One has to give credit to the Ultimate Fighting Championship because of whom MMA is what it is today and continues to be the number one reason why MMA is now one of the most popular sports across the globe. If it weren’t for the UFC, who knows whether MMA would have qualified to be a sport. Over the years, we have seen some spectacular UFC fights, and it seems like everything has just clicked for the perfect event for the promotion.
Daily Update: UFC 260 fallout, Tyron Woodley, Dana White https://t.co/HvWSLeYy3v pic.twitter.com/h3CovPA4eT
— Wrestling Observer (@WONF4W) March 29, 2021
UFC 260 featured the Biggest, Baddest Rematch in the history of the sport as the main event that was between the former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and current champion Francis Ngannou. In which, The Predator shocked the world after knocking out the former champ in just 0:52 minutes of round 2. In the co-main event, former Welterweight Champion Tyron Woodley got submitted in round 1 by Vicente Luque which was Woodley’s last fight in the UFC before he shifted his attention towards Jake Paul in boxing. Other fights featured fighters such as Seasn O’Malley, Miranda Maverick, Jamie Mullarkey who all picked up stoppage wins making the card more special than it already was.
History at MSG 🗽
Bisping 🆚 GSP
Garbrandt 🆚 Dillashaw
Joanna 🆚 Namajunas
Wonderboy 🆚 Masvidal
Hendricks 🆚 Costa#UFC217 was one of the greatest main cards in history and you can watch it in full on BT Sport 3 HD at 9pm 🔥 pic.twitter.com/QzYLTkNTBf— #UFCLondon on BT Sport (@btsportufc) April 4, 2020
With George St-Pierre returning to the UFC after a four-year absence to fight Michael Bisping for the middleweight championship all the attention was towards the main-event. However, UFC 217 was a spectacular event overall and possibly the only UFC event that saw three new champions being crowned. In the main-event, GSP took the belt from Bisping with a rear-naked choke that put Bisping to sleep. In the co-main event, T.J. Dillashaw knocked out his former teammate and TUF rival Cody Garbrandt in classic fashion. In the third title fight, Rose Namajunas did the unthinkable, she knocked out Joanna Jedrzejczyk giving ger the first career loss of her incredible MMA career. The prelims round featured big names such as Jorge Masvidal, Stephen Thompson, Paulo Costa and Curtis Blaydes.
Masvidal starched by Usman
Weili ran through like she’s nothing
Andrade crushed
Weidmans leg snapping
Randy Brown’s one arm RNC
And so many other incredible moments.UFC 261 was truly one of a kind and we’ll be waiting a while before we get another quite like it. pic.twitter.com/zYnmwcn806
— 𝙒𝙤𝙣𝙙𝙚𝙧𝙗𝙧𝙚𝙖𝙙 🇦🇺 (@WonderbreadMMA) April 27, 2021
3 title fights with almost every other fight on the card being exciting, UFC 261 was just spectacular. In the main event of the card, Kamaru Usman continued his dominance in the Welterweight division after he blasted a right cross that nearly took Masvidal’s head off, knocking him out in the first place. Rose Namajunas returned to the strawweight throne after knocking out former champion Weili Zhang with a spectacular head kick. Valentina Shevchnko delivered one of the best finishes of her career against Jessica Andrade as she landed a series of elbows from a crucifix position to get the KO. The card also featured Uriah Hall’s victory over Chris Weidman who suffered a horrible leg injury, an injury similar to what Anderson Silva endured against Weidman in the past.
#UFC202 replay.
9 o’clock tonight.
BT Sport 3 HD.
Don’t miss it. pic.twitter.com/1Pkiz7230L— #UFCLondon on BT Sport (@btsportufc) April 17, 2020
UFC 202 featured a rematch between Nate Dian and Conor McGregor in the main event with the card selling 1.6 million PPV buys, which made it one of the highest-selling PPV events in UFC history. In the main event, the two lightweights fought like lions for five rounds, trading punches, clinches, taunting each other and what not. The fight finished with a majority decision in McGregor’s favor, but it could’ve gone either way. Although, all the attention was towards the main event, the co-main event isn’t something we could forget about. Anthony Rumble Johnson decimated the current LHW champion Glover Teixeira in just 13 seconds of round 1. Donald Cerrone got away with a massive head kick knockout over Rick Story. To add to all this, the prelims featured future stars such as Marvin Vettori, Colby Covington, Raquel Pennington and Cody Garbrandt.
The sport’s most combustable rivalry reached its boiling point two years ago today, when Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor in the fourth round at UFC 229. pic.twitter.com/oJAiVyGRsT
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) October 6, 2020
A list of the best UFC cards could not go complete without UFC 229, which is the highest selling PPV event ever. The main-event featured the fights of all fights between Khabib Numagomvedov and Conor McGregor selling a record-breaking 2.4 million PPVs. The fight obviously wasn’t that competitive as we hoped it would be as Khabib completely dominated the fight before finishing it in the fourth via rear-naked choke. The co-main event between Tony Ferguson and Anthony Pettis was a fight of the year candidate, but the fight was cut short after Pettis broke his hand. In the other fight, with just ten seconds on the clock, Derrick lewis scored a knockout against Alexander Volkov. The card was just fantastic with brilliant fights, but it was all overshadowed by the huge brawl that set off after the main event for which both Khabib and McGregor were fined $500,000 each.
[Featured Image Credit: ESPN MMA]
Shashank Iyer