By Dwight Wakabayashi
On the heels of securing the lightweight No. 1 contender spot with his brilliant first-round knockout win over Gray Maynard at UFC 160, T.J. Grant will be the seventh Canadian to fight for a UFC title and the 10th time a Canuck has been given a division title shot (interim titles not included).
These numbers represent the post-tournament era of the UFC, where established weight classes and championship titles became legitimate.
Canadian fighters were also prominent in the tournament era, making the tournament finals three times yet were unable to seal the deal and be crowned a tournament champion.
Here is a look back at the history of Canadian fighters who have challenged for a UFC title.
The tournament era
In the tournament era of the UFC, a few Canadian fighters gained recognition by reaching the tournament finals for a chance to fight for the ultimate prize, but none were able to pull off a victory in the final.
Niagara Falls, Ont., fighter Harold Howard, a black belt in multiple disciplines and proud mullet man, made the UFC 3 final back in 1994, where he lost to Ken Shamrock’s injury replacement Steve Jennum after tapping out to strikes to the head.
Canadian Fighting legend and Barrie, Ont., resident Gary Goodridge was the next to fight for a tourney title, as he faced notorious tough guy Don Frye in the final of UFC 8 in 1996. After Frye gained dominant position two minutes into the fight, Goodridge and his corner quickly threw in the towel to end the fight.
Newmarket, Ont.’s Carlos Newton was the next and last Canadian to fight to prominence in the new and smaller tournament format as he reached the final of the UFC 17 middleweight tournament to face current active legend and future Hall of Famer Dan Henderson. The event marked the UFC debut for both fighters and Henderson came out on top of a very close decision to take home the title.
Post-tournament era
The first Canadian to get a shot at a UFC championship belt was a 20-year-old John Alessio. The Duncan, B.C., native faced pioneer Pat Miletich for the lightweight (now welterweight) title at UFC 26 June 9, 2000, in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Alessio became a victim of a second-round arm bar and Canada was once again left as a bridesmaid to the title.
The title drought would not last long from there as the champion Miletich would face Newton just shy of one year later at UFC 31 in Atlantic City, N.J. The fight would mark the first time a Canadian would win a UFC title and become a highlight reel for years to come as Newton snapped Miletich in a bulldog choke to win the title. Newton would lose the title to Matt Hughes via slam in his first and only defence at UFC 34 in one of the craziest fight finishes in UFC history.
Newton would get a third title fight and second shot at Hughes the following year at UFC 38 in London, England, but he would come up short again, losing by TKO near the end of the fourth round. Canadians were 1-2 in UFC division title fights.
When you think of Canadians in UFC title shots in the more recent post-tournament era, of course Montreal welterweight Georges St-Pierre immediately comes to mind. Not only is St-Pierre one of only two Canucks in UFC history to make good on the opportunity and win a UFC title, he also has the most title challenges of any Canadian in UFC history with three. His many title defences are not included in this topic, only fights as the challenger, and GSP has fought three different times for the actual (not interim) UFC championship.
His first attempt came for the vacant welterweight title against Matt Hughes at UFC 50 in Atlantic City, N.J., in October 2004. Then a rising 23-year-old GSP came in as a large underdog and lost via arm bar right at the end of the first round to drop Canadians to a struggling 1-3 in division title fights to date.
St-Pierre would single-handedly improve that mark over the next few years as he would get another chance at Hughes and the title five wins and two years later at UFC 65 in California. This time, GSP would not disappoint as he beat Hughes with a head kick and barrage of punches at 1:25 of the second round to become the second Canadian to win a UFC title.
GSP would go on to lose his title immediately to Matt Serra in one of the biggest upsets in UFC history, before beating Hughes again for the interim title to secure his third legitimate title shot, a rematch with Serra in Montreal in April 2008. St-Pierre would defeat Serra easily and he still holds that title five years and eight consecutive defences later.
Three other Canadians have fought for a UFC title and unfortunately, all came out on the losing end of the championship battle. Canadian MMA pioneer David (The Crow) Loiseau lost badly to Rich Franklin for the middleweight title at UFC 58 in March 2006 and Patrick Cote hung in with a disinterested Anderson Silva before his knee gave out in the third round at UFC 90 in 2008.
But Canada’s most recent title shot took place in 2011, at the monumental UFC 129 in Toronto where a record breaking 55,000 people witnessed Thamesford, Ont.’s Mark Hominick fight an epic battle against featherweight champion Jose Aldo. Hominick lost the fight but gained widespread fame and notoriety with his Rocky-like performance in the loss.
Canadian fighters are 3-6 in UFC title shots to date (St-Pierre with two wins, Newton one). All health and circumstance permitting, Grant will be the next Canadian to fight for a title, and the only real question is when and where that fight will take place. Canadian fans are frothing at the mouth at the chance of the Henderson-Grant fight taking place at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto in September. However, the UFC has a huge event scheduled in Boston in August and they may want that title fight to stack up that card to launch their relationship with the new channel FOX Sports 1.
The important part is not the where but the when, and I can’t wait to see Grant match up against the champion to try to become just the third Canadian to wear UFC gold.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report UFC and regular contributor to Sportsnet.ca’s UFC section. Follow him on Twitter @wakafightermma.
