Forgotten UFC Champions

*Hoyce Gracie wins the first-ever UFC tournament. Credit: The Independent.*

In the history of the UFC, there have been 123 total undisputed champions across the men’s and women’s divisions, 2 Super Fight champions, and 21 tournament champions. In 2023 alone, we’ve seen titles exchange hands six times. With such a rich championship history, it’s understandable how a few champions may have been forgotten over time. Some champions’ names faded with time, while others tarnished their legacy to the extent of being forgotten. Today, we’ll review seven champions whom modern-day UFC fans have overlooked, whether or not they deserve to be.

Dave Menne

The UFC’s first-ever Middleweight champion, Menne, is a 60+ fight veteran who fought worldwide in promotions such as the UFC, Bellator, Rings, Shooto, and Cage Rage. Menne’s career spanned from 1997 to 2012, but he was crowned UFC champion in 2001 when he defeated Gil Castillo by Unanimous Decision. Menne truly fought a who’s who of fighters in the 2000s, with victories over Chris Lytle, Carlos Newton, and everyone’s favorite Speedo-wearing fighter, Dennis Hallman. While not finding victory against these opponents, Menne also fought Murilo Bustamante twice, Josh Koscheck, Jake Shields, and Matt Hughes, among others.

Evan Tanner

Evan Tanner is arguably one of the most interesting characters in the sport’s history, being the third-ever UFC Middleweight champion and still the only Texas-born champion in the promotion’s history. With a wrestling background, Tanner taught himself Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu through instructional tapes, making his grappling and submission prowess extremely impressive. Tanner won the vacant UFC Middleweight title at UFC 51 via a first-round TKO victory over David Terrell, dropping the strap in his next fight to Middleweight great Rich Franklin. Tanner has victories over Ikuhisa Minowa, Shannon Ritch, Phil Baroni, and two over Robbie Lawler. He was also the first American to win Pancrase’s Neo-Blood tournament in 1998 in only his second year as a professional fighter, defeating future UFC fighter Justin McCully by technical submission. Tanner fought at Middleweight and Light Heavyweight, reaching #1 contender status in both divisions at separate points, along with his Middleweight title victory. Tanner was known for being a wanderer, often adventuring into the woods for days at a time. In 2008, Tanner embarked on a solo trip into the California desert and, unfortunately, would never return. His body was recovered by search and rescue teams after his friends reported him missing.

Renan Barao

Renan Barao is a bit of an outlier on this list, having competed in the UFC as recently as 2019, yet is still relatively unknown to casual fans. Barao is best known for his ridiculous 32-fight win streak, with 7 of those wins coming in the UFC. Many of the victories during his win streak came on the Brazilian regional scene, giving him a reputation as a can crusher. Upon entering the UFC, Barao would pick up wins over WEC veterans Brad Pickett and Scott Jorgensen, earning himself an interim title shot against Urijah Faber while undisputed champ Dominick Cruz was injured. Barao would become the UFC interim Bantamweight champion after comfortably beating Faber over five rounds and would defend his interim belt twice, being the only UFC fighter to do so. Eventually, he was promoted to undisputed champion following a TKO victory over Eddie Wineland and would defend the undisputed title once, rematching Urijah Faber. The part of Barao’s story that most people are familiar with is his wild, upset loss to TJ Dillashaw, with Barao being as high as a -800 favorite before the bout. This would launch Dillashaw’s career while simultaneously killing Barao’s; he’d bounce back with a Performance of the Night victory over Mitch Gagnon in his next fight, but it wouldn’t last. After this, Barao would win only 1 of his next eight fights, leading to his release from the UFC.

Maurice Smith

The second-ever UFC Heavyweight Champion, Maurice Smith, is the only person on this list who has been inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame. Before his MMA career, Smith had an extensive kickboxing career with a record of 53-13-5. Smith is best known for his upset title victory over Heavyweight champion Mark Coleman, but he also has wins over Minoru Suzuki, Tank Abbott, Rick Roufus, and Marco Huas twice. Smith is one of the first fighters to cross-train disciplines, working with the legendary Frank Shamrock and Tsuyoshi Kohsaka to form their own fight team, The Alliance. With Smith, an experienced kickboxer, and Shamrock, a grappling specialist, their relationship was mutually beneficial, with both finding greater success after beginning to train together. Smith fought just about everywhere you could in the early days, with bouts in the UFC, Pride, Pancrase, K-1, Strikeforce, Rings, and more. Despite not having the best record at 14-14, Smith’s contributions to the sport are undeniable, and he was the first striker to truly find success in the UFC at a time when grapplers dominated.

Sean Sherk

Sean Sherk is the second-ever UFC Lightweight champion, beating Kenny Florian to win the vacant title in his Lightweight debut. Sherk had spent the rest of his career at Welterweight, even challenging Matt Hughes for the title at UFC 42, a bout he went on to lose by unanimous decision. He contended for both the Lightweight and Welterweight titles in his career, making him one of the first UFC fighters to compete for two belts. Sherk would defend his Lightweight title once, defeating Hermes Franca, but would test positive for PEDs after the fight and was stripped of the title. Franca would also go on to test positive for PEDs, making this one of the most infamous title bouts in the promotion’s history. Sherk has wins over Nick Diaz, Manny Gamburyan, Evan Dunham, and Karo Parisyan twice, and also has my favorite nickname of all time, “The Muscle Shark,” made hilariously ironic by his drug test failure.

Murilo Bustamante

The second-ever UFC Middleweight champion, Bustamante, defeated Dave Menne via TKO to win the belt. He would successfully defend the title once, submitting Matt Lindland, then vacating the title after signing with Pride. Bustamante would not experience the same success in Japan, losing his first three bouts in the promotion, given it was to top-tier competition in Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, Dan Henderson, and Kazuhiro Nakamura. Bustamante is also an accomplished grappler with numerous medal-winning performances in both the World Jiu-Jitsu Championships and the Brazilian National Championships. Although he only had four fights in the UFC, his impact is still felt, as he was one of the first genuinely well-rounded fighters with excellent boxing to back up his BJJ pedigree. He continues to contribute to the sport today, establishing the famed Brazilian Top Team gym in 2000 and continues to train fighters there today.

Nicco Montano

Montano, the first UFC women’s Flyweight champion, was awarded the belt after defeating Roxanne Modafferi to win season 26 of The Ultimate Fighter. Montano would never defend this belt, which has earned her a reputation as the worst UFC champion. After several surgeries, Montano was scheduled to defend her belt against future champion Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 228. There were rumors that Montano entered fight week 20 pounds overweight, and the fight was ultimately canceled when Montano was hospitalized due to complications relating to her weight cut. After ten months of waiting, the UFC finally stripped Montano of her title and scheduled Valentina Shevchenko to face Joanna Jędrzejczyk for the vacant belt. Montano would remain on the sidelines until 2019, when she fought Julianna Pena, losing via unanimous decision, and would then be released from the promotion. There’s not much to say about Montano; she went from being a fan-favorite TUF winner to being utterly hated in 10 months. Unfortunately, she will always be remembered as the worst UFC champion.