UFC Events

Introduction UFC 240: Holloway vs. Edgar — July 27, 2019, Rogers Place, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Max Holloway made his third UFC Featherweight Championship defence in the most dominant fashion of his title reign, stopping Frankie Edgar with a devastating combination at 0:55 of round one. Edgar, one of the most durable fighters in UFC history with a 20-year MMA career and a record of never having been finished before in the UFC, was dropped by a right hand and finished bef

Introduction UFC 239: Jones vs. Santos — July 6, 2019, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. A card so stacked it produced three title fights, the fastest KO in UFC history at the time, and one of the most debated scorecards in LHW championship history. Jon Jones retained the UFC Light Heavyweight title by split decision over Thiago Santos in the most physically demanding fight of his career — a five-round war in which Santos fought on a surgically-reconstructed knee and still came wi

Introduction UFC 238: Cejudo vs. Moraes — June 8, 2019, United Center, Chicago, Illinois. Henry Cejudo, the reigning UFC Flyweight Champion who had ended Demetrious Johnson’s record-setting reign at UFC 227, moved up to bantamweight to fight for the vacant BW title after T.J. Dillashaw was stripped following a positive EPO test. Cejudo stopped Marlon Moraes by TKO at 1:13 of round three to become the UFC’s second simultaneous FW+BW champion. Valentina Shevchenko made her fi

Introduction UFC 237: Namajunas vs. Andrade — May 11, 2019, Jeunesse Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Rose Namajunas arrived as the UFC Women’s Strawweight Champion, riding a remarkable run that had begun when she knocked out Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 217 and included two subsequent defences. In Rio, in front of a partisan Brazilian crowd, Jessica Andrade ended that run with one of the most violent and visually arresting finishes in Women’s MMA history: she picked Rose up off

Introduction UFC 236: Holloway vs. Poirier 2 — April 13, 2019, State Farm Arena, Atlanta, Georgia. A card carrying two interim title fights, both of which delivered five-round wars that were instantly placed among the finest title fights of the decade. Khabib Nurmagomedov was serving his nine-month suspension following the post-fight brawl at UFC 229, creating a vacancy that Max Holloway and Dustin Poirier were asked to fill. Robert Whittaker was still recovering from his e

Introduction UFC 235: Jones vs. Smith — March 2, 2019, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. One of the most loaded single cards of early 2019, delivering two title fights, one of the most controversial finishes in recent UFC history, and a changing of the welterweight guard that the division had been waiting years for. Jon Jones made his first UFC Light Heavyweight title defence since reclaiming the belt at UFC 232, defeating Anthony Smith by unanimous decision across five dominant r

Introduction UFC 234 will be remembered as one of the most dramatic days in UFC history for reasons that had nothing to do with anything that happened inside the cage. February 9, 2019, Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne, Australia. Robert Whittaker and Yoel Romero were scheduled to meet for the third time, this time in a legitimate UFC Middleweight Championship fight — the rematch that the missed-weight controversy at UFC 225 had denied fans. Then, on fight morning, Whittaker coll

Introduction UFC 232: Jones vs. Gustafsson 2 — December 29, 2018, The Forum, Inglewood, California. Jon Jones returned to the Octagon after his second USADA-related suspension and knocked out Alexander Gustafsson in round three to claim the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Amanda Nunes stunned the combat sports world in the co-main by stopping Cris Cyborg by TKO at 0:51 of round one, becoming the first fighter in UFC women’s history to hold titles in two weight cl

Introduction UFC 231: Holloway vs. Ortega — December 8, 2018, Scotiabank Arena, Toronto, Ontario. Max Holloway defended the UFC Featherweight Championship against Brian Ortega in one of the division’s most dramatic title fights — a contest that saw Ortega absorb enormous punishment across four rounds, hurt Holloway multiple times with his dangerous submission game, and ultimately be stopped by TKO at 1:22 of round four. It was Holloway’s third consecutive title defence and

Introduction UFC 230: Cormier vs. Lewis — November 3, 2018, Madison Square Garden, New York City. Daniel Cormier made his first UFC Heavyweight Championship defence, submitting Derrick Lewis with a rear-naked choke at 3:44 of round two in a fight that was far more engaging than the matchup’s paper credentials suggested. Cormier had won the HW title at UFC 226 by stunning first-round KO. Lewis arrived on the back of his own spectacular form — his comeback KO of Volkov at UFC

