The sport of MMA is an ever growing sport with ever growing promotions, Bellator, PFL, One FC, Cage Warriors, and so many more, but one has remained as the most popular and well known promotion of them all; the UFC.
The Ultimate Fighting Championships hosted its first event in 1993 with the premise of pitting different martial artists from all around the world who practice different martial arts and seeing which martial arts comes out on top. The winner was Royce Gracie, a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt who comes from the Gracie Jiu-Jitsu family. We’ve come a long way from 1993, as it is currently 2025 and there have been a plethora of great battles fought over the 32 years since the UFC has been created, but which were the best? Well I’ve made a list of my top 5 all time great fights that will make you a UFC fan.
5. Chuck Liddell vs. Wanderlei Silva (UFC 79)
Result: Chuck Liddell wins by unanimous decision
Chuck Liddell and Wanderlei Silva at one point could’ve been the biggest fight in MMA history. Picture this, it’s 2005 and Chuck Liddell just knocked out Randy Couture to win the Light Heavyweight title, and he did it in the first round in spectacular fashion, cementing himself as the baddest S.O.B. in the UFC. On the other end of the spectrum in Pride FC you have Wanderlei Silva who later that year would win in a grudge match against Ricardo Arona to defend the Pride FC Middleweight championship, making it 4 that night. Before that he would reign terror amongst the Middleweight division in Pride FC (205 lbs.), knocking out “Rampage” Jackson twice, Kazushi Sakuraba 3 times, and more. Chuck had lightning striking, crazy power in his hands, and knocked everyone out. Wanderlei was a scrappy Muay Thai monster, often lighting guys up with his Thai knees in the clinch and throwing wild hooks to KO his opponents. Both men fought like rabid dogs, and with Dana announcing that they were set to fight, nobody could wait.
Unfortunately they would have to wait as it didn’t happen when it should’ve. Chuck would drop the UFC Light Heavyweight belt to “Rampage” Jackson by 1st round KO, and would lose to Keith Jardine by Split decision. Wanderlei had lost to Mirko Cro Cop in an open weight belt by KO, and even though he would defend his belt again, Dan Henderson, who at the time was the Pride Welterweight champ (185 lbs.), would knock Wanderlei out in a Pride super fight for the Middleweight belt. Without the belts on the line, the fight just didn’t feel the same, but nonetheless, the fight was booked.
At UFC 79, GSP v. Hughes 3, in the co-main Chuck and Wanderlei were set to go to war with each other. What would follow would be one of the greatest fights to ever take place. A short feeling out process in the first round came to an end when the two would begin to scrap with both landing big shots and cracking each other over and over. Chuck would be getting the better shots off, busting Wanderlei up and hurting him multiple times. In the second round though, Wanderlei would knock Chuck down, but Chuck rose up again and they began slugging it out again. Chuck would continue to land more often and harder, and would even take Silva down to edge out the unanimous decision victory.
4. José Aldo vs. Chad Mendes 2 (UFC 179)
Result: José Aldo wins via unanimous decision
José Aldo and Chad Mendes first fight took place at UFC 142, and in the build up people were wondering if Chad would be the one to dethrone long time Featherweight champ, and “the king of Rio” José Aldo. In their fight, José would KO Chad via a knee in the last second of round 1, and would jump into the Brazilian crowd to celebrate.
After their first meeting, José would defend his belt three times more, one against former Lightweight champ Frankie Edgar, another against “the Korean Zombie” Chan Sung-Jung, and another against Ricardo Lamas. Chad on the other hand went on a 5 fight win streak, with some wins being against Darren Elkins, Clay Guida, and Nik Lentz. Chad would get his second shot at UFC gold at UFC 176 when he was booked to fight José Aldo again. The fight was cancelled and was moved to UFC 179 instead.
When they finally met at UFC 179, nobody could’ve guessed what would come next. In the first round, Chad Mendes would become the first person to knockdown José with a left hook. José would get back up, and later in the fight would knockdown Chad Mendes. Strikes would fly, and both fighters got rocked multiple times in a Featherweight title barn-burner of a match. The two brawled throughout all five rounds, with takedowns, hooks, uppercuts, and kicks all with the intent to finish the fight and either win or keep UFC gold. José did just enough to win over the judges in the fight and retained his belt by unanimous decision.
