Fight Coverage
The 10 | Year-End Moments Inside the Octagon
As We Move Into December And Towards The Final Event Of The Year, Here’s A Look Back At Some Of The Outstanding Moments That Closed Out Previous UFC Campaigns
Not every year in the UFC’s existence ended in December, but for the purposes of this exercise, I wanted to stick to memorable moments that transpired in the final month of the year because when I think of year-end performances, that’s automatically what comes to mind.
So even though UFC Ultimate Brazil was the final event of 1998, you’re not going to find Vitor Belfort’s bull-rush of Wanderlei Silva on this list, nor will you see Matt Hughes’ controversial welterweight title win over Carlos Newton at UFC 34, which closed out 2001; you can find that one on our list of the top welterweight title fights in UFC history though.
Order UFC 296: Edwards vs Covington
Instead, you’ll find memorable fights and standout efforts that came while the stockings were hung by the chimney with care; fisticuffs from the month of December inside the Octagon, for one and all.
I recommend perusing the list or watching the fights back with a cup of egg nog and your favorite Christmas treat.
Enjoy!
Chuck Liddell def. Tito Ortiz (UFC 66)
Chuck and Tito were the two biggest stars in the sport at the time — superstars that crossed paths for a second time in the final bout of 2006, with Liddell looking to successfully defend his light heavyweight title for the fourth time, and Ortiz aiming to reclaim the belt that he lost a little over four years earlier.
Liddell had rattled off five additional victories since knocking out Ortiz at UFC 47, while “The Huntington Beach Bad Boy” had done the same, including back-to-back stoppage wins over Ken Shamrock.
The champion put the challenger on the deck in the late stages of the opening stanza, busting him up bad, and while Ortiz had some success in the second, he struggled to get the fight to the canvas and keep it there, and that proved fatal. After landing sporadic quality shots throughout the first three minutes of the third, Liddell stung Ortiz with a long combination along the fence and never allowed him back into the fight.
A barrage of punches rained down on Ortiz, who covered up on the canvas, and the bout was halted, moving Liddell to 2-0 in the series and keeping him in place atop the 205-pound weight class.
We didn’t know it at the time, but this ended up being the last successful championship defense for Liddell, who would only register one more victory over his final six appearances before retiring following UFC 115. It also served as the start of an extended slide for Ortiz as well, who garnered just one win — a first-round submission over Ryan Bader — in his next eight appearances prior to departing the promotion.
These were two men that brought legions of fans to the UFC, and regardless of how their time in the Octagon ended, their legacies will endure forever.
Rashad Evans def. Forrest Griffin (UFC 92)
After Liddell dropped the light heavyweight title to Quinton “Rampage” Jackson, it entered into a bit of a “hot potato” phase where for a couple years, no one had any real success holding onto the belt. Jackson defended it once before dropping it to Griffin, and then the man that won the light heavyweight competition on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter put the title on the line against the man that claimed victory in the heavyweight competition in Season 2.
Evans had returned to light heavyweight following his TUF win and put together a 6-0-1 record to begin his UFC tenure, earning this championship opportunity by knocking out Liddell three months earlier at UFC 88.
Griffin did well through the early rounds, using his physicality and low kicks to keep Evans on the outside, leaving him forced to blitz forward in hopes of landing or eat jabs and kicks at range.
But early in the third, Evans caught a kick and ran Griffin to the canvas, hammering away from top position as soon as the champion’s back hit the mat. Griffin was able to get to full guard, but Evans did well to neutralize any submission attempts, posture up, and land blows, hurting Griffin with heavy shots just past the midway point of the fight and pounding out the finish.
For the third time in four light heavyweight title fights, we had ourselves a new champion.
BJ Penn def. Diego Sanchez (UFC 107)
Penn dropped Sanchez with the first right hand he threw in this lightweight championship fight, and honestly, that feels like a perfect little factoid to encapsulate this entire contest.
Sanchez had dropped to lightweight and earned consecutive wins over Clay Guida and Joe Stevenson to garner a championship opportunity. Penn had won the belt by mauling Stevenson and successfully defended the title against Sean Sherk and Kenny Florian on either side of his failed attempt at wresting the welterweight title away from Georges St-Pierre.
