Who is the best fighter who never became UFC champion?

Urijah Fabre is the first one that pops in my head .
I do however hold his wec title in as high a regard as a ufc title
 
I agree man, I'm a big Maia fan, so I'd include him in that list, Faber too.

Maia, Faber, Fitch and K Flo are good choices too, but they at least had title shot(s) and just couldn't get it done. T Ferg is the one guy I legitimately think could and should have won the belt had he fought for it anytime between 2014 and 2019 before he hit 35. I would have favored Khabib over him but it wouldn't have been a runaway. Both those guys got screwed out of a TS for years and either would have been a dominant champ IMO. That fight never happening was my greatest disappointment in 20+ years following MMA but tiramisu, ramadan and stray power cables exist in this world.

At 135 Raphael Assuncao also comes to mind. Like Fitch, boring fighter who made other contenders look bad. Insane UFC win streak but never got his shot and like T Ferg, finally started losing after aging out at 36+.
 
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A lot of great fighters were never champion of any organization, such as Sonnen, Maia, Cerrone.

Nate, Nick, and Dan Henderson comes to mind right away when new people up and coming probably wanted to avoid....I could just imagine what they said in the background when trying to set fights up.

I should add Maia, Anthony Johnson(of course), and Gegard....
 
Ernesto Hoost, Sugar Ray Robinson, Bruce Lee, and of course, Marcus Calpurnius Flamma.
 
Benavidez seems like the most obvious answer, beats everyone but loses in the championship bout.
 
Cerrone. He has a bunch of records no champ will ever get
 
Very hard to pick one fighter

Chad Mendes
Gegard Mousasi
Carlos Condit
Jon Fitch
Cowboy
Stephen Thompson
Tony Ferguson
Urijah Faber
Alistair Overeem
Dan Henderson
Nick Diaz
Chael Sonnen
Damien Maia
Nate Mardquart
Anthony Johnson
 
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