10 UFC Fighters Whose Division Change Was A Disaster, Including Nate Diaz and Chris Weidman

After quickly rising through the ranks to secure a shot at Georges St. Pierre’s title at UFC 100, Thiago Alves’ career began to stall out. The American Top Team product thought dropping down to the lightweight division could put him back in top form. 

Unsurprisingly, the weight-cutting issues that plagued his welterweight run followed him down. For what was supposed to be his lightweight debut against Jim Miller at UFC 205, Alves came at 162.6 pounds, 6.6 pounds over the 156-pound limit for non-title fights. The extra weight did him no favors either as Miller walked away with a unanimous decision.

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Holly Holm’s head-kick knockout of Ronda Rousey has cemented her place in UFC history. However, her attempts to add another footnote to MMA lure came up short outside of the bantamweight division at featherweight.

“The Preacher’s Daughter” dropped a controversial decision to Germaine De Randamie for the inaugural women’s featherweight title, and while Holm could blame poor officiating for the scores that night, her loss to Cris Cyborg at UFC 219 for that same title was undeniable.

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After Chris Weidman lost the middleweight title to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194, the “All-American” began a career downward spiral that saw him lose four of his next five with those four losses coming by way of knockout. That’s when Weidman decided a move to light heavyweight could put him back on the winning track.

Unfortunately for Weidman, that plan did not work. For his 205-pound debut, he’d be paired with former title challenger Dominick Reyes. Reyes would make short work of the New York native, knocking him out in just under two minutes.

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Disillusioned with the strict dieting necessary to make the 155-pound limit for lightweight, Nate Diaz decided that eating more and cutting less to make welterweight was the better choice. Initially, this choice was validated with back-to-back wins against Rory Markham and Marcus Davis.

But everything unraveled against more physical welterweights Dong Hyun Kim and Rory Macdonald where the Stockton representative was rag dolled before moving back to lightweight. While Diaz did eventually return to 170 with some high-profile bouts, his best work was at 155.

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Just one fight removed from the middleweight title, Luke Rockhold was given the chance to become the champion once again but was stopped by Yoel Romero at UFC 221. This along with increasingly difficult weight cuts prompted the part-time Ralph Lauren model to give light heavyweight a try. 

Rockhold would be matched up with Jan Blachowicz for his divisional debut at UFC 239 in hopes of being fast-tracked towards then-champion Jon Jones. He would never get past the Polish Power of top 1 stalwart Blachowicz. Suffering a devastating second-round knockout.

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Rashad Evans‘ move away from heavyweight after winning the second season of TUF led to a Hall of Fame career complete with a championship and a long list of marquee wins. Following a pair of losses, he attempted to find new life down at 185 pounds.

Instead, Evans’ middleweight stint was brief and unremarkable. He would go 0-2 against journeymen Daniel Kelly and Sam Alvey before briefly returning to light heavyweight in his final UFC bout.

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Best remembered for his close decision losses to Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight belt, Alexander Gustafsson felt his 6’4” frame would translate well to the heavyweight division. 

Just over a year after his last appearance, a fourth-round submission loss to Anthony Smith, “The Mauler” would make his heavyweight debut against former champion Fabricio Werdum. It would only take Werdum 2:30 seconds to score his own submission victory and quickly end Gustafsson’s run as a UFC heavyweight.

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Following back-to-back losses at welterweight, including a failed title challenge against Tyron Woodley, Darren Till hoped to regain his momentum at middleweight. But after narrowly defeating fellow 170-pound defector Kelvin Gastelum, the Liverpool native never found his footing.

Till suffered three consecutive losses, which included two submissions, before parting ways with the UFC.

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BJ Penn is rightfully regarded as one of the best fighters to ever step into the Octagon. Beyond his incredible run as lightweight champion, he also captured the belt as an undersized welterweight. But his move to featherweight yielded none of that same success.

After being on the wrong of two lopsided decisions at 170 pounds, Penn thought featherweight was the path back to a title. Instead, he would be finished by Frankie Edgar, the same man who took his lightweight title, in the third round of their TUF finale main event. Penn would then drop two more in embarrassing performances at 145 pounds before an unceremonious return to lightweight.

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The combined effect of losing the belt, trouble making weight in the USADA era, and rough losses to top contenders led former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks to enter the Octagon at middleweight.

Ironically, “Big Rigg” found himself undersized and unequipped to handle the best 185 pounders the UFC had to offer. After a win against eventual welterweight contender Hector Lombard, Hendricks suffered knockout defeats to Tim Boestch and Paulo Costa before quietly walking away from the sport.

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