5 of the best one-round fights in UFC history

#4: Travis Browne vs. Andrei Arlovski – UFC 187

Travis Browne and Andrei Arlovski put on a truly crazy war at UFC 187

UFC fans were treated to one of the promotion’s all-time great events at UFC 187, but despite featuring two title fights, the show’s standout clash was a heavyweight battle between Travis Browne and Andrei Arlovski.

The fight featured an insane number of knockdowns and near finishes, as the momentum between the two big men swung like a pendulum until Arlovski eventually picked up a TKO win.

The fact that the whole thing only lasted for one round only made this fight even more remarkable.

Arlovski and Browne looked happy to exchange from the opening moments of the fight, and it didn’t take long for one of them to get hurt. In this case, ‘The Pitbull’ staggered ‘Hapa’ with a trio of right hands, forcing him to stumble backwards. However, he was quickly able to recover.

From there, the Hawaiian fired back, only to find himself badly hurt again, this time by a wild backfist strike. Arlovski continued to look for the finish, and with Browne incredibly shaky, the former UFC heavyweight champ stunned him with a second backfist before dropping him with a right.

The fight appeared to be over, but when ‘The Pitbull’ closed in for the finish, somehow Browne fired back with a right hook, sending him crashing to the ground.

Suddenly, it looked like ‘Hapa’ would pull off the win. Only for Arlovski to somehow rise back to his feet, where he continued to open up, hurting Browne all over again.

This time, there would be no miraculous comeback. Browne had simply absorbed too much punishment, and ended up wilting under the fire of ‘The Pitbull’, with referee Mark Smith being forced to step in.

It’d be hard to claim that this fight was a technical classic, but in terms of two fighters showing insanely heavy hands and even bigger hearts, it doesn’t get much better than this one.

---

#3: Donald Cerrone vs. Melvin Guillard – UFC 150

Donald Cerrone and Melvin Guillard were good friends, but that didn't stop them from putting on a classic fight at UFC 150

Coming into their lightweight clash at UFC 150, there were some unsubstantiated fears that Melvin Guillard and Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone might hold back a little. After all, they’d trained together for a lengthy period and were known to be close friends outside the octagon.

That idea couldn’t have been further from the truth. The two 155lbers threw literally everything they had at one another in one of the wildest one-round fights in UFC history, and produced a classic in just over a minute.

In the early going, the fight looked like Guillard’s to lose. Capitalizing on Cerrone’s well-deserved reputation as a slow starter, ‘The Young Assassin’ was on the attack from the off, hurting ‘Cowboy’ with a left hand and then swarming him to look for the finish.

Despite being on painfully wobbly legs, Cerrone was able to survive, clinching and retreating just enough to slow Guillard down somewhat.

Incredibly, that was all the opening that ‘Cowboy’ needed. Despite still being on wobbly legs, he capitalized on a momentary pause from Guillard by cracking him with a kick that clanged right off the side of his head.

Seemingly frozen in time, Guillard didn’t respond – allowing Cerrone to rush in and drop him with a brutal right hand that knocked him completely unconscious.

The crowd in Denver, Colorado were quite rightfully blown away by the performance, as Cerrone had proven once again that he was one of the toughest fighters in UFC history.

However, to play down Guillard’s role in this one-round classic would be unfair, as on another night, he could easily have picked up the win.

Despite lasting literally just over a minute, this was probably the most memorable UFC fight of 2012.