Introduction
UFC Fight Night 26: Shogun vs. Sonnen took place on Saturday, August 17, 2013 at TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts — broadcast live on Fox Sports 1 to 1.78 million viewers with a peak of 1.86 million. The event holds a permanent place in UFC history as the first event ever broadcast on Fox Sports 1, the newly launched sports channel that replaced the UFC’s arrangement with FX and Fuel TV. FS1 was Fox’s flagship sports cable channel, and the UFC’s opening night on the network set the tone with one of the most eventful Fight Night cards since the Spike era.
The main event produced a surprise: Chael Sonnen submitted Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua with a guillotine choke at 4:47 of round one. The co-main saw Travis Browne survive Alistair Overeem’s brutal opening assault before knocking him out. In the prelims, a 24-year-old Conor McGregor defeated Max Holloway by unanimous decision in their first-ever meeting. Neither fighter was yet a title contender. Twelve years later, they would meet again at UFC 329 for the undisputed lightweight championship.
Quick Stats
📅 Date: Saturday, August 17, 2013
📍 Venue: TD Garden, Boston, Massachusetts, USA
📺 Broadcast: Fox Sports 1 — 1.78M avg. viewers (1.86M peak) — FIRST UFC EVENT EVER ON FS1
🏆 Main Event: Chael Sonnen vs. Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua — Light Heavyweight
✅ Result: Sonnen def. Rua via Submission (guillotine choke) — R1, 4:47
The Build-Up
Fox Sports 1 launched on August 17, 2013 — the same day as UFC Fight Night 26. The UFC was one of the anchor tenants of the new channel, and Shogun vs. Sonnen was chosen as the marquee opening event because it combined star power (Sonnen was the sport’s biggest personality, Rua a former champion) with a high finish probability. The fight had a complicated path to the card: it was originally linked to UFC 161 and then moved several times due to visa issues, injuries, and scheduling conflicts.
In the prelims, Andy Ogle was originally booked to face McGregor. When Ogle withdrew injured, Max Holloway accepted the short-notice fight. Both were 20 years old at the time — young featherweights in the early stages of careers that would ultimately define the division for the next decade.
Main Event: Sonnen vs. Shogun
Rua showed early initiative, taking Sonnen down in the opening minutes and landing from top position. Sonnen ground-and-pounded back, found his way back to standing, and began wearing Rua down with his trademark forward pressure. With under a minute left in round one, Rua made the decisive mistake — he lowered his level into a takedown attempt that exposed his neck. Sonnen clamped on a guillotine, dropped to guard, and the choke was deep. Rua tapped at 4:47.
The submission was the first time Sonnen had won by submission in his professional career. The win was considered a genuine surprise — Sonnen had been expected to rely on wrestling and ground-and-pound, not a choke finish. It was also the final UFC win of his career: Sonnen fought twice more, losing both (to Anderson Silva at UFC 167 and Jon Jones at UFC 159), before retiring from MMA competition.
Co-Main: Browne vs. Overeem
Overeem dominated the opening exchange, landing heavy combinations that had Browne in serious trouble. It appeared a matter of time before Overeem finished it. Browne dug deep, survived the assault, and found a gap — a front kick to Overeem’s midsection followed by a series of punches that sent the Dutch heavyweight down. The referee stopped the fight. It was one of the most dramatic heavyweight comebacks of the year: Overeem from dominant aggressor to stopped in under four minutes. Browne earned Knockout of the Night.
McGregor vs. Holloway: The First Meeting
Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway took place on the Facebook/FS1 prelim card. McGregor was 1-0 in the UFC at this point, having defeated Marcus Brimage in April 2013. Holloway was 2-4 in the UFC. Neither had any title contention. The three-round unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) for McGregor showed his technical precision, relentless pressure, and grappling versatility. Holloway was competitive, landing clean shots of his own. The fight is now viewed as a historical artefact — the first chapter of the sport’s most compelling modern rivalry.
Full Results
Main Card (Fox Sports 1)
Chael Sonnen def. Mauricio Rua — Submission (guillotine choke) — R1, 4:47 — Light Heavyweight (Sonnen’s first career submission win)
Travis Browne def. Alistair Overeem — KO — R1 — Heavyweight (Knockout of the Night; dramatic comeback after Overeem’s dominant opening)
Urijah Faber def. Iuri Alcântara — Unanimous Decision — Bantamweight
Matt Brown def. Mike Pyle — TKO — R1, ~0:30 — Welterweight (Knockout of the Night)
Michael Johnson def. Joe Lauzon — Unanimous Decision — Lightweight
Preliminary Card (FS1 / Facebook)
Michael McDonald def. Brad Pickett — Submission (RNC) — R2 — Bantamweight (Fight of the Night + Submission of the Night; $50,000 bonuses)
Conor McGregor def. Max Holloway — Unanimous Decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-26) — Featherweight (Holloway replaced injured Andy Ogle)
Steven Siler def. Mike Brown — KO — R1, 0:50 — Featherweight
Diego Brandão def. Daniel Pineda — Unanimous Decision — Featherweight
Manny Gamburyan def. Cole Miller — Unanimous Decision — Featherweight
Ovince St. Preux def. Cody Donovan — KO — R1 — Light Heavyweight
John Howard def. Uriah Hall — Unanimous Decision — Middleweight
Bonuses & Awards
🥇 Fight of the Night: Michael McDonald vs. Brad Pickett — $50,000 each
🥇 Knockout of the Night: Travis Browne + Matt Brown — $50,000 each
🥇 Submission of the Night: Michael McDonald + Chael Sonnen — $50,000 each
Records & Milestones
• First UFC event ever broadcast on Fox Sports 1 — the launch event for FS1.
• Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway 1 — the first meeting of two fighters who would each become multi-divisional champions.
• Chael Sonnen’s first and only career submission win in professional MMA.
Legacy & Impact
UFC Fight Night 26 is remembered for three reasons: the first FS1 broadcast, the dramatic Browne-Overeem finish, and McGregor vs. Holloway 1. The prelim fight that pitted two obscure featherweights against each other in 2013 became, with hindsight, one of the most significant early career bouts in UFC history. McGregor would become a dual-division UFC champion and the sport’s biggest-ever PPV draw. Holloway would become the UFC featherweight champion, the BMF champion, and a multi-year Fight Night series icon. Fight Night 26 put both of them in the same building, in a prelim, at $24,000 and $14,000 purses.
FAQ
Why was Fox Sports 1 such a significant step for the UFC?
Fox Sports 1 was Fox’s answer to ESPN. Launched on August 17, 2013 by converting Speed Channel, it immediately became the most distributed sports cable channel in the US with access to approximately 90 million homes. For the UFC, moving from FX and Fuel TV (smaller cable channels) to FS1 meant significantly higher audience potential, better promotion via the Fox sports ecosystem, and a more credible broadcast platform. The deal also included UFC on Fox events on the main network — meaning the UFC now had three-tier Fox exposure: Fox (network), FS1 (cable flagship), and FS2 (cable secondary).
How did the McGregor vs. Holloway fight look at the time vs. in hindsight?
At the time, it was a prelim fight between two featherweights most fans hadn’t heard of. McGregor had some buzz from the Irish MMA community but was 1-0 in the UFC. Holloway was 2-4. In hindsight, it is one of the most consequential prelim fights in UFC history — a first meeting between a future dual-division champion and the longest-reigning featherweight champion in divisional history.
What was significant about Sonnen’s guillotine finish of Shogun?
It was the first and only submission victory in Chael Sonnen’s professional MMA career. Sonnen’s public identity was built entirely on wrestling, ground-and-pound, and volume striking. He had lost to Anderson Silva twice by submission (triangle arm-bar at UFC 117, rear-naked choke at UFC 148) and had repeatedly spoken about his dislike for jiu-jitsu as a finishing tool. The guillotine choke finish of a former UFC champion was therefore a genuine surprise — and a fitting punctuation mark on Sonnen’s UFC career, which ended with this victory before his final two losses.
How dramatic was the Browne vs. Overeem heavyweight fight?
Overeem came out with aggressive striking combinations and landed repeatedly on Browne in the opening minute. Most observers ringside thought Browne was on the verge of being finished. Instead, Browne absorbed the damage, stayed composed, and landed a front kick to Overeem’s midsection that disrupted his rhythm, followed by punches that dropped and finished him. The front kick-to-ground sequence echoed Anderson Silva’s famous front kick KO of Vitor Belfort at UFC 126 and demonstrated Browne’s finishing instinct under extreme duress. His Knockout of the Night was well-deserved.
Why was there a nearly two-year gap between Fight Night 25 and Fight Night 26?
After the Spike TV deal ended with Fight Night 25 in September 2011, the UFC’s free-television events aired under different branding: UFC on Fox (on Fox network), UFC on FX (on FX), and UFC on Fuel TV (on Fuel TV). The ‘UFC Fight Night’ label was not used for these events. When Fuel TV shut down in August 2013 and Fox Sports 1 launched in its place, the UFC rebranded its FS1 output as UFC Fight Night — hence Fight Night 26 in August 2013. The gap reflects not a pause in UFC activity, but a rebranding.
What happened to Matt Brown after his 30-second finish of Mike Pyle?
Brown’s 30-second TKO of Pyle was part of a remarkable run. He went 7-1 in the UFC across 2012–2014, built one of the best Fight Night bonus records in the promotion, and earned a UFC welterweight title shot against Johny Hendricks at UFC 185 in March 2015. His tenure through this period was marked by aggressive forward pressure, creative striking, and an elite finishing instinct in the first round — all on display in the Pyle finish. Fight Night 26’s 30-second TKO was a signature Matt Brown moment in miniature.