Cain Velasquez and the Best Champions to Never Defend Their Title

This Saturday, UFC 146 goes down in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the heavyweight title is on the line between current champion Junior dos Santos and former champion Frank Mir.

Also on the card is a fight between former heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, and a participant in the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix, Antonio Silva.

Cain Velasquez was last seen at UFC on Fox 1, where he lost his title to dos Santos in the first round by knockout.

With the loss, Cain failed to defend his title, and joined a long list of champions who were never able to defend the belt.

Let's take a look at some others.

Georges St-Pierre

Allow me to specify; I'm referring to GSP's first title reign.

St-Pierre originally won the title at UFC 65, when he defeated Matt Hughes by second round TKO. St-Pierre was then set to defend the belt against Matt Serra.

At this point, I think we all know that Serra knocked out GSP in the first round in the biggest upset in MMA history.

We all know that St-Pierre went on to reclaim the title, and lay waste to the welterweight division.

BJ Penn

We'll stay in the welterweight division for this next one and talk about BJ Penn's reign at 170.

Penn won the title in only his ninth pro fight, when he defeated Matt Hughes by a first-round, rear-naked choke at UFC 46.

Penn ended up being stripped of the title after leaving the UFC to fight in K-1, and he was never able to reclaim the welterweight belt.

Mauricio Rua

We're moving up to the light heavyweight division now, and we'll talk about Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

Shogun first fought for the UFC title at UFC 104 against Lyoto Machida, where he lost a controversial decision. An immediate rematch was scheduled for UFC 113, and he ended up knocking out "The Dragon" in the first round.

Shogun was then out for a while dealing with injuries, and upon his return, he got in the path of destruction of Jon "Bones" Jones, and lost his belt via third-round TKO.

Rashad Evans

Rashad Evans won the light heavyweight title when he knocked out Forrest Griffin in the third round at UFC 92.

Evans held the belt for a mere 147 days, at which point he squared off against Lyoto Machida.

In one of the most devastating knockouts in UFC history, Machida put Evans to sleep in the second round, and took his belt away, undefended.

Forrest Griffin

Boy, we're spending a lot of time in the light heavyweight division...

Forrest Griffin won the light heavyweight title at UFC 86 when he defeated Rampage Jackson in a fight of the night, and fight of the year winner.

Griffin then went on to face Rashad Evans, and if you remember from the earlier slide, Evans knocked out Griffin in the third round.

Randy Couture

Randy Couture won the most belts in UFC history, so it should make sense that he has the most non-defenses in UFC history.

Couture is a five-time UFC champion. Three times in the heavyweight division, and twice in the light heavyweight division.

Both times he won the light heavyweight belt, he lost his next fight, and the first time he won the heavyweight belt, he didn't defend it.

He didn't defend the heavyweight belt when he left the UFC due to a contract dispute, he didn't defend the light heavyweight belt the first time due to a loss to Vitor Belfort, and didn't defend it the second time due to a Chuck Liddell knockout.

Cain Velasquez

Up next is the former heavyweight champ, Cain Velasquez.

Velasquez won the belt when he defeated Brock Lesnar by TKO at UFC 121. Velasquez then spent an extended period of time on the shelf, due to a torn rotator cuff.

He returned to headline the UFC's debut event on Fox, where he faced off against Junior dos Santos.

Velasquez was knocked out in the first round, and lost the belt to "Cigano."

Frank Mir

Here we have the man who will be fighting "Cigano" on Saturday, Frank Mir.

Mir won the heavyweight belt at UFC 48, quite memorably, by breaking the arm of Tim Sylvia in an armbar.

Mir was never able to defend the belt due to injuries suffered in a devastating motorcycle accident he was involved in.

Andrei Arlovski had beaten Tim Sylvia for the interim title, and upon Mir being stripped of the championship, Arlovski was promoted to undisputed champ.

Bas Rutten

Next up is the man, the myth, "El Guapo," Bas Rutten.

Rutten won the heavyweight belt when he defeated Kevin Randleman at UFC 20 in May of 1999.

He never defended the title, as he vacated it to drop down to light heavyweight and go for the title there.

Unfortunately, soon after he vacated the belt, he was forced to retire from MMA competition due to several injuries suffered in training.

Mark Coleman

Mark Coleman was the first ever UFC heavyweight champion, an honor that he won when he defeated Dan Severn by submission at UFC 12.

Coleman then lost the belt at UFC 14, when he was defeated by Maurice Smith by unanimous decision. Their fight ended up winning the fight of the year for 1997.

Tim McTiernan is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report. For the latest news on everything MMA, follow him on Twitter @TimMcTiernan.