The reply to the query, “How many individuals have fought for a UFC title of their promotional debut?” just isn’t as easy as it might appear.
Former RIZIN FF champion Kai Asakura has created intrigue into the subject as he readies for an opportunity to problem Alexandre Pantoja for the UFC flyweight title in his first octagon look Saturday at UFC 310, which takes place at T-Cell Area in Las Vegas (ESPN+ pay-per-view, ESPN2, Hulu, ESPN+).
By the broadest of definitions, Asakura would be the twenty fourth fighter to make a UFC debut in a championship setting. Nonetheless, not all title-fight debuts are structured underneath the identical diploma of integrity.
Asakura is combating a longtime champ with a number of defenses already underneath his belt in a division that’s legitimately crammed out on the UFC roster, and that could be a uncommon circumstance.
To begin, it ought to be famous a stable crop of the earlier 23 names debuted between 1997 and 2001 when divisions both didn’t have champions established but or have been of their infancy. The small variety of occasions and fights throughout that period in firm historical past created a state of affairs the place it was completely cheap to debut in a title struggle as a result of the game was nonetheless so new.
These names included: Maurice Smith, Frank Shamrock, Igor Zinoviev, Jeremy Horn, John Lober, Jorge Patino, Andre Pederneiras, John Alessio, Caol Uno, and Gil Castillo.
There’s one other crucial window in play for those who quick ahead from 2011 to 2018, when the group launched a number of new weight courses. The lads’s featherweight and bantamweight divisions the place folded in from WEC, girls’s bantamweight was introduced in from Strikeforce, then males’s flyweight, in addition to girls’s strawweight, girls’s flyweight, and ladies’s featherweight obtained their house on the roster.
Jose Aldo, Dominick Cruz and Ronda Rousey have been all pre-crowned champions upon entry into the UFC, which means their respective debuts have been technically in title bouts. Rousey made her debut in opposition to Liz Carmouche, who was additionally combating for the corporate for the primary time, and when Cris Cyborg was champion at girls’s featherweight, Invicta FC champs Tonya Evinger and Yana Kunitskaya debuted in opposition to her as challengers, however the weight class was removed from a longtime one.
These are nearly all of fighters who match underneath the umbrella of this dialogue, however what number of of them actually apply to the spirit of the query?
One other curious case is that of Joe Soto, who was scheduled to make his UFC debut on the undercard of UFC 177 in August 2014 in opposition to Anthony Birchak, however wound up being thrust right into a bantamweight title struggle with T.J. Dillashaw the day earlier than the occasion when Renan Barao injured himself throughout his weight lower.
Soto technically belongs on the listing, however he was an especially distinctive eleventh hour alternative, and the UFC by no means deliberate on placing him into that title struggle till it was a final resort.
Given all that, there are really just a few cases of a debuting title who fought a longtime champion in a longtime division because the chosen and promoted challenger.
- Hayato Sakurai, who had an incredible run in Shooto and had solely misplaced to Anderson Silva at that time in his profession, challenged then-welterweight champion Matt Hughes in his debut at at UFC 36 in March 2002, and misplaced by fourth-round TKO.
- Frank Trigg, who had not too long ago gained the WFA champion, obtained an instantaneous title shot in opposition to Hughes at UFC 45 in November 2003, and misplaced by first-round submission.
- Gilbert Melendez, who was the Strikeforce light-weight champion when the now-defunct promotion was merged with UFC, obtained a debut title shot in opposition to then-lightweight kingpin Benson Henderson at UFC on FOX 7 in April 2023, and misplaced a break up resolution.
That brings the entire to 23 names, however an argument will be made solely the three above match the identical standards as what Asakura is experiencing at UFC 310. Historical past reveals it’s an uphill climb because it’s an 0-3 report for athletes who’ve walked down this path.
Can Asakura (21-4 MMA, 0-0 UFC) pull off what would arguably be the primary true debut title struggle victory in opposition to Pantoja (28-5 MMA, 12-3 UFC) at UFC 310? We’ll discover out on Saturday.
UFC analysis analyst and stay statistics producer Michael Carroll contributed to this story. Comply with him on X @MJCflipdascript.
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