes to claim the vacant light-heavyweight title in 2020.<\/p>\n
-3. Charles Oliveira (Lightweight Champion)\u2028Oliveira holds the record for the longest UFC journey to a title: nearly 11 years and 28 Octagon fights. He debuted young, bounced between featherweight and lightweight, endured early losses and weight-cut issues, and was never regarded as a top contender for most of his career. He was a highly skilled submission artist and bonus machine, but still viewed as a solid veteran rather than championship material\u2014until a late-career surge culminated in him stopping Michael Chandler for the vacant lightweight title in 2021. <\/p>\n
4- . Glover Teixeira (Light Heavyweight Champion)\u2028Teixeira had a long, respected career as a tough Brazilian power-wrestler and contender. He earned an early title shot (losing to Jon Jones), then spent years as a high-level gatekeeper and veteran. He finally broke through at age 42 (two days after his birthday), submitting Jan B\u0142achowicz to win the light-heavyweight title in 2021\u2014the oldest first-time UFC champion in history at the time. <\/p>\n
-5. Robbie Lawler (Welterweight Champion)\u2028Lawler debuted in the UFC as a young, explosive prospect in 2002, but after early ups and downs (including a move up in weight and eventual release), he spent years competing in other promotions (PRIDE, Icon, EliteXC, etc.) as a durable, fan-friendly veteran. He returned to the UFC years later, rebuilt, and finally captured the welterweight title against Johny Hendricks in 2014\u2014more than 12 years after his Octagon debut. <\/p>\n
So what\u2019s your thoughts Maniacs? From a fan standpoint, the Oliveira and Lawler runs to the title were a pure joy to watch. Those are my top two for this list.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve had some improbable champs through the history of the sport, I\u2019ll list five in no particular order…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":924906,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,33601,36145,638,82,702],"class_list":["post-924905","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-latest-ufc-mma-news","tag-midnight-mania","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924905","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=924905"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/924905\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/924906"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=924905"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=924905"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=924905"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}