The 10 | September Standouts From Years Gone By

Heading into UFC 76, Griffin was still trying to find his footing in the light heavyweight division. He was more than two years removed from his epic clash with Stephan Bonnar, but was 4-2 in his six fights since. While he was coming off a unanimous decision win over Hector Ramirez, it was his knockout loss to Keith Jardine that still lingered, as people tried to figure out what the popular Ultimate Fighter winner’s future was in the talent-rich 205-pound weight class.

Rua was widely considered to be the best light heavyweight on the planet — a young legend with a 16-2 record whose mythical run through the 2005 PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix stood as one of the most impressive series of victories put forth in a single year by any competitor.

So imagine everyone’s surprise when Griffin, who UFC fans knew as a gritty brawler, submitted “Shogun” in the waning moments of their meeting in Anaheim, instantly catapulting himself into title contention in the process. It was a monumental upset for the beloved underdog and everyman.

Rashad Evans knocks out Chuck Liddell (UFC 88)

In 2008, Evans was an emerging contender in the light heavyweight division — unbeaten as a pro and sporting a six-fight unbeaten streak inside the Octagon since claiming victory in the heavyweight tournament on Season 2 of The Ultimate Fighter. In his two previous outings, “Suga” had battled former champ Tito Ortiz to a draw and edged out TUF 3 winner Michael Bisping, putting himself on the precipice of title contention.

Liddell was still one of the biggest stars in the sport; a once dominant champion who had dropped the title and his subsequent return to action, but came into UFC 88 off a victory over Wanderlei Silva in a bout that earned Fight of the Year honors.

This was Evans’ “is he ready to challenge for the title” test and he passed with flying colors.

Evans was content to counter against “The Iceman,” allowing the former titleholder to be the one coming forward and closing the distance, confident that his hand speed and footwork would be allow him to land and escape to space before Liddell could connect with anything too serious.

Just over 90 seconds into the second round, Evans started connecting with counter lefts as Liddell came forward looking to throw. He backed himself behind the tram line and danced left and right, the superstar with the signature Mohawk stalking forward, right hand cocked and ready. When Evans stopped moving, Liddell prepared to throw an uppercut, and the rising star beat him to the punch by a considerable margin, dropping him in place with a rocket of a right hand that required zero follow ups.

Demetrious Johnson and Joseph Benavidez battle for UFC flyweight gold (UFC 152)

This fight and the flyweight division as a whole arrived at a time when many UFC fans were not ready to see the level of speed, technique, and all-around skill that was frequently on display when fighters from the 125-pound weight class stepped into the Octagon.

Case in point: the inaugural flyweight title fight between Johnson and Benavidez — which was insanely close, ultra-competitive, and extremely high level — didn’t garner Fight of the Night honors at UFC 152; a fun, entertaining lightweight scrap between T.J. Grant and Evan Dunham got the nod instead.

Benavidez was the consensus pick to be the first to sit atop the UFC’s newest division; he was considered by many to be one of the best bantamweights in the world, having only ever lost to champion Dominick Cruz at the time, plus he blew through Yasuhiro Urushitani in their semifinal meeting. Though Johnson entered the tournament directly after challenging Cruz for the bantamweight belt, a couple debated decisions had people unsure of “Mighty Mouse” and whether he was someone that could lord over the division.

For 25 minutes, the two men engaged in a fast-paced, highly skilled interplay between elite talents, with Johnson landing on the favorable side of the split decision verdict and kicking off one of the greatest championship reigns in UFC history.

This is one of those fights that people should go back and revisit because it’s absolutely terrific.

An all-timer in Toronto between Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson (UFC 165)

Speaking of terrific fights that took place in Toronto…

Ten fights have been enshrined in the UFC Hall of Fame and this is one of them, which instantly tells you it was special. Simply put, it was a pantheon-level fight that changed how we looked at both men.

Jones was two-and-a-half years into his reign atop the light heavyweight division and had already successfully defended his title against Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida, Evans, Vitor Belfort, and Chael Sonnen. He was starting to enter the “G.O.A.T.” conversation and was universally recognized as the best pound-for-pound fighter in the sport.

