Best UFC Fights of All Time: 12 Wars Worth Rewatching

The Ultimate Fighter 1 Finale, April 9, 2005, Cox Pavilion, Las Vegas. Griffin won a unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three cards, and the UFC's future changed on live cable television. Two light heavyweights who could not stop throwing, 15 minutes of it, in front of a Spike TV audience that had never seen anything like it.

Griffin landed 88 significant strikes to Bonnar's 57, had quit his job as a police officer in Georgia to be there, and later said it was the right moment at the right time at the right place. Bonnar said the decision felt like getting stabbed in the chest. Dana White gave both men contracts and later called Bonnar one of the most important fighters to ever compete in the Octagon. He was right.

UFC 139, Nov. 19, 2011, HP Pavilion, San Jose. Henderson won a unanimous decision, 48-47 across the board, in a five-round non-title fight that nobody who watched it has forgotten. Henderson, 41 at the time, nearly finished Shogun three separate times in the first three rounds. Then the tank emptied.

Rua won the fourth and spent the fifth on top, finishing with 96 significant strikes and 191 total to Henderson's 77 and 113. Henderson admitted afterward that he should have had him finished but the gas tank was running low. Both men took home $70,000 Fight of the Night checks, and the fight went into the UFC Hall of Fame in 2018.

UFC 189, July 11, 2015, MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. Lawler kept the welterweight title by TKO at 1:00 of round five, and the staredown between rounds four and five, both faces ruined, blood everywhere, is the most famous still photo in the sport's history.

Lawler was down 39-37 on all three cards entering the fifth. MacDonald had outlanded him 86 to 70 in significant strikes. Then a left hand found MacDonald's broken nose and he crumpled. Lawler called it the accumulation of a beatdown, years of fighting, not one punch. Fight of the Night, $50,000 each, Hall of Fame Fight Wing in 2023.

UFC 165, Sept. 21, 2013, Air Canada Centre, Toronto. Jones kept the light heavyweight title by unanimous decision, 48-47, 48-47, 49-46, in the only fight of his prime where he looked beatable from the opening bell. Gustafsson took him down, cut him, and won the early rounds on the feet.

Jones landed 134 significant strikes to Gustafsson's 110 and won it with a spinning elbow and a fourth round that stands as the best of his career. Both went to the hospital. Fight of the Night at $50,000 apiece, ESPN's 2013 Fight of the Year, Hall of Fame Fight Wing in 2021.

UFC 300, April 13, 2024, T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas. Holloway won the BMF title by knockout at 4:59 of round five, one second before the final horn, after pointing to the center of the cage and inviting Gaethje to stand and trade for the last 10 seconds of a fight he was already winning.

Holloway landed 181 significant strikes to Gaethje's 103 and walked away with $600,000 in bonuses: $300,000 for Fight of the Night and $300,000 for Performance of the Night. Dana White called it movie stuff and the fight of the year. Holloway's post-fight line was shorter. I'm him.

UFC on FOX 29, April 14, 2018, Gila River Arena, Glendale, Arizona. Poirier won by TKO at 0:33 of round four with Herb Dean refereeing, after Gaethje had chewed up his lead leg and swollen his right eye shut. Gaethje was docked a point for an eye poke in round three and was still in the fight when the end came.

Poirier landed 174 significant strikes, Gaethje 115, and Poirier told the crowd that Gaethje would have died in there if Dean had not stopped it. Then he called for Khabib. Fight of the Night, $50,000 each, and the start of a Poirier run that produced three more entries on lists like this.

UFC 125, Jan. 1, 2011, MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. Split draw, 47-47, 48-46 Maynard, 48-46 Edgar, and Edgar kept the lightweight title. The first round is one of the worst beatings a champion has ever survived: three knockdowns, nearly 100 power punches, and Edgar walking back to his corner on legs that belonged to someone else.

Then he won most of the next four rounds, finishing with 95 significant strikes to 71. Maynard said he punched himself out in the first. Edgar said it felt like the first round never happened. Fight of the Night at $60,000 each, and Dana White booked the trilogy on the spot.

UFC 195, Jan. 2, 2016, MGM Grand Garden Arena, Las Vegas. Lawler kept the welterweight title by split decision, 48-47 Tony Weeks, 48-47 Derek Cleary, 47-48 Chris Lee. Condit outlanded him 176 to 92 in significant strikes, and Dana White said he scored it for Condit.

The fifth round is the reason it is here. Both men threw everything for five minutes with the title in the balance, and the building sounded like a soccer stadium. Lawler said there were two winners and asked to do it again. Fight of the Night, $50,000 each. The scoring is on a different list.

UFC 268, Nov. 6, 2021, Madison Square Garden, New York. Gaethje won a unanimous decision, 29-28, 29-28, 30-27, in three rounds that felt like 15. Chandler hurt him badly in the first, Gaethje dropped Chandler in the second, and both were still swinging at the horn with their mouths open.

Gaethje landed 116 significant strikes to Chandler's 103 and said afterward that the two of them were living in the wrong times and should have been fighting to the death in a coliseum. Fight of the Night, $50,000 each. The win put Gaethje in line for the lightweight title shot he got the next year.

UFC 236, April 13, 2019, State Farm Arena, Atlanta. Poirier won the interim lightweight title by unanimous decision, 49-46 on all three cards, and ended Holloway's 13-fight win streak. The cards look clear. The fight was not. Holloway landed 181 significant strikes and 208 total to Poirier's 178 and 180.

Poirier hurt Holloway repeatedly in the first two rounds, Holloway came back in the middle rounds, and the pace never dropped. Poirier called the belt his, paid in full in blood. Holloway said it was not an interim belt because he beat a world champion. Fight of the Night, $50,000 each, one of two awarded that night.

UFC 79, Dec. 29, 2007, Mandalay Bay Events Center, Las Vegas. Liddell won a unanimous decision in the fight fans had begged for since 2003, when both were the most feared light heavyweights on their respective continents. Both arrived on two-fight losing streaks, which took nothing off the punches.

Liddell landed 58 significant strikes to Silva's 44, knocked Silva down in the second and took him down twice, which nobody expected. Silva wobbled Liddell more than once. Liddell said it would have been a travesty if the fight never happened. Three rounds, no clinching, no feeling out, just two men who did not know how to fight any other way.

UFC 275, June 11, 2022, Singapore Indoor Stadium. Prochazka won the light heavyweight title by rear-naked choke at 4:32 of round five, 28 seconds from a decision he would have lost. Entering the final round, one judge had it 38-38 and two had Teixeira ahead, so the 42-year-old champion was less than a minute from keeping his belt.

Teixeira landed 111 significant strikes, took Prochazka down five times and controlled him for nearly 10 minutes. Prochazka landed 120 and kept getting up with his hands down. Teixeira said he lived by the sword and died by it. Prochazka called Glover a true warrior. Fight of the Night, $50,000 each, and the best title fight of the decade so far.