Long before Jon Jones held up the heavyweight title, the UFC stripped their champions months after winning the belt.
There’s been a lot of talk lately about UFC Heavyweight Champion Jon Jones potentially being stripped of his title as he has yet to unify against interim champion Tom Aspinall.
Aspinall won the interim belt 555 days ago and he has been patiently waiting for the Jones fight to come to fruition ever since. In Jones’ absence, Aspinall defended his interim belt against Curtis Blaydes last summer while Jones went on to fight and retire a 42-year-old Stipe Miocic at UFC 309 in November.
Jones, who was previously stripped of his light heavyweight title on multiple occasions, didn’t seem to care about his heavyweight title potentially being stripped in a recent update on the Aspinall fight.
Three months before Jones was stripped of the light heavyweight title (for a third time) in 2017, due to a positive drug test for the steroid Turinabol, the UFC stripped a champion who was considered to be one of the worst in company history.
Germaine de Randamie lost UFC title because she refused to fight Cris Cyborg
Germaine de Randamie became the inaugural UFC women’s featherweight champion at UFC 208 in Jan. 2017 when she defeated Holly Holm in a controversial decision.
At the time, Cris Cyborg was the undeniable #1 contender for the title with two TKO wins in the UFC and a 16-fight unbeaten streak.
De Randamie refused to fight Cyborg because of a previous drug test for Cyborg, one that saw her suspended for a year in 2012 after testing positive for an anabolic steroid. Cyborg was also exempt from a USADA suspension in 2017 following a positive test for the drug Spironolactone, a commonly used masking agent for steroids that she used for a ‘medical condition’.
In June 2017, four months after de Randamie won the title, the UFC stripped her of the featherweight title.
“UFC has informed Germaine de Randamie and her management team that she is being removed as the women’s featherweight champion due to her unwillingness to fight the No. 1 ranked contender, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino,” the UFC said in a statement.
“UFC maintains that any champion is expected to accept fights against the top contenders in their respective weight classes in order to maintain the integrity of the sport.”
Following the news, de Randamie told MMA Fighting she had ‘absolutely no idea’ she was being stripped of the belt and found out through social media.
UFC stripped Nicco Montano right after she withdrew from Valentina Shevchenko title defense
In the same year Jones and de Randamie were stripped of their titles, Nicco Montaño won the inaugural women’s flyweight championship in ‘The Ultimate Fighter 26’ with a win over Roxanne Modafferi in Dec. 2017.
10 months later, the 4-2 Montaño was set to defend her title against #1 contender and former title challenger Valentina Shevchenko in the co-main event of UFC 228 in Sep. 2018.
Ultimately, Montaño wouldn’t make it to the fight as she was hospitalized before weigh-ins due to health concerns.
Montaño was stripped of her belt immediately after, and she said the UFC’s move was ‘completely uncalled for’, citing, ‘There have been plenty of other fighters who have not been punished for a lot more’.
Montaño also stated she had asked for a fight in October, a month later, claiming she was ‘forced to accept the date’ at UFC 228 or risk being stripped.
Prior to the title fight being cancelled at the last-minute, Shevchenko expressed doubts Montano would make it to the Octagon, and she was right.