Gustafsson was a quiet contender who let his efforts speak for him, and though he had won six straight and was coming off a dominant decision win over Rua, whom Jones had beaten for the title, few gave “The Mauler” any chance to knock “Bones” from his perch.

And then he gave the champion the most challenging fight of his career.

Not only did Gustafsson become the first person to take Jones down, he roughed him up, leaving him bloodied and swollen while forcing the champion to dig deep in order to retain his title. Deep into the fourth round, the challenger seemed poised to head into the final round with a 3-1 lead on the scorecards (officially he was up 2-1 on two of three cards), but a spinning back elbow late in the frame staggered him and swung the round in Jones’ favor, with the Jackson-Wink MMA representative salting away the win in a spirited fifth round.

Easily one of the best title fights in UFC history, it’s the bout I would most likely choose to show people when they ask about Jones and what made him such a special talent, and as the “Y’all Musta Forgot” film when celebrated Gustafsson’s career as well.

Rivalry between Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier Begins (UFC 178)

When it was announced the McGregor and Poirier would be meeting at UFC 178, it felt important because it was the first time the ascending Irishman was facing a truly established contender, leading many to view it as a measuring stick moment.

McGregor was fresh off his triumphant return to action in Dublin, where he disposed of Diego Brandao in front of a raucous crowd, collecting his third straight UFC victory. Poirier, who beat Brandao before the former TUF winner ventured to Ireland, was coming off a stoppage win over Akira Corassani that ran his winning streak to three and cemented his standing as a legitimate Top 10 talent in the featherweight division.

They bickered with one another in the build to the contest, which was positioned in the middle of the UFC 178 main card, but carried a real “People’s Main Event” vibe from the time it was announced. Still in the midst of his “Mystic Mac” phase, the surging Irishman forecasted that he would finish Poirier in the first, then waltzed into the Octagon and did so in less than two minutes.

McGregor went on to win a showcase fight a few months later before claiming the featherweight title in December 2015 at UFC 194, while Poirier departed the featherweight ranks, moving up to lightweight where he continued standing as a perennial contender and beloved competitor for the remainder of his career.

The two would cross paths twice more, with Poirier winning by second-round knockout to level the series at one win each in January 2021 before earning the nod in the rubber match six months later when McGregor suffered a lower leg injury at the close of the first round.

Those two fights were massive, and this is where that rivalry first took root.

A razor-close clash between Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko (UFC 215)

Here’s how close this fight was: a total of 22 individual media submitted their scores for the September 2017 women’s bantamweight title fight to MMADecisions.com, a website dedicated to having searchable records of the scores and scorecards from fights that go to a decision in several major promotions.

In addition to showing the official scorecards of all three judges, the media scores are presented in a divided column detailing how each submitting member scored the contest.\

As already mentioned, 22 media members submitted scores: 10 for Nunes, 10 for Schevchenko, and two scoring the bout a draw.

The officials responsible for determining the winner were split as well, with all three judges scoring the bout 48-47, two in favor of Nunes, who retained her title.

To this day, you can start an intense argument with a Shevchenko fan by bringing up this result, and with “Bullet” still doing her thing and Nunes seemingly on her way back, the window of opportunity for them to perhaps run it back one more time is slightly ajar for the first time in a while.

And tell me: who wouldn’t want to see it?

Not one, but two Suloev Stretches (UFC 228)

We’ve had a couple instances this year where rare stoppages have happened in back-to-back main card fights. In March, Brendson Ribeiro and Da’Mon Blackshear each earned submission wins by forcing their opponents to tap to a kimura, while just a couple weeks ago, Carlos Prates and Lerone Murphy scored consecutive knockout wins at UFC 319 by way of spinning elbow.

As rare as those finishes are and that they occurred in consecutive bouts, nothing compares to the night in Dallas in 2018 when both Aljamain Sterling and Zabit Magomedsharipov earned wins by Suloev Stretch.

