6/18/26
Unexpected Losses
With Ilia Topuria getting the first loss of his career to Justin Gaethje, it begs the question of whether a fighter can really stay undefeated their whole career and get to the mountaintop? The buzz surrounding Topuria before his loss was that he was near-unbeatable. His skills were too much for anyone in his weight classes (featherweight and lightweight) to handle. This narrative was constructed for good reason: he was smashing through legends in the sport with brutal knockout after brutal knockout. In his last three fights before Gaethje, he ran through Charles Oliveira, Max Holloway, and Alexander Volkanovski—three of the best of all time and Hall of Famers whom he beat with relative ease.
Topuria looked invincible, and many were already putting him close to being the greatest of all time and thought he could finish with a perfect record, thinking he would never lose. Justin Gaethje had something to say about it, though. In their fight at UFC Freedom 250 at the White House, Gaethje brutalized Topuria. The first two rounds were competitive, and Ilia almost finished Gaethje with massive body shots against the cage. Justin recovered, though, and round three was the beginning of the end. Ilia had broken his nose and orbital bone in the first round, and by the third, he could barely see out of either eye. Gaethje would drop Topuria in the third and then continue to smash him until the end of the fourth, when he had to quit on the stool.
This is what makes MMA so amazing: anything can happen, and there is never going to be 100% certainty that a fighter will win. Similar to Topuria, Khamzat Chimaev recently lost the first fight of his career against Sean Strickland. Chimaev was seen as one of the scariest fighters in the company for a long time, and again, there was talk that he may never lose because of his dominance and elite grappling. These arguments had solid foundations at the time because for this caliber of fighters, it is hard to see them lose, but their opponents are fighting them for a reason and are also the best in the world. Styles in matchups also play a big role as both Gaethje and Strickland were bad styles for Topuria and Chimaev to go against.
Why It’s So Hard
Everybody will also have a punchers chance in this sport and to give a fighter the victory before the fight ever happens can be foolish at times. On any given night an underdog can get the win. We have seen two great examples already this year and there will be more to come. Its hard to imagine someone having a long career and be a champion without ever losing a fight. The greatest fighters ever such as George St Pierre and Demetrious Johnson have losses and multiple at that. Jon Jones who is regarded as the GOAT of the sport has one loss by DQ but even he had fights where many thought he lost. The only one to truly be undefeated was Khabib Nurmagomedov who finished with a 29-0 record which speaks to the domination from the “Eagle”. This is something that may never happen again as the talent today is too good and the sport too wild for one fighter to never suffer a loss.
The only championship level fighters remaining with an undefeated record are Michael Morales (Welterwight), Movsar Evloev (featherweight), Josh Hokit (Heavyweight), and Shavkat Rakhmonov (Welterweight) but they are in some of the most skilled divisions in the sport and its hard for many to believe that they could or will stay unbeaten forever. Too many variables in the sport and too good of fighters. MMA remains the most unpredicable sport in the world and it continues to be proven time and time again.
elisportsnetwork.com
