10 Vacant Title Fights That Immediately Downgraded the Division

TL;DR

Ten UFC vacant title fights that hurt divisional prestige, from heavyweight chaos in the early 2000s to light heavyweight's ongoing curse after Jon Jones.

Key Points

• 1.The strawweight division suffered when Weili Zhang vacated to fight Shevchenko. Mackenzie Dern, who had lost three of her last six fights, won the vacant title over Virna Jandiroba via unanimous decision, feeling hollow given neither was considered a division-defining challenger.
• 2.The middleweight division stagnated for over two years after Bustamante vacated. The resulting 2005 vacant title bout between Evan Tanner and David Terrell — a relative newcomer who debuted with a 24-second KO — was underwhelming until Rich Franklin finally elevated the division.
• 3.Heavyweight suffered a cascade of vacancies and controversies in the early UFC era. Bas Rutten, Randleman, and Couture cycled through stripped or vacated titles, including Josh Barnett failing a second drug test after beating Couture, leading to the dismal Tim Sylvia era.
• 4.The lightweight division nearly collapsed through two separate vacant title disasters. Jens Pulver was stripped over an $11K pay dispute, and Sherk's subsequent reign ended when both he and challenger Hermes Franka tested positive for PEDs, leaving the division in chaos until BJ Penn restored its credibility.
• 5.Daniel Cormier winning the vacant light heavyweight title just six months after being soundly beaten by Jon Jones made the belt feel illegitimate. Jones was stripped for out-of-cage reasons, and DC had already looked outclassed over five rounds, making his championship reign start as awkwardly as possible.
• 6.The light heavyweight division's curse reached its peak through a chain of vacant title disasters after Jones left. Glover Teixeira won gold in his 40s, Ankalaev vs. Blachowicz ended in a controversial draw prompting Dana White to book another vacant fight on the spot, and Jamal Hill lost his title in a pickup basketball injury before Poirier finally stabilized things.