Two former champions showed up on the UFC on FOX 30 undercard, both in desperate need of victory.

First was former UFC women’s strawweight champ Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who entered her bout with Tecia Torres riding two consecutive losses to current champ Rose Namajunas. Jedrzejczyk won a unanimous decision victory, then showed up at the post-fight press conference calling herself “the queen” and demanding a third fight with Namajunas, who she accused of running from her.

Then there was former UFC men’s featherweight champ Jose Aldo, who had also lost two in a row to his division’s current titleholder, Max Holloway. Aldo earned his redemption in much more emphatic fashion, dropping Jeremy Stephens with a thunderous body shot and then finishing him off with strikes moments later.

Aldo, too, wants to get that belt back, though he sounded at least somewhat more patient about getting it.

The trouble is, as of now, both fighters are essentially asking the UFC to do something it’s never done. Never has a fighter been granted a third crack at a specific champion after going 0-2 against that champ in previous UFC title bouts. It just doesn’t happen, and it’s not hard to see why.

For one thing, there’s the difficulty in selling the same fight three times over. Title fight rematches aren’t always the most popular items on the pay-per-view menu, and it only gets more stale when a 2-0 score on one side makes a trilogy seem unnecessary.

Plus, what about the rest of the division? If there are any other challengers whatsoever, they might get a little irked at seeing all the title shots go to the same person, especially when that person keeps losing those fights.

But that puts fighters like Aldo and Jedrezejczyk in a tough spot. Clearly, they’re two of the best to ever do it in their respective divisions. Both of them probably still beat 90 percent of the other fighters in their weight classes, and neither would be a gimme in a third fight with the champ who dethroned them.

At the same time, just think about what it would take for the UFC to give them that chance. Maybe if all other conceivable options had been eliminated. Maybe if a late withdrawal prompted a last-minute scramble for replacements.

But as for simply making a case in the cage, the old-fashioned way? It’s unlikely. That’s why their best hope might be for some turnover at the top, resulting in a new champ with whom they don’t have such a one-sided history.

Otherwise, if they don’t flee for a new division, they’re probably going to end up locked in a holding pattern, trying to earn one more chance to answer a question that nobody but them is even asking anymore.

It’s a bitter reality of this sport, and one even the greats aren’t immune to. It’s also something Henry Cejudo might want to pay attention to ahead of his title fight rematch with UFC flyweight champ Demetrious Johnson at UFC 227 this Saturday night.

One more loss to “Mighty Mouse” and Cejudo joins the 0-2 club. And with the way Johnson is going, a fighter could grow old and gray waiting for him to give up the crown.

For more on UFC 227, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.