The fight won the World MMA Awards fight of the year award, and won fight of the night at UFC 179.
3. A tie between Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson (UFC 139) and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Dan Henderson 2 (UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Henderson 2)
Result (UFC 139): Dan Henderson wins via unanimous decision
Result (UFC FN: Shogun vs. Henderson 2): Dan Henderson by TKO in Round 3 at 1:31
Originally I was going to just include the first fight, but ultimately I felt the need to include the second fight as well as it’s just as good as the first fight if not a little better. Both fights were bloody, hard fought wars that should be watch no matter what as they are both exhilarating and exciting fights with action that doesn’t end until the ref stops the fight or the final bell rings.
Dan Henderson had been a long time MMA vet by the year of 2011, but was still one of the best out there. First drawing eyes on himself at UFC 17, he won the UFC 17 Middleweight tournament and wouldn’t return to the UFC for some time, but he still accomplished a lot. Dan went to Rings and fought for the Rings promotion for a bit before going to Pride where he would beat former UFC Middleweight champion Murilo Bustamante in the Pride FC Welterweight tournament finals to win the Pride Welterweight title. He then ran into Wanderlei Silva, the current Pride Middleweight champ at the time, in 2007 for a second time at Pride FC 33 in a superfight for the Middleweight belt. Hendo was still the Welterweight champ, so winning this fight would make him a double champ, holding two belts in two separate divisions at the same time. Hendo would go on to get the job done by KO’ing Wanderlei with a monstrous hook that sent Wanderlei to the shadow realm to win the Middleweight belt. Afterwards Hendo would return to the UFC after Pride was absorbed by the UFC and most of the fighters went over to the UFC. Dan Henderson would fight “Rampage” Jackson to unify the UFC Light Heavyweight and Pride Middleweight belts. In a hard fought war, Jackson would emerge victorious and remain the champ by unanimous decision. Still holding the Pride Welterweight belt, he would fight Anderson Silva to unify the UFC Middleweight belt and Pride Welterweight belt. Anderson won by Rear Naked Choke near the end of round 2, and Hendo would fight a few more times before leaving the UFC. Hedno would go to Strikeforce and won the Light Heavyweight title and would fight Fedor Emelianenko in a superfight between Pride legends in which after Fedor rocked and knocked Dan, Dan rallied to KO Fedor in round 1. After Strikeforce was absorbed by the UFC, Dan Henderson would sign with the UFC again.
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was a Brazilian Muay Thai and BJJ fighter would trained at Chute Boxing where he would train with Wanderlei Silva and other Brazilian MMA legends where he would go on to find success in Pride FC where he would win the Pride FC 2005 Middleweight tournament and boost himself to a superstar. After Pride FC was absorbed by the UFC, Mauricio signed over to the UFC and made his debut against Forrest Griffin where in a hard fought bout, he lost by submission in the 3rd round. Despite the setback, he was determined to become champ. A rematch with Mark Coleman where Shogun sought revenge for the early stoppage in Pride due to an injured arm saw Shogun claiming his revenge with a 3rd round TKO in the last 30 seconds of the fight, and led to a fight of the night award. Afterwards he would face former Light Heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell at UFC 97 where he knocked Chuck out cold in the first round in devastating fashion which earned him his title shot. He got the title shot at UFC 104 against then Light Heavyweight champion Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida where he lost a unanimous decision that many thought that Shogun won soundly. Shogun got an immediate rematch against Lyoto for the title again where he knocked Lyoto out with an overhand right in the first round to win the Light Heavyweight belt and knockout of the night honors. Shogun would originally defend the belt against Rashad Evans, but the match wouldn’t happen due to Rashad being injured. Instead, Jon Jones would get the title shot coming off of a win against Ryan Bader. Jon TKO’d Shogun in the 3rd to win the belt in a humongous upset as at the time Jon wasn’t known as the fighter he’s known as today and was seen as a young prospect, but not quite on Shogun’s level. After the shocking defeat at the hands of Jon, Shogun would rematch Forrest Griffin where he would KO him in the first round.
