A Brief History of UFC Title Stripping

BRaVo cHoKe

BRaVo cHoKe

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As we head into what is shaping up to be one of the biggest lightweight fights in MMA history, the story of Conor McGregor's potential title stripping is taking center stage. So I'd like to bring a bit of history to the matter. Compiled is a list of instances where the UFC stripped a champ of their belt. Jon Jones leads the charge with 3 times. What are your thoughts on the topic?

Randy Couture, 1998
Stripped of the title after signing with Vale Tudo Japan. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

Jens Pulver, Jan 2002
Stripped of the title after failed contract negotiations. UFC lightweight championship belt vacated.

Josh Barnett, March, 2002
Stripped of the title after failing PED test. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

Murilo Bustamante, October 2002
Stripped of the title after signing with PRIDE. UFC middleweight championship belt vacated.

Tim Sylvia, September, 2003
Stripped of the title after failing PED test. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

BJ Penn, May 2004
Stripped of the title after signing with K-1. UFC welterweight championship belt vacated.

Frank Mir, August 2005
Stripped of the title after a motorcycle accident. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

Sean Sherk, December 2007
Stripped of the title after the CSAC upheld his positive test for Nandrolone in his July 7 title defense. UFC lightweight championship belt vacated.

Dominick Cruz, Jan 2014
Stripped of the title after repeated injuries. UFC bantamweight championship belt vacated.

Conor McGregor, November 2016
Stripped of the title due to his inactivity in the featherweight division.

Jon Jones, April 28, 2015
Stripped of the title after being arrested on a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving death or personal injuries. UFC light heavyweight championship belt vacated.

November 9, 2016
Stripped of his interim title after a out of competition doping policy violation, making him the first fighter in UFC history to be stripped of a title twice.

September 2017
USADA confirmed that the "B" sample of Jones' tested positive for Turinabol. As a result, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) officially overturned the result of the fight to a no contest. Subsequently, UFC President Dana White made the call to strip him of the Light Heavyweight championship and return it to Daniel Cormier.
 
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Jones leads it, but Conor is coming for him.

29 years of age with every record in the book.
 
I'm still surprised Sean Sherk was on the juice. His physique didn't look all that impressive.
 
if we're including wmma- germaine de randamie was stripped of her featherweight title for refusing to defend against cyborg
 
reddhelium said:
if we're including wmma- germaine de randamie was stripped of her featherweight title for refusing to defend against cyborg
Click to expand...
Pitty that fight didn't happen. It would have been great to see Cyborg annihilate her
 
boxingskills said:
I'm still surprised Sean Sherk was on the juice. His physique didn't look all that impressive.
Click to expand...
u wot m8?

He was called The Muscle Shark for a reason

UFC121_Weigh_Ins_28.jpg













Plot Twist: This was AFTER he had been suspended for testing positive (imagine before)
 
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BRaVo cHoKe said:
I didn't copy the info from there and wasn't under the impression that this was an original thread idea so....¯\_(ツ)_/¯
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Did you type all that out after doing research yourself, or did you copy-paste
 
BRaVo cHoKe said:
I didn't copy the info from there and wasn't under the impression that this was an original thread idea so....¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Click to expand...

Original article:
May 2004: B.J. Penn, UFC welterweight title
B.J. Penn was stripped after he signed with K-1

You:
BJ Penn, May 2004
Stripped of the title after signing with K-1. UFC welterweight championship belt vacated.
 
BRaVo cHoKe said:
Frank Mir, August 2005
Stripped of the title after a motorcycle accident. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

Dominick Cruz, Jan 2014
Stripped of the title after repeated injuries. UFC bantamweight championship belt vacated.

Conor McGregor, November 2016
Stripped of the title due to his inactivity in the featherweight division.
Click to expand...
So these 3 cases are basically the only ones we have when it comes to someone being stripped because of inactivity.

It seems like 11 months is a precedent for the time it takes the UFC to strip someone.

* Mir's accident occured in September 2004.
The UFC waited 11 months before stripping him.
6 months after getting stripped he returned for his next fight.

* It was first revealed that Cruz was having surgery in December 2011.
The UFC waited 2 years and 2 months before stripping him.
6 months after getting stripped he returned for his next fight.

* Conor's last FW fight was on December 2015.
The UFC waited 11 months before stripping him.

----
I think this stuff is interesting because of the debates about how long someone should be allowed to stay inactive.

I think Cruz' case was kind of special, because it looked like he was gonna come back a few times.
With Mir the accident seemed more definitive.
And with Conor I guess it just seemed too improbable he would go back to FW.

