Being a former UFC title challenger has lately become a hard factoid for a fighter to carry through his/her career.
Last Saturday, former bantamweight challenger Mayra Bueno Silva suffered her fifth consecutive loss when she dropped a unanimous decision to Michelle Montague. It was her fourth time fighting since her failed attempt to capture the title in 2024, and she looked listless yet again, putting her at risk of being cut.
That performance followed on from Gilbert Burns retiring after being knocked out Mike Malott in Winnipeg a week prior. Like Bueno Silva, the former welterweight challenger absorbed his fifth straight loss.
They, however, are not the only title fighters to suffer brutal skids this decade. Here are three more…
After losing to Stephen Thompson in 2017, Jorge Masvidal took a one-year sabbatical to appear on a reality show. When he returned in 2019, he did so in violent fashion against Darren Till, knocking out the Liverpudlian in the second round.
It proved to be the first of three straight wins that year. Masvidal followed it up with a record-breakign flying knee against Ben Askren, then clinched the “BMF” title against Nate Diaz at Madison Square Garden.
That set the stage for a miraculous short-notice title shot against the then-dominant Kamaru Usman in 2020, but it was all downhill from there. Masvidal was controlled on the ground for most of the 25 minutes in that fight. He then got a rematch, successfully claiming that the lack of a camp had hampered his performance, and was promptly knocked out within two rounds.
That was not to be the end of Masvidal’s fall, however. After almost 11 months away, he fought Colby Covington and was again dominated, though he did get a bonus out of it. It was followed by a 13-month hiatus, and when he returned, it was against Burns. Another lopsided decision loss led Masvidal to lay down his gloves inside the Octagon.
Now, Israel Adesanya has yet to decide what is next for his future, but he is currently at the worst stretch of his career.
After regaining the middleweight title from Alex Pereira, Adesanya was initially set to fight Dricus Du Plessis. An injury to the South African, however, forced the UFC to pivot towards Sean Strickland, and many thought it would be a mere filler defense for the champion.
Instead, to everyone’s shock, Strickland dropped Adesanya in the first round. Adesanya managed to recover in the second, but the next three rounds were all Strickland, as he scored a massive upset to clinch the title.
Since then, Adesanya has failed to recover. He was the first challenger in Du Plessis’ reign and lost via submission. He then submitted to Nassourdine Imavov and was most recently TKO’d by Joe Pyfer.
Should Adesanya somehow be booked again, the UFC will need to have a long talk with him about his fighting future. It need not end with the “retire for an office job” ultimatum that Chuck Liddell purportedly received, but some lines have to be drawn.
This is just sad.
Once upon a time, Tony Ferguson was considered the boogeyman of the lightweight division. His unorthodox fighting style gave multiple opponents fits, as evidenced by his 12-win streak from 2013 to 2019 that also saw him become interim champion. He was drawing comparisons to Khabib Nurmagomedov, and a fight between them was always seen as inevitable despite repeated cancellations, and then 2020 arrived.
After Nurmagomedov was stranded in Russia, Ferguson was given a chance to win the interim title against Justin Gaethje. Win, and the dream fight would finally become reality. Instead, it became the beginning of a nightmare.
Gaethje won a slugfest by fifth-round TKO and took the Nurmagomedov fight for himself, eventually becoming the champion’s last-ever conquest before retiring. Ferguson, meanwhile, proceeded to lose his next seven fights.
It began with a lopsided decision against Charles Oliveira later that year that saw Ferguson dominated on the ground over three rounds. It happened again against Beneil Dariush in 2021, leading him to take a year’s absence.
When Ferguson returned in May 2022, it was against Michael Chandler. While he showed flashes of his old self in the first, he was ultimately put down by a nasty front kick in the second. He managed to recover well enough to be initially booked against Jingliang Li in September, but then circumstances led him to a dream matchup against Nate Diaz.
The nightmare continued, however, as Ferguson lost via fourth-round guillotine. He went on a lengthy break again, then lost two more in 2023: a submission to King Green and a decision to Paddy Pimblett. A final submission loss to Michael Chiesa, which broke the record for longest losing streak in the UFC, ended his time with the promotion.
Cruelly enough, Chandler may become the latest unwitting member of this clique. At UFC Freedom 250, he faces Mauricio Ruffy in what can only be described as a “must-win”.
Not getting Conor McGregor, whom he had wanted since they coached The Ultimate Fighter almost five years ago, is bad enough. At 40 years of age, he cannot afford a loss to Ruffy, which will be his fourth straight and put him among the next batch of cuts. If he wants to remain relevant, even just as an attraction fighter, he has to win…
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