Shogun and Hendo were scheduled for a five round non-title fight main event at UFC 139 in a #1 contender match-up. In the first three rounds of their match Hendo and Shogun would duke it out where Hendo was getting the better of Shogun, and then dropped Shogun in the 3rd. A bloodied and beaten Shogun mounted Shogun in the fourth and began to reign down terror upon Hendo and the two would continue to scrap to the final bell with Hendo doing just enough to win this fight of the year match.
In 2014, Shogun and Hendo were scheduled to fight again in the main event of a fight night this time. In the first two rounds Shogun remained in control where he dropped Hendo in the first and second, hurting Hendo badly. In the third Dan mounted a comeback where he dropped Shogun and TKO’d him in another legendary fight of the night bout.
2. Forrest Griffin vs. Stephan Bonnar (The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale)
Result: Forrest Griffin wins via unanimous decision
The Ultimate Fighter is a reality TV show following pro MMA fighters competing on the show to try and earn a UFC contract which started in 2005. The show was an attempt to help make the UFC popular again since the UFC was losing money and nearly on the verge of being shut down. The Ultimate Fighter was the UFC’s last effort of staying around, and it came down to Stephan and Forrest.
Stephan and Forrest put on a slugfest of a war that defined a generation of MMA, not only pulling the UFC out of the fire, but raising it to new heights it’s never seen before. Stephan and Forrest put everything they had into that match. Punch after punch, kick after kick, takedowns and submission attempts, clinch striking and dirty boxing. A true display of gritty MMA which had people calling their friends, telling them to go to SpikeTV to watch Stephan and Forrest beat the crap out of each other, folks flocked like birds to watch the electrifying match.
By the end of the promotion saving match both Forrest and Stephan would be offered UFC contracts and would both have varying levels of success, Stephan wouldn’t achieve too much unfortunately as he had some good fights but just wasn’t good enough to beat the elite of the division, but Forrest would fight and beat Quinton Jackson for the Light Heavyweight title, and have a hall of fame career. Title or not he put on electric performances and retired in 2012 after winning a trilogy match with the “Huntington Beach Bad Boy” and former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz.
Stephan unfortunately passed away on December 22nd, 2022 after a battle with addiction to multiple drugs, Stephan died from an accidental fentanyl overdose. (RIP Apr. 4th, 1977 – Dec. 22nd, 2022)
Honorable Mentions: Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson (UFC 165), Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen 1 (UFC 117)
Result: Jon Jones wins via unanimous decision
This fight nearly made the list, but fell just short. This fight had to be mentioned in my opinion as it is an all time great fight.
At the time Jon Jones had 5 title defenses in which he dominated every single opponent, and not against any opponents, but against a killer row of opponents. Shogun Rua, “Rampage” Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, Vitor Belfort, and Chael Sonnen, all of which were Light Heavyweight champs other than Chael Sonnen who had arguably beaten Anderson Silva in their first bout. Going into the bout, Alexander was virtually identical physically to Jon, other than their reach being different with Jon having a longer reach. In the fight, Alexander pushed Jon to his limit. Alexander was the first person to takedown Jon Jones, and rocked Jon multiple times with his slick boxing. The first two rounds being arguably Alexander’s, Jon knew he had to push for the victory, and in the third the champ began to fight back. Back and forth were Jon and Alexander until the final bell where the judges felt Jon had done enough to win the unanimous decision against the contender Alexander “the Mauler” Gustafsson.
It wouldn’t feel right to mention all-time great fights without mentioning this one. Anderson Silva at the time had 6 title defenses and looked untouchable and unbeatable. He dabbled in Light Heavyweight twice, the most notable being at UFC 101 where he KO’d Forrest Griffin in the first round with a jab, and Chael had been on a roll, previously dominating the arguable #1 contender at Middleweight at the time, Nate Marquardt in a fight of the night match at UFC 104, earning Chael the title shot. For four straight rounds Chael dominated Anderson, rocking Anderson multiple times on the feet, and even knocking Anderson down. He also controlled the fight with devastating ground and pound in the grappling realm, and going into the fifth round, he was continuing his dominating performance. That is until in a last ditch effort, Anderson threw up a triangle choke from the guard, but it wasn’t quite tight enough, so he transitioned to an armbar where he made Chael tap in the last round of a fight he would’ve no doubt lost if he hadn’t thrown up the submission, and thus mounting the greatest comeback of all time.