Currently it's been 15 months since Conor won the LW belt (Nov 2016).
But I can see why the UFC didn't strip him sooner. -This time there was nothing physically stopping him from fighting. I bet the UFC tend to hold on a bit longer when it seems the fighter could return at any time. (Yeah, I say they were not totally off here...despite their favouritism towards Conor)
 
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FinalConflict2005 said:
Original article:
May 2004: B.J. Penn, UFC welterweight title
B.J. Penn was stripped after he signed with K-1

You:
BJ Penn, May 2004
Stripped of the title after signing with K-1. UFC welterweight championship belt vacated.
Click to expand...

Just so you know how the internet works, multiple websites tend to have similar information on them :

http://www.mixedmartialarts.com/news/A-history-of-UFC-title-stripping
https://www.sportsbreak.com/ufc/10-ufc-champions-who-were-stripped-of-their-titles/
http://teameverlast.everlast.com/dwyer/
 
BRaVo cHoKe said:
As we head into what is shaping up to be one of the biggest lightweight fights in MMA history, the story of Conor McGregor's potential title stripping is taking center stage. So I'd like to bring a bit of history to the matter. Compiled is a list of instances where the UFC stripped a champ of their belt. Jon Jones leads the charge with 3 times. What are your thoughts on the topic?

Randy Couture, 1998
Stripped of the title after signing with Vale Tudo Japan. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

Jens Pulver, Jan 2002
Stripped of the title after failed contract negotiations. UFC lightweight championship belt vacated.

Josh Barnett, March, 2002
Stripped of the title after failing PED test. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

Murilo Bustamante, October 2002
Stripped of the title after signing with PRIDE. UFC middleweight championship belt vacated.

Tim Sylvia, September, 2003
Stripped of the title after failing PED test. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

BJ Penn, May 2004
Stripped of the title after signing with K-1. UFC welterweight championship belt vacated.

Frank Mir, August 2005
Stripped of the title after a motorcycle accident. UFC heavyweight championship belt vacated.

Sean Sherk, December 2007
Stripped of the title after the CSAC upheld his positive test for Nandrolone in his July 7 title defense. UFC lightweight championship belt vacated.

Dominick Cruz, Jan 2014
Stripped of the title after repeated injuries. UFC bantamweight championship belt vacated.

Conor McGregor, November 2016
Stripped of the title due to his inactivity in the featherweight division.

Jon Jones, April 28, 2015
Stripped of the title after being arrested on a felony charge of leaving the scene of an accident involving death or personal injuries. UFC light heavyweight championship belt vacated.

November 9, 2016
Stripped of his interim title after a out of competition doping policy violation, making him the first fighter in UFC history to be stripped of a title twice.

September 2017
USADA confirmed that the "B" sample of Jones' tested positive for Turinabol. As a result, the California State Athletic Commission (CSAC) officially overturned the result of the fight to a no contest. Subsequently, UFC President Dana White made the call to strip him of the Light Heavyweight championship and return it to Daniel Cormier.
Click to expand...
Jones was stripped yes but not for the reasons you think. The UFC wanted to proceed with Jones vs Rumble even after the arrest. Jones was going to pull out citing personal reasons from the fight. That's when the UFC stripped him. Not until they got confirmation that Jones wasn't going to fight Rumble.

If Jones didn't plan on pulling out he would have fought Rumble and the UFC would not have stripped him.
https://www.mmamania.com/2015/11/24...clined-anthony-johnson-fight-so-ufc-suspended
 
Bend NvR Break said:
Jones was stripped yes but not for the reasons you think. The UFC wanted to proceed with Jones vs Rumble even after the arrest. Jones was going to pull out citing personal reasons from the fight. That's when the UFC stripped him. Not until they got confirmation that Jones wasn't going to fight Rumble.

If Jones didn't plan on pulling out he would have fought Rumble and the UFC would not have stripped him.
https://www.mmamania.com/2015/11/24...clined-anthony-johnson-fight-so-ufc-suspended
Click to expand...
Thanks for posting that, it was new info to me.

But I guess one would have to say the main reason he was stripped was still the arrest, but there should be an asterisk in there saying it did not happen til he denied to fight Rumble.

Cause in theory - maybe it would've happened anyway.
A bit of devil's advocate here but maybe the UFC just investigated their options and said : "we're 90% sure we wanna strip him because of the PR implications. But let's see first if he would be down to fight Rumble..if he says yes we might give it a second thought"
 
In Cruz's case they actually tried to speed up his recovery and gave him a stipend and such while he was champion b/c they wanted him back in the cage. Once they saw it wasn't going to happen, they stripped him and took away the stipend.

In addition, he had essentially beat most contenders in a somewhat shallow division.
 
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