Six UFC Fighters Who Had a Terrible 2016

UFC Middleweight Chris Weidman: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports

Throughout a big 2016 year for the UFC, there were six fighters who want to make 2016 a long-distant memory.

It was the biggest year ever for the UFC. The UFC scored high with five big pay-per-view cards, translating to massive buy rates, which also led to a pair of UFC superstars suffering upset losses. On top of that, the UFC showed its value with a $4.2 billion price tag when the promotion was bought by WME-IMG.

The UFC and MMA became one of the most talked about sports by the mainstream media. In a nutshell, 2016 was an unforgettable year for the UFC. But some fighters prefer to forget about it.

Though it was a great year for the promotion, some of the fighters in the UFC struggled and had a bad 2016. Some fighters dealt with multiple losses, unable to produce a victory in 2016. Some fighters dealt with injuries, having to pull out of cards. We even picked a fighter who did not lose a match in 2016, yet still had a bad year.

These six UFC fighters had a tough 2016 and hope to have a stronger showing in 2017. We take a look back at the successful journey these six fighters had leading up to 2016 and go over what went wrong and how some of them could turn things around in 2017.

As always, interact with us and let us know if you agree or disagree with anything on this list in the comments below or connect with us Facebook and Twitter.

Etzel Espinosa-USA TODAY Sports

Rafael dos Anjos lost his two fights, including losing the lightweight title.

Rafael dos Anjos was on a tear the past couple of years, defeating some big names in Jason High, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, Anthony Pettis and Donald Cerrone for the second time in his career. After capturing the UFC Lightweight Championship from Pettis and successfully defending it against Cerrone to close out 2015, dos Anjos’ surge came to an end in 2016.

He lost the UFC Lightweight Championship to Eddie Alvarez on UFC Fight Night, the week of UFC 200 in July, by TKO in the first round. Four months later, the former lightweight champion lost in the main event of The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale to Tony Ferguson by unanimous decision.

The 32-year-old Brazilian-born star has to rebound in 2017 after going 0-2 in 2016. If his losing streak continues, he could find himself out of the top five, creating room for new contenders in a stacked lightweight division. With current champion Conor McGregor currently atop the division and Khabib Nurmagomedov ranked No. 1, Alvarez, Ferguson and Diaz look to remain high in the rankings while Michael Chiesa and Edson Barboza could find themselves climbing the ladder and eventually being part of the title picture bubble.

For dos Anjos, a win over Ferguson could have put him back in line for another shot at the title. At the moment, he must move away from his two straight losses and manufacture a string of wins before he can earn a title shot. If he can utilize his Muay Thai and Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in his next couple of upcoming fights, he should find himself back in the title picture, and possibly recapturing the gold. For now, he has to fight his way back before getting an opportunity at the UFC Lightweight Championship.

Dos Anjos has a career record of 25-9 and a UFC record of 14-7.

Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports

Henry Cejudo had a shot at the title, but lost the fight, and struggled as a coach on The Ultimate Fighter.

Henry Cejudo entered 2016 with an illustrious fighting career. He gained notoriety in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, China, where he won the gold medal in freestyle wrestling. After retiring from freestyle wrestling, Cejudo kicked off his mixed martial arts career with a bang in 2013, finishing his first four opponents in the first round, three of them by TKO.

After a hot start, the rest of Cejudo’s matches ended by decision, but still with him coming out victorious. After going 6-0 at WFF, Gladiator Challenge, and Legacy FC, Cejudo joined the UFC, where his dominance carried over. He won his first four UFC fights, giving him a 10-0 career record in MMA in the span of three years.

But Cejudo hit a wall in 2016 when he became the top-ranked flyweight in the UFC. He earned a chance at the UFC Flyweight Championship against Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson at UFC 197 this past April. However, Johnson dominated Cejudo, who found himself struggling for the first time in his MMA career, showing no aggression in the fight. He lost to Johnson by TKO in the first round.

Want your voice heard? Join the Cage Pages team!

