Those with the most wins in UFC title contests get a lot of plaudits, and rightly so, with the accomplishments of Anderson Silva, Georges St-Pierre, and Demetrious Johnson being common knowledge amongst MMA fans.

But there’s something hugely impressive about rebounding from the agony of losing on the grandest of stages, at the peak of your sport, and coming back again for a second, third, or even a tenth attempt at the belt.

Here, I’ve put together a list of those fighters who have suffered the most losses in fights for UFC gold.

Randy Couture, who contested for either the undisputed or interim championship in 15 out of 16 consecutive UFC bouts across an 11-year spell (1997-2008), holds the record for the most defeats in UFC title fights at 6.

‘The Natural’ also holds the record for the most UFC title reigns, with six (5 undisputed, 1 interim).

With the active UFC fighters on this list (Edgar, Holm, Jędrzejczyk, Aldo, dos Santos and Faber) holding an average age of 36, it seems unlikely that anyone will surpass Couture’s record any time soon.

You can see the full table here.

The table above also includes defeats in fights for an interim UFC championship. Two-time UFC heavyweight champion Tim Sylvia is the only fighter in UFC history to come up short in more than one contest for an interim UFC title.

Including interim title defeats also puts Frankie Edgar, currently toying with the idea of a bantamweight switch, one unsuccessful title shot away from Couture’s record.

You can see the full table (including interims) here.

This table displays the women who have suffered the most defeats in UFC title challenges. Holly Holm tops the list with 4, suffering all 4 title losses between March 2016 and July 2019 in a spell that saw her go 2-5 in UFC competition.

Joanna Jędrzejczyk, currently second in this table, fights for the 115 lbs. belt in March.

There has never been a UFC interim title introduced in any of the women’s divisions.

You can find the full table (women only) here.