Where Have Yesterday’s Champions Gone?

Not even a year ago, I examined the landscape of UFC champions for an article. The premise, not one to enshrine in the Hall of Bold Proclamations, centered on the idea that Anderson Silva’s record for consecutive UFC championship defenses was under attack from multiple angles. Silva tore through challengers to his title 10 times; it would have been more, but he took a few vacations to the light heavyweight division. The brief holidays allowed a barren middleweight division time to squeeze out another sorry contender.

When Silva used a barrage of knees to force the middleweight crown from Rich Franklin’s head – a crown he subsequently bashed Franklin with when he dared try to reclaim it – no major league champion had made more than five consecutive championship defenses. For a time, that seemed to be an unofficial limit. Mixed martial arts is a sport in which there are a million different ways to lose, and even the most talented fighters will incidentally stumble into one. It’s also a young sport, one that evolved from the dark ages to the modern age before turning 20; in turbulent times of constant change, staying on top for two or three years, long enough for five title defenses, over later models with newer styles and techniques and more advanced training methods, was a tremendous feat.

Silva, alongside Georges St-Pierre, who effectively retired in 2013 with 9 consecutive title defenses at welterweight, blew the lid off the standards by which a dominant fighter was measured by defeating consistently elite level competition for longer than anyone else. (Fedor Emelianenko should be considered in that same category, although his resume is a mix of great heights and baffling lows. Nevertheless, whether a high or a low, they were a win all the same.)

And so in 2015, more and more fighters were reaching the heightened standard set by Silva and St-Pierre. Jon Jones made his eighth light heavyweight title defense in January, a title run with a list of fallen foes that Silva or St-Pierre’s championship lists could not contend with. Featherweight Jose Aldo had made seven UFC title defenses, with two more in the WEC. Ronda Rousey trailed them both, making her sixth defense in August 2015, but she handled her opponents with such ease it was almost blasphemy to believe she’d be stopped before piecing together four more. Flyweight kingpin Demetrious Johnson added two defenses in 2015, totaling seven heading into 2016.

Even the champions with fewer defenses seemed destined for great reigns. Heavyweight Cain Velasquez fought infrequently, but when he fought, blood spilled and hospitals were visited. Middleweight Chris Weidman, conqueror of Anderson Silva, added his third and most dominant title defense in May 2015. Anthony Pettis appeared to be the lightweight of the future, until Rafael dos Anjos took his belt and did it so convincingly he took his distinction along with it. At bantamweight, TJ Dillashaw improved with every fight and twice dominated Renan Barao, a fighter UFC once touted as its best overall.

What was the cause of this era of dominance? One could point to the UFC’s inclusion of more weight classes, which doubled in number from five to ten in three years, but that doesn’t completely explain how they went from two champions reaching five defenses in a seven-year period to four champions reaching six or more defenses simultaneously. Perhaps the evolution of the sport grinded down to a more manageable level, allowing the best fighters more time on top. That explanation, though, struggles to cover what would soon happen to all of the dominant champions.

In only 19 months, from the beginning of 2015 to today, the UFC has seen 13 title changes. The 19 months prior to that saw the same titles change hands only 5 times, including once when a fighter was stripped due to injury-caused inactivity. With only one exception, all of the above-mentioned dominant champions from 2015 have fallen in one form or another. Only Demetrious Johnson, now at eight defenses and as strong as ever, is still chasing Silva.

While some are quick to discredit dominant fighters once they lose (Sentiments amounting to, “they were never that good; it was only a matter of time until they fought someone half-decent.”), this is a sport in which everyone, especially the best, lose. Some were met by great fighters that rose to their level; others stepped in one of the million invisible holes or simply fought opponents with particular skillsets that exploited their weaknesses. None of those occurrences can change what those dominant fighters did prior to that.

With Jon Jones facing a potential two-year timeout, the sole, unmarked survivor from the era of dominance is Johnson, a five foot three inch fighter so talented he stands a head above his opposition. Outside of Johnson, the UFC titles appear to have entered a post-dominance era of parity. In some divisions, the parity runs about 10 spots deep in the division (meaning any fighter up to the about 10th ranked in the division would figure to give the champion a serious challenge), while in others, such as the men’s bantamweight division, two fighters on equal footing stand above the rest.

To reach this dawn of evenness post-dominance, perhaps signals that more than the evolution of the sport slowing down, it was the speedier evolution of an elite few fighters that set them apart from the rest. Now, either those fighters have slowed down or a handful more elite fighters have quickened their advancements to catch up.

Such parity may not be the best for the UFC – generally the longer the championship run the bigger star you become – and the era of dominance created, directly or indirectly, the company’s current top stars. Dominance, and the smart marketing of it, turned Anderson Silva from a bottom-level pay-per-view draw to eventually the second-biggest star in the promotion. The UFC was able to focus on him for years and the masses took notice in time. In a world of frequent title changes, the focus is erratic and fans won’t be quick to catch on to the fighter who beat the fighter who beat the fighter who beat the old dominant champion.

It’s a brave new era for the UFC and one can’t afford to blink while watching, less they miss another new champion.

Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.