The Top 10 Fighters To Never Win UFC Gold

Ten fighters who have fallen short of the ultimate goal

In every sport, you have those athletes that never quite made it to the very top; competitors who were excellent, but fell short of taking the final step to become champions.

Dan Marino, Marcel Dionne, “Teddy Ball Game” — they’re all Hall of Famers and among the very best ever to grace their respective sports, but none of them every earned a championship.

The UFC isn’t without fighters in similar situations; tremendous athletes who have experienced great success, but fallen short of the ultimate goal.

Here’s my top ten list.

(Note: Guys who came to the UFC on the downside of their careers are not included. That means no Wanderlei, no Cro Cop.)

10. Chael Sonnen
UFC Record: 5-4
Notable Wins: Brian Stann, Nate Marquardt, Yushin Okami
Notable Losses: Anderson Silva, Demian Maia

People are going to cringe at my decision to include Chael Sonnen in this list, but facts are facts: he’s beaten three top 10 middleweights in the last four fights, and damn near beat Silva at UFC 117 too.

He went 1-2 in his first UFC run, but has cranked it up a notch after losing to Maia to start his second tour of duty. Considering he’s in line for a second title shot in the span of 18 months or so, I’d say he’s earned his place at the low end of the list.

9. Diego Sanchez
UFC Record: 12-4
Notable Wins: Martin Kampmann, Clay Guida, Kenny Florian
Notable Losses: BJ Penn, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck

Diego Sanchez has crafted a pretty nice career for himself in the UFC. His 12 wins put him in a tie for 11th all-time in UFC history, but he’s just never been able to take that next step.

He ran into a motivated and focused BJ Penn in his lone UFC title fight, and dropped back-to-back bouts to two of the AKA welterweight triplets at one point. His lone “bad loss” isn’t even that bad; John Hathaway’s a tough kid with a bright future. Sanchez has just been one of many welterweights to come around at the wrong time.

8. Josh Koscheck
UFC Record: 14-5
Notable Wins: Matt Hughes, Paul Daley, Diego Sanchez
Notable Losses: Georges St-Pierre (2), Paulo Thiago, Thiago Alves

All but two of Koscheck’s fights have come inside the Octagon. He’s improved by leaps and bounds from his days as just a wrestler on Season 1 of The Ultimate Fighter, but he hasn’t been able to take that final step to claim championship gold.

Koscheck could spend the rest of his career as a top 5 welterweight, but he’ll never rise above #3 either. That pretty much sums up why he’s here on this list.

7. Don Frye
UFC Record: 9-1
Notable Wins: Gary Goodridge (2), Tank Abbott
Notable Loss: Mark Coleman

Frye won a pair of UFC tournaments and lost to Coleman in the finals of another, the only loss in the first 16 fights of his career.

If there were title belts during his time in the UFC, I’m pretty sure Frye would have won one. He was beyond tough and pretty well-rounded for his time. I’d love to see how Don Frye in his prime would do against some of the best of today. One thing is for sure — he’s got the best ‘stache in the business.

6. Gray Maynard
UFC Record: 8-1-1 (1 no contest)
Notable Wins: Kenny Florian, Jim Miller, Frankie Edgar
Notable Loss: Frankie Edgar

Maynard has been this close to claiming UFC gold on two occasions now, and both times, Frankie Edgar has come back from the brink. You could see how much it stings in Maynard’s teary eyes at the UFC 136 post-fight press conference. He’s beaten a bunch of guys that have been or currently are top 10 lightweights, and rag-dolled two-time lightweight title challenger any Florian when they met at UFC 118.

But he’s still come up short so far, and after last weekend’s loss to Edgar, it might be a while before he’s back in the mix again.

5. Kenny Florian
UFC Record: 12-5
Notable Wins: Diego Nunes, Clay Guida, Joe Stevenson
Notable Losses: Jose Aldo, Gray Maynard, BJ Penn

Florian was one of the inspirations to write this list; the other was a guy on Twitter named Brad Stevens who asked me and everyone else on the social networking site who the best fighter to never win UFC gold was the other night.

Florian is 0-5 in big fights, and unbeaten in the others in the UFC. He lost in the finale of TUF 1, is 0-3 in title fights, and dropped a title eliminator to Gray Maynard. He’s won every other fight, including collecting wins over some very good fighters.

There’s a lot of guys who never fought for a title once in their entire careers; Florian has done it three times. Unfortunately, he has never been able to get over that championship hump, and it will probably become his lasting legacy.

4. Joseph Benavidez
Zuffa Record: 7-2
Notable Wins: Eddie Wineland, Miguel Torres, Jeff Curran
Notable Losses: Dominick Cruz (2)

Benavidez is “15 and Dominick Cruz” in his career; his words, not mine. He’s the consensus #2 bantamweight in the world, but currently stuck in The Rich Franklin Zone, having lost twice to the reigning champion.

There is hope for Benavidez, however, as he could make the drop to flyweight if/when the UFC opens up the 125 pound weight class.

3. Dan Henderson
UFC Record: 5-2
Notable Wins: Michael Bisping, Rich Franklin, Rousimar Palhares
Notable Losses: Anderson Silva, Quinton Jackson

Henderson went 0-2 in back-to-back title fights to start his first extended stay in the UFC; he previously won a one-night middleweight tournament at UFC 17 by beating Allan Goes and Carlos Newton.

The fact that you can challenge for a belt in two different division is impressive enough, but when you’re beating everyone else but the defending champs, that’s even more impressive.

He’s back in the UFC now, and might make one final run at getting this “No UFC title” monkey off his back.

2. Junior dos Santos
UFC Record: 7-0
Notable Wins: Shane Carwin, Roy Nelson, Fabricio Werdum
Notable Losses: none

His place on this list could change next month when he meets Cain Velasquez for the UFC heavyweight title. Until then, he’s first runner-up on this list.

“Cigano” has been smashing quality competition since coming out of nowhere to upset Fabricio Werdum at UFC 90. Through seven fights and parts of 13 rounds, I don’t know if he’s really been tested yet, and that fact has nothing to do with the guys that he’s faced; dos Santos is just that good.

1. Jon Fitch
UFC Record: 13-1-1
Notable Wins: Thiago Alves (2), Paulo Thiago, Diego Sanchez
Notable Losses: Georges St-Pierre

You can dislike his style, but you can’t deny Fitch’s success; 13-1-1 is one hell of a record. If not for GSP, Fitch would be the very best welterweight in the world.

I don’t know if he can beat St-Pierre, but I’d like to see him get the chance to try again. He’s done more than anyone else who has gotten a shot in recently, and three years have passed since they fought the first time.

This is the welterweight fight that needs to happen; not a bout with Nick Diaz.