The 10 | Outstanding Newark Performances Ahead of UFC 316

Fights like this are why I enjoy putting together these lists so much, because without retrospectives like this, this wildly entertaining scrap between middleweight battlers Ed Herman and Joe Doerkson would rarely get its moment in the sun. 

Herman was a finalist on TUF 3 and Doerkson was a battle-hardened Canadian veteran, and both were trying their damnedest to get the better of things in this one. In the final seconds of the second round, with both men clearly fatiguing and sporting signs of the torment they’d already put each other through, Doerkson locked onto a deep triangle choke and had Herman dead to rights, rolling through and extending the arm as the horn sounded and kept the fight from being finished.

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As they came out to start the third, both men were lumbering and throwing singles, neither connecting before they met in the center of the cage. Each missed with a left and a hook behind it, but then Herman was faster to the target with the next swing, a left hook that found Doerkson’s jaw and ended the competitive battle in a snap.

Rashad Evans vs. Michael Bisping (UFC 78)

The main event of that initial pay-per-view in Newark was a matchup between Ultimate Fighter winners Rashad Evans (Season 2) and Michael Bisping (Season 3), and makes this list more for its overall impact than the fight itself. 

Don’t get me wrong: it was a fun, competitive scrap between two rising talents where Evans came away on the happy side of the split decision verdict, handing Bisping his first career loss, but it’s everything that happened after this fight that makes it a seminal moment in the UFC’s New Jersey history.

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After the win, Evans knocked out Chuck Liddell in the main event of UFC 88 the following September, and claimed the light heavyweight title three months after that by stopping Forrest Griffin in the third round of their headlining tilt at UFC 92. While he’d lose the title in his next appearance, Evans remained a prominent figure in the 205-pound weight class for the better part of a decade.

Following the loss, Bisping realized he was better suited to competing at middleweight, where he became a Top 10 fixture, main event staple, and one of the most recognizable names in the sport. Just when it seemed like UFC gold would escape him, “Left Hook Larry” showed up in Los Angeles, knocked out Luke Rockhold, and added a middleweight title to Bisping’s impressive resume. 

Edson Barboza vs. Anthony Njokuani (UFC 128)

This is one for folks that just like to watch high-level, technical kickboxing.

It’s strange to remember now, but Barboza was the young, ascending talent at the time, making just his second UFC start after battering the legs of Mike Lullo in his debut a few months earlier. Njokuani was making his first trip into the Octagon, but MMA fans already had a history with the Nigerian-born lightweight thanks to his entertaining run under the WEC banner.

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Barboza put Njokuani on Jello legs early in the fight with a swift, thudding right hand, but the WEC alum steadied himself, and the duo spent the remainder of the fight engaging in the kind of kick-heavy, back-and-forth striking battle that is always captivating. 

More than 14 years later, Barboza is still doing his thing inside the Octagon, adding to his ridiculous overall strength of schedule, while Njokuani can still be seen in the corner of his younger brother, UFC welterweight Chidi Njokuani, every time he makes the walk.

Jon Jones vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (UFC 128)

Admit it: when you read the title of this piece, this was the first fight that came to mind as being an automatic inclusion in this list. It had to, because this was a performance that changed the landscape of the sport.

Rua had claimed the title with a first-round knockout win over Lyoto Machida in a rematch of their controversial first encounter which “The Dragon” won by debated decision. The new champ was supposed to defend against Evans, but the former champion was felled by a knee injury, opening the door for his teammate Jones to slide into the vacancy and challenge for the title.

Jones’ accepting the bout caused a fissure with the Jackson-Wink MMA team in Albuquerque that eventually resulted in the founding of the team that is now Kill Cliff FC and a long-standing feud between Jones and Evans. It also gave “Bones” the opportunity to make history.

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Up to this point, Jones had been dominant, and everyone knew he had championship potential, but the way he dominated Rua, dispatching him in the third round to become the youngest fighter ever to win UFC gold, made it clear that he was on an entirely different level than everyone else. 

Every fight Jones has been in since this fight has been a championship bout, and he’s gone 15-0 with one no contest during that stretch, further cementing his standing as the greatest talent to ever grace the Octagon. 

Sara McMann vs. Sheila Gaff (UFC 159)

These lists always carry a “one for me” mention and this is it.

McMann was an Olympic silver medalist and had made a successful transition to MMA, having posted six straight wins to begin her career, including victories over veterans Tonya Evinger, Hitomi Akano, and Shayna Baszler. She was heralded as a potential challenger for fellow Olympian and then women’s bantamweight ruler Ronda Rousey, but needed to get a win under her belt inside the Octagon first. 

This effort might have been the best McMann ever looked in the UFC, and while some of that is because she was fighting an overmatched opponent, I would argue it’s also because she stuck to what she did best and fought with supreme confidence. While the rest of her career would feature mixed results and questionable decision-making at times, McMann dominated from start to finish in this one.

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She had Gaff on the deck in three seconds, the German running forward into a double leg takedown, and while she eventually worked her way back to her feet several minutes later, McMann stayed locked to her, dragged her back to the canvas, and advanced to a mounted crucifix position, pounding out the finish. 

When it was done, she rose to her feet and offered a playful bow, as if to say, “I hope you enjoyed that; I sure did.” 

I did, too. 

Max Holloway vs. Cub Swanson (UFC on FOX 15)

If you read enough of my stuff — especially the Fight-By-Fight Preview and Fighters on the Rise series — you know that I adore fights that are “measuring stick moments” for ascending talents: bouts where someone on the come-up is paired off with a proven, established name, and the outcome will give us a clearer indication of where the up-and-comer stands in their respective division.

