Couture didn’t have too pretty a record when he was 10-5 in MMA but he had already won the UFC HW title 2x and was just about to go and win the interim and world LHW UFC title from Chuck and Tito.
But in this modern era, title contenders often have pretty records like 16-1 O’Malley and 14-0 Topuria
Merab started his pro MMA career 1-2 in Ring of Combat and CFFC.
At the end of 2017 when he made his UFC debut, Merab went 0-2 and was submitted in his 2nd UFC fight.
In the summer of 2018, Merab was just a 7-4 BW. Probably would have been cut from the UFC with a couple more loses.
Instead of losing though Merab would begin a seven fight win streak that then led to wins over former champs Aldo, Yan and Cejudo back to back to bring him to 10-0 now and finally set for UFC title shot.
Well over one hundred fighters have now made it from Ring of Combat to the UFC and former ROC fighters Serra, Weidman, Sterling, Edgar, Oliveira and Alvarez have all won UFC titles.
I’m pretty sure Merab would be the 7th UFC champ to have competed in Ring of Combat if he can win gold.
Other Ring of Combat vets like Moraes and Iaquinta have fought for UFC titles as well.
But back to Merab, I’m not sure if a fighter has ever started their UFC career 0-2 and went on to capture gold… I don’t think so.
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Yeah but that 2nd “loss” was a weird call, he was winning the entire fight, pretty sure he KO’d himself on the takedown, but seemed alert during the submission, and the ref never stopped the fight, the round ended.
Either way homie is 17-4, on a 10 fight winning streak. But he isn’t champ yet.
Edited- didn’t Jan lose his first 2? Too lazy to google lol
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Yeah thats a weird ruling on that fight. I forgot all about that.
I’m rooting for Merab to beat the champ next.
I just never wanted the Aldo vs Merab fight. At that time I felt like Aldo had done enough to earn another title shot because he had three big wins and couple big finiishes and they gave his title shot to TJ who had not earned it and they made Aldo fight Merab. We all then saw how TJ showed up for that title fight. I would have prefered TJ vs Merab for the next title shot and UFC should have let Aldo get the shot he earned a lot more than TJ but oh well, its all history now.
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I think he can beat Chito, not sure he can beat Suga
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I just looked on wiki. Jan went 1-1 in his first 2 but did go 1-2 in his first 3 and 2-4 in his first 6 UFC fights.
Damn, Jan turned it around pretty damn well there.
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I’m curious how many UFC champions started their MMA career with a loss, or started their UFC career with a loss or had two back-to-back losses
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Not many champs started their MMA career or UFC career with a loss I know that. I don’t have the stats but its a small percentage.
Jan winning the title after going 2-4 to start his UFC career is a statistical miracle in terms of what other champs did in their first 6 UFC fights.
Most champs started their UFC career, 6-0, 5-1 or 4-2.
Jan’s the only one I know who started 2-4 or worse in their first 6 and still became champ.
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Brock, Werdum, Shogun, Rockhold, Eddie, RDA (also had 2 loses to start UFC Career and become champ), Max, Dillashaw
All champs that started their UFC career with an L
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Overeem at one point was just a 4-3 fighter and he had to start his PRIDE career on a PRIDE The Best card which featured their lesser fighters and green fighters.
43 MMA wins later he never did grab the UFC HW title though he did beat 6 UFC champs 8x in his career.
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Things didn’t start too well in MMA or the UFC for RDA either.
Started his MMA career 2-2 down in Brazil losing a couple of split decisions.
Started his UFC career 0-2 getting KOed by Stephens in his debut and losing to Griffin in his 2nd UFC fight.
In his prime in the UFC though he went 13-3 losing only to Khabib, Tony and Eddie and won and defended the LW title.
RDA has always fought the best of the best in the UFC in two weight classes for 16 years and has a winning record.
Very few fighters in UFC history can say that.
