2026 has been one of the most snakebitten years for UFC champions

The UFC has struggled with injuries this year, especially injuries that have impacted the promotion's champions. Some of these injuries have led to titles being vacated, while others have caused high-profile matchups to be derailed or end in the most bizarre manner. It's been a snakebitten year for the promotion, and the top brass can only hope things will be better.

UFC champions vs. the 2026 injury bug

At heavyweight, the marquee division of the promotion, a controversy is afoot. Tom Aspinall, the then undisputed heavyweight champion, was set to defend his belt against Ciryl Gane at UFC 321. It was a matchup that had the entire MMA world's attention, pitting the two best heavyweights of this generation against each other. Both men were uber-skilled and more athletic than everyone else in the division, but the fight ended in disappointment. After Gane had found success in round one with his jab and movement, he poked Aspinall in the eye, as he often does. Unfortunately, it wasn't an ordinary eye poke. Aspinall was left partially blind and couldn't continue. So, the fight was ruled a no-contest.

Later, Aspinall was found to have contracted Brown syndrome from the eye poke, forcing him to go under the knife. Despite multiple eye surgeries, the complications continued, and he was forced to vacate the belt as he'd be sidelined for too long and didn't want to hold the division up. Gane, who was coming off a dominant second-round TKO of Alex Pereira at UFC Freedom 250 for the interim heavyweight title, was promoted to undisputed champion, and will now hope to restore order to the division that he himself flung into chaos. Then, there's the division below. After Pereira abandoned light heavyweight to pursue his dreams of becoming the first-ever three-division champion in the promotion, the 205-pound belt was up for grabs.

Naturally, ex-champion Jiří Procházka was booked to face Carlos Ulberg for the belt at UFC 327. However, the injury bug struck again. Ulberg tore his ACL early and seemed to be on his way to a loss, before flattening Procházka with a counter-left hook in round one to capture the belt. His injury, though, would sideline him, so it will be some time before he returns to action. Then, far from the heavier divisions, women's bantamweight had its own injury crisis. Newly minted women's bantamweight champion Kayla Harrison was initially booked to face a returning Amanda Nunes in her first title defense at UFC 324. The fight, though, was delayed after herniated discs in Harrison's neck forced her to get surgery.

Now, after nearly a year, she'll face Nunes at UFC 334. She isn't, however, the only women's champion to have her year derailed by injury. Ex-women's flyweight queen, Valentina Shevchenko, was originally scheduled to defend her belt against Natália Silva at UFC 332, but a serious injury that will sideline her for a year forced her to vacate her belt, which Silva then won in a dominant unanimous decision over Wang Cong. It's been a chaotic year, and the promotion can only hope that 2027 will be more stable.