The “Nightmare” had looked sharp, but this was Penn at the peak of his lightweight powers, and when that first right hand landed, you knew how the rest of the night was going to play out.
Penn was too savvy for Sanchez’ chaotic ways, using clean footwork to avoid the bull rushes and crisp boxing to pick apart the challenger at every turn. The challenger survived the early onslaught and endured, but after getting clipped with a knee midway through the final stanza, the fight was mercifully halted.
I always enjoy being able to drop a Penn moment into a list like this because I think there is an entire generation of fight fans that only know him as the guy that couldn’t buy a victory as his career wound to a close and I want them to go back and watch these performances.
There was a time when he was the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, and efforts like this were amongst the final vestiges of those glorious days.
Alistair Overeem def. Brock Lesnar (UFC 141)
The poster was all you needed to see in order to get hyped for this one.
On one side, Lesnar, the former UFC heavyweight champion, returning to battle for the first time since losing his title and another battle with diverticulitis. On the other side, Overeem, poised to make his promotional debut after running roughshod over the heavyweight ranks beyond the walls of the Octagon and entering on a 12-fight unbeaten streak.
The behemoths met in the center of the Octagon — two mastodons sizing each other up, figuring out when to strike — and after Lesnar landed the first couple strikes, Overeem extracted his leg from the first takedown attempt and pressed forward. As soon as they clinched, he buried a knee into Lesnar’s midsection, following up with three more when they clinched again moments later.
Lesnar tried to keep the Dutch star off him, but Overeem was undaunted, crashing into range, blasting another knee to the midsection, and following with a thunderous kick that touched the liver and sent the former champion to the canvas.
In terms of statement wins to start a UFC career, this one certainly ranks right up there amongst the best.
Jim Miller def. Joe Lauzon (UFC 155)
This was a grimy, bloody, back-and-forth battle between two stalwarts of the lightweight division that served as the appetizer for the heavyweight championship that followed, both on the evening at UFC 155 and in this list.
What makes the first of two classic meetings between Miller and Lauzon really stand out — besides all the blood and how vividly that stands out in my memory — is the interaction between the two when the fight is paused with 95 seconds remaining in the second round.
Lauzon is busted up and leaking, but working from top position, and Miller’s initial reaction is confusion, as referee Yves Lavigne simple called “time” and told them not to move. The ref wanted to cut the loose tape dangling from Lauzon’s right hand, and as everyone waited for that to happen, the lightweights had a little chat with one another.
Covered in blood, exhausted, but eager to keep fighting, they dapped each other up, shared a moment of mutual respect, and then got back to the business of beating the hell out of one another.
When the final horn sounded, the two men lay on the canvas together, sharing an embrace before gathering to their knees and taking in the moment one more time.
Just a phenomenal fight between two absolute warriors that spent years delivering consistently entertaining battles in the 155-pound weight class.
Cain Velasquez def. Junior Dos Santos (UFC 155)
The first meeting between these two men was one of the most anticipated heavyweight battles in UFC history, with the stakes raised even more when it was announced that it would air on FOX as a one-hour special to kick off the UFC’s broadcast deal with the network.
It lasted just 64 seconds, as Dos Santos connected with a big shot that shook the equilibrium of Velasquez and quickly pounded out the finish to hand him his first loss and claim the UFC heavyweight title.
Each man earned an impressive victory in between their first and second encounters — “Cigano” successfully defending the title against Frank Mir, Velasquez mauling “Bigfoot” Silva — and everyone waited with baited breath to see how the rematch would play out.
Healthy and hell-bent on reclaiming the title, Velasquez was all over the Brazilian from the outset, and the longer it went, the more he distanced himself from Dos Santos. At various points, it felt like the bout could be halted, as the outcome was obvious, but it went the full 25 minutes, with Velasquez winning by a landslide on the scorecards.
They would do the “win one each and then fight again” thing once more, with Velasquez again dominating the rubber match, this time collecting a stoppage in the final frame.
Just as there are a few examples of Penn at the peak of his powers scattered throughout the UFC archives, there are a couple “Healthy Cain” moments in there too that show why he was viewed as a potential long-reigning champion for so long, and how the myriad injury issues that derailed his career were such a downer.