1. Robbie Lawler vs. Rory MacDonald 2 (UFC 189)
Result: Robbie Lawler via TKO in Round 5 at 1:00
Going into UFC 189, all eyes were on Conor McGregor and Chad Mendes, but the real show stopper came in the co-main event for the Welterweight belt with Robbie Lawler defending his belt against Robbie Lawler in a rematch that exceeded all expectations, and not only exceeded, shattered all expectations.
Robbie Lawler’s title reign was an unexpected one, as he’d competed everywhere including early on in the UFC, but was never quite the most well rounded fighter and was often beaten by the most well rounded and best in his divisions. Robbie would find success early in his career in the UFC, but when he met Nick Diaz at UFC 47 he was KO’d in a fun scrap. He then moved up to Middleweight and faced future UFC Middleweight champ Evan Tanner and lost a unanimous decision. Robbie then left the UFC and moved around, finding himself in ICON, KOTC, and even Pride FC, but eventually he’d find himself against Murilo “Ninja” Rua, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua’s brother for the EliteXC Middleweight belt. In the third round, Robbie knocked Murilo out and after a No Contest due to an accidental eye poke in his first match to defend his belt against Scott Smith he’d face Scott again and this time TKO him in the second. EliteXC was then absorbed by Strikeforce and Robbie made his Strikeforce debut against Jake Shields which he lost by submission in the first round. Robbie would go 3-4 in Strikeforce after losing to Jake, and after the UFC absorbed Strikeforce, Robbie moved down to Welterweight to start a new in his second UFC run. Robbie TKO’d former UFC Welterweight title contender Josh Koscheck in his UFC return, and then KO’d Bobby Voelker to fight Rory MacDonald at UFC 167 for a #1 contender match at Welterweight. Robbie won a split decision and would face Johny Hendricks for the vacant Welterweight belt. Johny and Robbie fought with their all and won a fight of the year award for their first encounter, but Robbie came up short and lost a unanimous decision. Robbie then TKO’d Jake Ellenberger and had a war against Matt Brown to earn a second shot at Johny’s Welterweight belt where they put on another war similar to their first meeting, but this time Robbie won a split decision and won the UFC Welterweight belt.
Rory MacDonald had shown much promise in his UFC career early on with his outstanding well roundedness, having a good mixture of kickboxing, wrestling, and jiu-jitsu, he was the definition of mixed martial artist. Rory had a fight of the night against former UFC Welterweight interim champion Carlos Condit where he lost by TKO in round three, but bounced back with a 5 fight win streak with some names including Nate Diaz, BJ Penn, and Jake Ellenberger. At UFC 167, Rory faced Robbie Lawler for a #1 contender match at Welterweight and after a hard fought technical war, he lost a split decision. Rory came back again with a three fight winning streak, beating Demian Maia, Tyron Woodley, and Tarec Saffiedine to earn a title shot at UFC 189 against Robbie Lawler.
The fight began as a technical kickboxing match, where the two used effective jabs, punches, and kicks to score points. That all changed when in the third round, Rory landed a head kick, stunning Robbie and cutting him open. Rory unleashed a brutal flurry of strikes upon the stunned Robbie, and couldn’t let down with the Welterweight strap at stake. In round four, Robbie recovered and the two began to scrap it out as they went back and forth with the momentum, bruising and bloodying each other up, but like warriors they fought through the cuts and bruises and kept fighting. By the end of the round they were exhausted, but their warrior pride caused them to walk to each other and stare each other down before the final round. Rory’s nose was smashed in and Robbie’s lip was cut horribly, but that didn’t matter during that stare down. In round five, Robbie came out the fresher fighter and landed a mean jab to Rory’s demolished nose. Unable to take any more damage to his broken nose, Rory collapsed to the floor, and at one minute into round five Robbie got the TKO win to defend his belt.
The epic Welterweight showdown won fight of the night, fight of the year, and was inducted into the hall of fame in 2023. It’s no doubt that there have been many amazing fights in the UFC, but out of them all, this one has to take the cake as the greatest of all time.