Despite his first loss, Cejudo was named one of two coaches in the 24th installment of The Ultimate Fighter. But none of Cejudo’s draft picks reached the end and only one fighter reached the semi-finals. In The Ultimate Fighter Finale, Cejudo lost to Joseph Benavidez by split decision, failing to get a win in 2016.

After a 10-0 start to his MMA career, Cejudo now rides a two-fight losing streak. Once ranked No. 1 in the flyweight division, Cejudo finds himself ranked second, despite two consecutive losses. A bout and victory against Kyoji Horiguchi or Jussier Formiga could help his case in returning to the title picture and getting a second chance at Johnson, provided that he remains the champion.

Jason Silva – USA Today Sports

After the biggest win of her career, Holm lost her first title defense and her following match.

Like Cejudo, Holly Holm had an impressive combat sports career up leading up to 2016. Before mixed martial arts, Holm shined in professional boxing and kickboxing. From 2002 through 2013, Holm dominated the boxing world, finishing with a 33-2-3 record and earning numerous titles and Fighter of the Year honors. She briefly explored a kickboxing career in 2002 and 2003, where she went 2-1.

While juggling a boxing career along with MMA, Holm won two MMA matches in 2011 at Fresquez Productions. After leaving boxing in 2013, she returned to MMA, where she fought at Bellator and Legacy FC, building a 7-0 record.

Holm continued her remarkable streak when she became part of the UFC, picking up wins over Raquel Pennington and Marion Reneau. Her most notable win of her career was against Ronda Rousey at UFC 193 by knockout, where she became the first fighter to defeat Rousey for the UFC women’s bantamweight title and handing Rousey her first career loss.

Holm’s shocking win over Rousey earned her a plethora of awards for Female Fighter of the Year, breakthrough fighter and biggest upset. However, beating the best did not translate to a good 2016 year.

Get the FanSided App

Holm lost in her first title defense to Miesha Tate by submission near the end of the fifth and final round at UFC 196. Holm looked to rebound against Valentina Shevchenko in July on a UFC on Fox event, but lost by decision, losing four of the five rounds in the main event.

Even though 2016 was a bad year for Holm, she is still famed for being the one to hand Rousey her first ever loss 13 months ago. Despite going 0-2 in 2016, Holm will earn a title shot for the inaugural women’s featherweight championship at UFC 208 in February when she squares off against Germaine de Randamie. At that point, she hopes to rebuild her MMA career and return to her undefeated form.

Adam Hunger-USA TODAY Sports

Chris Weidman missed out on his rematch at the title due to injury and lost in a No. 1 contenders match.

Similar to most fighters on this list, Chris Weidman had an undefeated record to start his MMA career in impressive form. But a loss and injury gave him a bad year.

He started off his career at ROC, where he went 4-0, including a TKO win over Uriah Hall, who also eventually joined with the UFC. His wins against Tom Lawlor, Demian Maia, and Mark Munoz helped him become 9-0 in his career, and his biggest test came against Anderson Silva. Weidman shocked the world at UFC 162 in 2013 when he knocked out Silva to become the UFC Middleweight Champion. Silva owns the record for longest title reign with 2,457 days and most title defenses with 10, in which Weidman snapped and brought to an end. Weidman was also successful in his rematch against Silva at UFC 168 five months later due to a leg injury Silva suffered during the match.

Weidman dropped the title to Luke Rockhold right before the end of 2015 at UFC 194 after three successful defenses and holding the title for 888 days, the second longest for a UFC middleweight champion. Weidman was scheduled to fight Rockhold at UFC 199 for a rematch in June. But Weidman had to pull out three weeks before the fight with a cervical disc herniation. His replacement, Michael Bisping, pulled off the upset and won the UFC Middleweight Championship, doing so on short notice.

More from Cage Pages

Weidman faced Yoel Romero at UFC 205 in a No. 1 contenders match for Bisping’s title. Weidman suffered a brutal knockout from Romero, who delivered a flying knee, leaving a bloodied Weidman in the middle of the octagon. Weidman received a 60-day medical suspension after the match.

