Current UFC former champions are 88-88 after losing their belt.

Of the current UFC roster former champions are 88-86 after losing their belt, only 5 went on to win another championship belt: Stipe Miocic, Jon Jones, Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz and TJ Dillashaw.

I am not including former fighters or fighters outside of the UFC at the moment. I will not be including interim champs either. We will be including fighters who were stripped. We will also be including champions who either currently hold a belt or who won their belt back at some point.

Andrei Arlovski: 19-15 (2)

Junior dos Santos: 6-5

Fabrício Werdum: 3-3

Stipe Miocic: 1-0; current HW champion

Daniel Cormier: 0-0

Maurício Rua: 7-6-1

Jon Jones 4-0 (1); won vacant title after being stripped for PEDs

Anderson Silva: 1-5 (1)

Chris Weidman: 1-4

Luke Rockhold: 1-2

Robert Whittaker: 0-0

Robbie Lawler: 1-3

Tyron Woodley: 0-1

Frankie Edgar: 8-5

Anthony Pettis: 5-7

Rafael dos Anjos: 4-5

Conor McGregor: 2-1

Jose Aldo: 3-5; won interim title that was later promoted to undisputed title

Max Holloway: 0-1

Dominick Cruz: 3-2; won title after vacating due to injuries

Cody Garbrandt: 1-2

TJ Dillashaw: 4-1; won title after losing belt from loss

Germaine de Randamie: 2-1

Holly Holm: 3-4

Nicco Montaño: 0-1

Carla Esparza: 6-3

Joanna Jędrzejczyk: 2-3

Rose Namajunas: 1-0

Jessica Andrade: 0-1

The most striking thing about this was how hard the former middleweight champions fell off, at a combined 3-11 (1). The other thing that stood out was the longevity of certain fighters, like Andrei Arlovski, JDS, Shogun, Frankie, and Showtime, all have over 10 fights since losing their belt.

Interestingly, it appears one of the better former champions (record wise) is Carla Esparza, at 6-3.

TJ Dillashaw and Stipe Miocic have the best records at 4-1 and 1-0, respectively.

Cormier is listed as 0-0 because his loss to Jones was ruled a NC, and he has not fought since he last the heavyweight belt.

Similarly, Whittaker is 0-0 as he has not fought yet either. As a fan of Whittaker, I am worried about the downward trend most champs tend to go on after losing their belt.

In retrospect, this makes the accomplishments of GSP, Randy Couture, and Cain Velazquez all that much more impressive.

edit: also many of you are mentioning that DC won his title back, which isn’t the case. His “loss” against Jon at 214 was ruled no contest, so DC didn’t officially lose his title. Also, I am sorry for plethora of errors I made typing this up. PA school is ruining my life at the moment, not thinking straight these days.