2024 was filled with some fights that left the world with gaping eyes. We witnessed championship thrones seeing new ascensions. But did the opportunity go to the rightful suitors?

Nothing is more disappointing than watching a deserving fighter left behind in the race for the UFC championship title. As the year ends, let’s go on a journey back in time and look at the 5 instances when Dana White and Co. gave the title shots to the wrong fighters.

1. Dustin Poirier

At UFC 302, Dustin Poirier became the only fighter to have fought both Khabib Nurmagomedov and his protege, Islam Makhachev, during their prime. The surprising fact is that both times it was for the lightweight championship title, and both times it was ‘The Diamond’ who lost via submission. But I bet you must have questioned if Poirier deserved a title fight at UFC 302. 

Well, back at UFC 291, Dustin Poirier clashed with Justin Gaethje for the BMF title. ‘The Highlight’ won the bout with a phenomenal high right kick that brought down ‘The Diamond’. This, in fact, brought Gaethje closer to the title picture. We all thought that it would be Gaethje who’d fight the lightweight champion next. However, things went astray when Gaethje accepted a fight against Max Holloway and lost just two months before UFC 302. On the other hand, Poirier managed to defeat Benoit Saint-Denis with a KO in March and jumped to a title shot. But even then, Poirier wasn’t the first choice to fight Makhachev.

Arman Tsarukyan had defeated Charles Oliveira at UFC 300. This made the Armenian fighter the perfect opponent for Islam Makhachev. But Tsarukyan needed some time off to recover and get back to action. And this left the matchmaking team to choose from Gaethje and Oliveira. But since both of them lost their previous bouts, Poirier became the next best option. Perhaps the promotion should have made an Oliveira rematch instead of using him to stack up UFC 300?

2. Israel Adesanya

The former 2-time middleweight champion, Israel Adesanya faced quite a bit of trouble in his last 2 fights. After becoming the middleweight champion for the 2nd time, Adesanya faced Sean Strickland at UFC 293. Unfortunately for ‘The Last Stylebender’ and his loyal fans, the bout went to ‘Tarzan’ via a unanimous decision. Soon, the championship belt swapped hands again when Strickland fought Dricus Du Plessis in his first title defense. 

If we go by the traditions, it should have been Strickland pitted against Du Plessis for a rematch. However, DDP struck a nerve when he ignited the ‘real African’ debate with Adesanya. This actually left Dana White with a fight that had the potential to garner more attention from the fighting community. And he stuck to the matchup even though ‘The Stylebender’ had lost 2 of his last 3 bouts coming to the fight.

3. Stipe Miocic

Jon Jones entered a world of controversy when he got a fight set against Stipe Miocic. It was a matchup that most of the fighters and fans disliked. Why? Because it was a foregone conclusion for most of us. “For me, this is far from an undisputed title fight. This is the most disputed title you can possibly get,” said the interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall, taking to his YouTube channel. 

The most legitimate opponent for Jones in the heavyweight realm was none other than the interim champion. However, ‘Bones’ repeatedly refused to fight him simply because he wasn’t interested. Instead, he chose to land against a 42-year-old former champion who was on the verge of retirement. This decision put a huge question mark on Jones’ legacy, ending up with many losing respect for the double champion. Jones argued that Aspinall needed to fight more champions before getting a shot against him. And the ‘Honey badger’ interpreted that as nothing but fear.

On top of that, Miocic had a pretty long layoff from fighting. The last time he’d won a match was when he fought Daniel Cormier back in 2020. His very next fight against Francis Ngannou also ended with a loss via a unanimous decision. Yet, he was the one who snubbed Aspinall for a shot at the heavyweight title.

4. Khalil Rountree Jr.

Well, after looking at the previous names, it wasn’t as shocking to see Khalil Rountree Jr., a #7 light heavyweight contender, getting a shot at the title. Even though ‘The War Horse’ had a 5-fight win streak coming to the fight against Alex Pereira, he was definitely not the best option. Instead, Dana White and Co. should have put Pereira against Magomed Ankalaev, who reigned the spot of the #1 light heavyweight contender. We would have surely loved to see how the ‘Poatan’ would have fared against Ankalaev who has strong grappling skills in his arsenal. 

But there was one more reason why Rountree’s title shot was ill-timed. ‘The War Horse’ was previously set to fight Jamahall Hill at UFC 303. But things didn’t turn out the way we expected, as Rountree was forced to pull out of the game because he went up straight to the Combat Sports Anti-Doping and told them that he had ingested a banned substance. The CSAD gave him a lenient sentence of a 2-month suspension for his truthfulness. This is why Hill and many others were utterly shocked to see Rountree pitted against Pereira instead of ‘Sweet Dreams’ or Ankalaev.

5. Kai Asakura

The Japanese star Kai Asakura was one of the handful of fighters who got the chance to fight for the UFC championship belt on their UFC debut. But did he really deserve a title shot? Well, we’re not saying that Alexandre Pantoja didn’t deserve a fight against a strong contender like Asakura. But the former RIZIN champion had not proven himself in the Octagon. 

Apart from that, ‘The Cannibal’ had a long list of worthy opponents. Brandon Rovyal, who had defeated Brandon Moreno and Tatsuro Taira, securing the #1 flyweight contender’s spot was the most deserving fighter to get a title shot. Even if we consider the fact that he needed some time to recover from his fight in October, and wouldn’t have been able to fight in December, we still had fighters like Moreno, Amir Albazi, and Kai Kara-France to go up against the flyweight champ at UFC 310.

What do you think of White giving a title shot to the ‘wrong’ fighters? Who do you wish to watch going up for the championship title in 2025? Drop down to the comments section below and let us know your thoughts.