Introduction UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor — October 6, 2018, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. 20,034 fans. Gate: $17.2 million. PPV: ~2.4 million buys, the highest in UFC history at the time, surpassing the previous record by nearly one million. Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor with a neck crank at 3:03 of round four, retaining the Lightweight title in the most commercially significant MMA event ever staged. The submission was the first of McGregor’s MMA career. What

Introduction UFC 228: Woodley vs. Till — September 8, 2018, American Airlines Center, Dallas, Texas. 18,627 fans, an estimated 350,000 PPV buys, and one of the welterweight division’s most dramatic title fight finishes in years. Darren Till arrived 17-0-1, the hottest name in MMA, a massive fan favourite from Liverpool who had run through the WW division and drawn with Stephen Thompson in his most recent outing. Tyron Woodley arrived with three straight title defences — all

Introduction UFC 227: Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt 2 — August 4, 2018, Staples Center, Los Angeles. ~300,000 PPV buys. T.J. Dillashaw retained the UFC Bantamweight Championship, stopping bitter rival and former teammate Cody Garbrandt by TKO (knee and punches) at 4:10 of round one — an exact repeat of his first-round finish at UFC 217. Their rivalry, built on a fractured Team Alpha Male locker room and genuine personal animosity, was the most intense the bantamweight division ha

Introduction UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier took place on July 7, 2018 at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, as part of International Fight Week. The arena was sold out with 17,464 fans, the gate reached $5,677,238, and the event drew an estimated 380,000 PPV buys — one of the largest in UFC history to that point. It was the headline event of the UFC’s flagship annual week, and it delivered something historic: Daniel Cormier knocked out reigning UFC Heavyweight Champion

Introduction UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero 2 — June 9, 2018, United Center, Chicago. 18,117 fans, gate of $2,550,000, an estimated 250,000 PPV buys. The night arrived already compromised: Yoel Romero weighed 186.0 lbs on his first attempt at the 185 lb middleweight limit, came back at 185.2 lbs in extra time, and was declared non-title by the Illinois commission at the one-hour mark. He was fined 30% of his purse — approximately $150,000 — payable to Whittaker. His previous

Introduction UFC 223: Khabib vs. Iaquinta. April 7, 2018. Barclays Center, Brooklyn, New York. Khabib Nurmagomedov became the undisputed UFC Lightweight Champion, defeating Al Iaquinta by UD (50-45, 50-44, 50-45) in the most chaotic fight week in UFC history. The card was the fourth attempt at a Khabib-Ferguson unification fight; the third time Iaquinta was the headliner; and the week the UFC learned that Conor McGregor was capable of anything. The week’s timeline: Fergus

Introduction UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington. May 12, 2018. Jeunesse Arena, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Amanda Nunes made her third UFC Women’s Bantamweight Championship defence, stopping Raquel Pennington with hammer fists at 2:36 of round five. UFC 224 was the first event in UFC history headlined by two openly gay fighters. The fight’s most discussed moment came at the end of round four: Pennington, her nose broken and face battered, told her corner she wanted to stop. Her co

Introduction UFC 222: Cyborg vs. Kunitskaya. March 3, 2018. T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. Cris Cyborg made her second UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship defence, stopping Yana Kunitskaya by TKO (ground-and-pound) at 3:25 of round one. Cyborg post-fight: ‘I want Amanda Nunes next. She called me out and I want to fight her.’ The card was significantly reshuffled. The originally planned main event — Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar for the FW Championship — collapsed when Hol

Introduction UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold. February 10, 2018 (North American date). Perth Arena, Perth, Western Australia — the first UFC event in Perth, after the state government overturned its cage fighting ban. Yoel Romero knocked out Luke Rockhold with a left hook and follow-up uppercut in round three. The bout was designated for the interim MW Championship, but only Rockhold could claim the title: Romero missed weight at 187.2 lbs, 2.2 lbs over the 185 lb limit. The

Introduction UFC 220: Miocic vs. Ngannou. January 20, 2018. TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts — first UFC event at this venue. Stipe Miocic made his third consecutive UFC Heavyweight Championship defence, defeating Francis Ngannou by unanimous decision (50-44, 50-44, 50-44). The near-shutout broke the UFC record for consecutive HW title defences. Ngannou landed only 26% of his total strikes and 18% of significant strikes. Daniel Cormier retained the LHW title in the co-mai