Because I know some of you reading this just said, “What’s a Suloev Stretch?” it’s essentially a kneebar executed from on your opponent’s back where you extend one of their legs as they’re trying to tripod or position themselves with both feet and hands on the canvas. You know those moments where you shout “Why doesn’t he just grab his leg and yank it forward?” when someone is wrapped around their opponent’s back and that person is defending well?

Yeah, Sterling and Magomedsharipov listened and left Cody Stamann and Brandon Davis in intense discomfort.

The reason I chose to spotlight this particular moment out of all the cool moments in UFC history that happened in September is because we haven’t even seen one Suloev Stretch since then, let alone two.

We might see consecutive kimuras or spinning elbows again before we see tandem backpack kneebars inside the Octagon.

Alexander Volkanovski further proves his greatness against Brian Ortega (UFC 266)

I can’t remember if I ever asked Ortega what was going through his head at UFC 266 when he clamped onto a deep guillotine choke in the center of the Octagon during his featherweight title fight against Volkanovski in September 2021. I don’t think I did, because if I had, my follow-up would have had to have been “And then what did you think when he got out of that and you locked up your signature triangle choke right after?” at which point he probably, rightfully, would have hung up on me.

Ortega had Volkanovski dead-to-rights with the guillotine choke, catching the Australian titleholder out in open space and transitioning to mount, where it felt like only a matter of seconds before Volk would have to tap or drift off to sleep and the challenger would become champion. Instead, the featherweight kingpin bucked and squirmed and wriggled his way free, only to quickly find himself forced to fend off a triangle choke, the hold that serves as the “T” in Ortega’s “T-City” nickname.

Just as he did with the guillotine, Volkanovski worked out of the triangle, promptly resetting and taking the fight to his understandably deflated opponent.

I do remember asking Rory MacDonald what he thought after landing a right hand on Robbie Lawler that would have put any mortal down, only to see Lawler smirk, adjust his gloves, and come forward like a marauder again, and my fellow Canadian said something to the effect of “it’s pretty difficult to accept.”

I reckon that’s how Ortega felt, times two.

Sean Strickland shocks everyone against Israel Adesanya (UFC 293)

The fact that Strickland even landed in a championship bout against Adesanya was a very “right place, right time” situation, as the American was coming off a couple wins and ready to go while South African contender Dricus Du Plessis was not able to make the quick turnaround to challenge for gold in September after having fought in July and suffered an injury.

So Strickland ventured to Australia as a massive underdog and returned as the UFC middleweight champion.

If you ever want to see what it looks like when a coach and fighter are in lockstep in terms of implementing and executing a game plan, go watch this fight, because even Adesanya has said that the blueprint Eric Nicksick drew up and Strickland rolled out was brilliant. They knew everything the champion was going to throw and called it out in advance, with Strickland’s constant pressure and “death by a thousand cuts” approach keeping “The Last Stylebender” from ever really getting into his offense.

It was shocking when Strickland twisted Adesanya to the canvas with a right hand in the first, and became even more of a “What am I watching?” moment as he just kept winning rounds and neutralizing the champion at every turn.

It’s not the greatest upset in UFC history, but it’s certainly on the short list.

Esteban Ribovics and Daniel Zellhuber set Sphere alight at Noche UFC (UFC 306)

Both Ribovics and Zellhuber are allergic to being in boring fights; like they are hard-wired to where it’s nigh on impossible for them to step into the Octagon and engage in something other than a knock-down, drag-out, get-you-on-your-feet brawl where folks are getting staggered and bloodied and everyone goes home eager to see them back out there soon.

So what did we all think was going to happen when they were paired together with Noche UFC at Sphere as the backdrop?

It shouldn’t be a surprise that the dueling lightweights went out and captured Fight of the Year because of course they did; it was their destiny.

The whole fight is outstanding, but the third round is (chef’s kiss), as Zellhuber staggered Ribovics early, only for the Argentine to return the favor before Zellhuber steadied himself and they swung on each other like lunatics — and I say that with love and admiration — through to the final horn.