When he was right, Velasquez was unlike anyone we had seen before.
Nate Diaz def. Michael Johnson (UFC on FOX 17)
This one isn’t on here because of Diaz’ performance during the fight, though he looked outstanding in returning from a one-year hiatus to box up Johnson over three rounds, which included plenty of his signature “I just got you with a good one” pointing and general Diaz posturing.
No, this one makes the list because of what happened when Joe Rogan walked in the Octagon to speak with Diaz after the victory.
“Conor McGregor, you’re taking everything I worked for, (expletive deleted)! I’m gonna fight your (expletive deleted)! You know what’s the real fight, what’s the real money fight — it’s me, not these clowns that you already punked at the press conference. Don’t no one want to see that — you know you beat them already. That’s the easy fight. They want that real (expletive deleted) right here!”
This came a week after McGregor knocked out Jose Aldo, and prior to Rafael Dos Anjos successfully defending his lightweight title against Donald Cerrone, which then set up a “Champion vs. Champion” bout between the two men, but it never happened.
Dos Anjos got hurt, Diaz got tagged in, upset McGregor, and the course of UFC history took a little detour through the 209 for a few months in 2016.
Cody Garbrandt def. Dominick Cruz (UFC 207)
The further away from this performance we get, the more it stands out as a “how did he do that?” moment in the career of Cody Garbrandt.
Mind you, we were all asking ourselves that in real time as he was styling on Cruz on route to winning the bantamweight title, but given that the now 32-year-old has gone just 2-5 since, it makes it an even more memorable outing.
Cruz was the guy that was so hard to beat because you couldn’t get his timing down and he was tough to hit, but on this night, Garbrandt beat the bantamweight titleholder at his own game. “No Love” was a step or two quicker at every turn, hitting Cruz with clean shots and sliding out of the way of the return fire.
At one point, he did a quick pop-and-lock routine after one exchange. Another time, he stopped and pointed at a felled Cruz.
The whole thing felt surreal in the moment, not because Garbrandt wasn’t viewed as someone capable of unseating Cruz, but because of how he was doing it, and the flair he was mixing into the performance as well.
His reign at the top didn’t last long, but on this December evening in 2016, he was the best bantamweight in the world.
Amanda Nunes def. Ronda Rousey (UFC 207)
Nunes’ ascension to the top of the bantamweight division was overshadowed by a bunch of things happening around it.
She’d earned her standing as No. 1 contender on the same night that Diaz beat McGregor and and Miesha Tate choked out Holly Holm late to claim the title, and then won the belt from Tate at UFC 200 when the two were elevated into the main event during a chaotic International Fight Week in Las Vegas.
Her first defense was focused exclusively on the returning challenger Rousey, who was competing for the first time in 13 months and who had been almost completely off the radar for most of that time. She didn’t do press in advance of the contest, but was still a massive star, and this contest was promoted as “the fallen champion returns to challenge for gold.”
Nunes didn’t like that, as the champion, she was the B-Side in the conversation, and took all of 48 seconds to make it clear that there was a new dominant force in town.
Amanda Nunes def. Cris Cyborg (UFC 232)
How about a second title?
Three fights after dispatching Rousey at UFC 207, Nunes ventured to the featherweight ranks and did the same to Cyborg, needing an additional three seconds to fell her Brazilian compatriot and become a two-weight world champion.
While the win over Rousey was largely expected — it was a nightmare matchup for Rousey, and Nunes showed why immediately — this was much more of a coin-flip fight, as Cyborg was unbeaten for well over a decade and had barely been tested during that stretch. But just as she did with Rousey, Nunes marched forward into the fray, trusted in her boxing and her power, and put it on Cyborg, ultimately earning the stoppage just 51 seconds into the contest.
This was the point where the conversation about who was the best female fighter of all time started to ramp up, and over the next four-and-a-half years, Nunes shut down the discussion and make it clear that she stood head and shoulders above the pack, posting six more victories, avenging her lone defeat in that stretch, and retiring with both titles in her possession, having still beaten everyone that has held UFC gold in both the featherweight and bantamweight divisions.
Long live “The Lioness!”