Long before “Blessed” became one of the most beloved fighters on the roster, he was a scrappy Hawaiian kid working his way forward in the featherweight division. He entered this fight on a five-fight winning streak that had people starting to wonder about his potential as a championship threat. Swanson was — as he remains today — one of the most respected veterans in the division; a Top 5 talent coming off a loss to Frankie Edgar in what many viewed as a title eliminator the previous November in Austin, Texas, that ended his six-fight winning streak.

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Would the surging hopeful take another step forward or would the ever-game veteran prove to be too stern a test? 

This was Holloway’s breakout performance, the win that catapulted him from intriguing prospect to genuine contender. He showcased the full complement of his arsenal before closing things out by jumping onto a guillotine choke out of a scramble in the final minute of the fight.

It would still be two years before “Blessed” became the undisputed featherweight champion, but this was the first sign that accomplishing that feat was a real possibility for the all-action Hawaiian.

Luke Rockhold vs. Lyoto Machida (UFC on FOX 15)

Two fights after Holloway stopped Swanson with a mounted guillotine choke, Rockhold choked out Machida to secure a date opposite then middleweight champ Chris Weidman at UFC 194.

This was Rockhold at his swaggering best.

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Just a few months removed from submitting Michael Bisping in Australia and riding a three-fight winning streak where each of those contests ended inside the distance, the former Strikeforce champion sauntered around the cage like a man that was sure of the eventual outcome and was simply trying to decide how long he wanted to be in there. The athletic, explosive southpaw was all over Machida from the outset, showing that he was in a different class than the former light heavyweight champion and recent middleweight title challenger, out-working him on the feet and dominating when the action hit the canvas.

Rockhold collected the submission finish at the midway point of the second round and won the middleweight title eight months later before dropping the belt to Bisping at UFC 199. While that loss and the way his career wrapped are often what stands out most for many fans when they think about Rockhold’s time in the cage, there was a brief stretch where the Californian was the best middleweight on the planet and one of the very best pound-for-pound fighters in the sport. 

Movsar Evloev vs. Diego Lopes (UFC 288)

Much like the Evans-Bisping fight earlier in this list, this one makes the cut as much for what has happened since as what transpired on May 6, 2023.

Let me start by saying the fight was thrilling from start to finish, with Lopes rolling in as a complete unknown to most and leaving as a genuine person of interest in the featherweight ranks. He pushed Evloev from the jump, showcasing his aggressive style, and forcing the Russian standout to work hard to maintain his unblemished record.

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In the two years since this contest, Evloev has pushed his record to 19-0 with additional decision wins over Arnold Allen and Aljamain Sterling, while Lopes posted five straight victories to land opposite Alexander Volkanovski in a battle for the vacant featherweight title at UFC 314 in Miami. Though he came up short in his bid to claim UFC gold, Lopes has become one of the most popular fighters on the roster and someone that continues to profile as a potential champion somewhere down the line. 

At some point, a rematch between these two feels inevitable.

Yan Xiaonan vs. Jessica Andrade (UFC 288)

Here’s another one of those “where does Fighter X stand?” type of fights that I love so much

Yan opened her UFC tenure with six straight wins, slowing working her way the strawweight ladder before consecutive losses to Carla Esparza and Marina Rodriguez halted her ascent momentarily. She entered this one off a majority decision win over Mackenzie Dern, buthovering in limbo when it came to understanding exactly where she fit in the division. 

There was no question about where Andrade stood: the Brazilian dynamo was a former strawweight titleholder, ranked in the Top 10 in two weight classes, and standing as the top-end litmus test for all hopefuls in both the 115-pound and 125-pound ranks.

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Yan showed where she belonged by taking full advantage of Andrade’s trademark aggression, using her quicker, more technical boxing to batter the veteran before catching her with a clean right hand down the pipe as Andrade charged in recklessly. 

“We got a new strawweight contender!” boomed Jon Anik on the broadcast. As always, J.A. was dead-on, as Yan went on to challenge compatriot Zhang Weili for the strawweight title in her next appearance, pushing the champ to her depths in a tremendous five-round battle.

Islam Makhachev vs. Dustin Poirier (UFC 302)

We wrap with the most recent UFC fight to take place inside Prudential Center, one that landed just off the podium in our year-end awards and that showcased both the heart and grit of the challenger, and the brilliance of the champion.

UFC 302 was geared around Poirier taking one final shot at capturing the title that has eluded him throughout his career. In the wake of Cody Rhodes winning WWE gold a couple months earlier at WrestleMania to “finish his story,” many were hopeful “The Diamond” would do the same. In order to achieve the feat, however, he would need to get through the indomitable Makhachev, who entered off his knockout win over Alexander Volkanovski in October and riding a 13-fight winning streak.

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Poirier gave the champion all he could handle, forcing Makhachev into his first real bloody battle, but the Russian showed his class in the final round, capitalizing on a stumble to latch onto the fight-ending D’Arce choke. 

The challenger may not have gotten the storybook ending many wanted, but his gameness throughout this contest is, in my opinion, the thing that has always and will always be his trademark. Few competitors don’t need to win belts to always be revered, but Poirier is one of them. 

As for Makhachev, he added to his resume by posting a fourth consecutive successful lightweight title defense earlier this year, and will look to equal Anderson Silva’s mark for the most consecutive UFC victories when he ventures up to welterweight to challenge new champ Jack Della Maddalena for the belt at some point later this year.