After being the one to take out the best UFC Middleweight Champion and longest reigning champion in UFC history, Weidman saw some success after winning three bouts and holding the title for more than two years. But missing out on his rematch and falling to Romero puts him behind in the title picture in the UFC middleweight division.

Joshua Dahl-USA TODAY Sports

Daniel Cormier went 1-0 in 2016, but he had three scheduled fights that got canceled.

On paper, Daniel Cormier wouldn’t fit the list after going 1-0, earning his sole victory against Anderson Silva at UFC 200. Even at 37-years-old, Cormier, the UFC Light Heavyweight Champion, is one of the best MMA fighters today. But even with no losses on his record for 2016, nothing went as planned for Cormier this past year.

In 2015, Cormier went 2-1. He suffered a loss to then-champion Jon Jones but bounced back against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. The UFC scheduled rematches against Jones twice and Cormier. None of those three bouts occurred.

Cormier, who is 18-1 in his career, was set to defend his title against Jones at UFC 197 this past April after Jones was away from the sport for more than a year. But Cormier pulled out due to a foot injury three weeks before the match and was replaced by Ovince Saint Preux as he fought against Jones for the UFC Interim Light Heavyweight Championship, which Jones won by unanimous decision.

Cormier was set again to fight Jones to unify the titles at UFC 200 in the main event. But it was Jones this time who was yanked from the card three days before the main event after violating USADA’s anti-doping policy. Cormier ended up facing Silva in a non-title match and was not part of the main event nor co-main event.

With the Jones drama set aside, Cormier was ready to move forward and face Johnson for the second time in his career at UFC 206 in December. But Cormier suffered another injury, canceling the main event.

In a nutshell, Cormier’s 2016 was derailed by injuries and canceled bouts. It has been nearly 15 months since Cormier’s last, and only, title defense. Though the UFC 200 fallout was not on him, his injuries before 197 and 206 were still the cause of two big canceled bouts. The key to Cormier having a good 2017 is to simply stay healthy, which will allow him to be an active champion.

Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports

Although Ronda Rousey’s only fight and loss came late in the year, it was a bad year for the former women’s bantamweight champion.

After losing the UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship to Holly Holm at UFC 193, Ronda Rousey stepped from the octagon for more than a year and for almost all of 2016. Though her loss to Holm occurred in 2015, the talk about her loss carried over to 2016.

Strawweight contender Paige VanZant confirmed of an incident she dealt with involving Rousey. VanZant congratulated Holm for her big win over Rousey, which disgruntled Rousey. Rousey had apparently confronted and berated VanZant.

While Miesha Tate was the champion, she did not hold back while talking about Rousey. Tate was a guest on the Joe Rogan Experience podcast and revealed the details of the incident involving VanZant and Rousey. Tate was also a guest on Conan, where she called out Rousey and referred to her as “pouty” over her loss to Holm.

Rousey’s public image was only negative throughout 2016, even when it was announced that she would return to fight Amanda Nunes at UFC 207, leaving many to wonder if she will be ready. This led to Rousey refusing to do interviews or press appearances with MMA media.

According to UFC President Dana White, Rousey’s biggest issue after her loss to Holm was dealing with the negative attention she received, in which she felt betrayed by the media. In a media scrum leading up to UFC 207, White revealed that Rousey asked to be excused from doing interviews. White said that she was granted this request due to the number of interviews she had done in the past for the UFC. The promotion agreed they could excuse her from media obligations for UFC 207.

The media blackout was also a way for Rousey to focus just on the fight, not allowing any distractions. However, even with her request to not to media, Nunes still defeated Rousey by TKO in 48 seconds.

Rousey’s 2016 was full of negative media coverage, followed by one huge loss in her big return to the octagon. With Rousey not attending the post-fight press conference, the negative media coverage continues, as there is speculation on whether she will fight again.