5 best UFC events of 2022 so far

The UFC has churned out one stellar event after another in 2022. In the first half of the year, the world's leading MMA promotion put on 21 events, of which 15 were regular weekly Fight Night shows and six were pay-per-views.

The UFC is set to kick off the second half of 2022 in style, with UFC 276 shaping up to be a blockbuster event, featuring mouth-watering matchups and big names across the fight card.

UFC 276 fan-made poster [Image via @needingart on Instagram]

Over the first six months of 2022, fans witnessed some truly spectacular events. Of course, not every fight card delivers, but the ones that do tend to leave a lasting impression on the MMA faithful.

On that note, here are the five best UFC events of 2022 so far.

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#5. UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Emmett, Moody Center, Austin, Texas, USA

Just two weeks before the pivotal featherweight championship bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway at UFC 276, top-ranked 145-pound contenders Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett locked horns in a high stakes main event clash at the Moody Center in Austin, Texas.

The event suffered a major blow a few hours before it kicked off as the co-main event between Donald Cerrone and Joe Lauzon fell through for the second time this year.

Nevertheless, the rest of the fighters on the card delivered the goods, contributing to one of the best UFC Fight Nights of the year so far.

Out of the 13 fights on the card, nine ended with a finish, including eight knockouts.

Roman Dolidze, Phil Hawes, Cody Stamann, Ricardo Ramos and Jeremiah Wells lit up the prelims with highlight reel stoppages. Brazilian flyweight Natalia Silva also produced a dominant showing in her unanimous decision win over Jasmine Jasudavicius on the featured bout of the preliminary card.

Texas native Adrian Yanez kicked off the main card with a bang, finishing Tony Kelley in the first round of their bantamweight clash. Damir Ismagulov eked out a split decision win over Guram Kutateladze in a highly technical affair. Gregory Rodrigues, Joaquin Buckley and Kevin Holland picked up stoppage victories, which served as appetizers before the mouth-watering main event.

Calvin Kattar and Josh Emmett duked it out in a highly competitive and evenly matched five-round showdown. Kattar was clearly wary of Emmett's fight-ending power and largely used his jab to maintain distance.

Every time Emmett connected with a strike, however, it was having a significant impact on Kattar, which seemingly swayed two out of three judges. Emmett was awarded a split decision win to round out an incredible evening of fights.

#3. UFC 274: Oliveira vs. Gaethje - Footprint Center, Phoenix, Arizona, USA

UFC 274 went down in Phoenix, Arizona, in May. While the main card was initially regarded as one of the best of the year at the time, it suffered some hiccups during fight week, which rubbed some shine off the pay-per-view.

Nonetheless, with three incredible matchups atop the bill, there was still a lot to look forward to.

In the co-main event of the pay-per-view, Rose Namajunas and Carla Esparza produced one of the worst title fights in UFC history. The largely forgettable strawweight championship bout saw both fighters barely throw any strikes, with Esparza earning a split-decision win, likely thanks to her forward pressure.

Thankfully, the two lightweight scraps on the main card salvaged the entire event as Michael Chandler and Charles Oliveira produced jaw-dropping performances. Chandler's knockout of Tony Ferguson, in particular, was undeniably the most memorable moment of the night.

The main event clash between Charles Oliveira and Justin Gaethje was contested under weird circumstances, with Oliveira controversially missing weight prior to the fight. With only Gaethje eligible to win the belt, it felt as though the odds were stacked against the former Brazilian champion.

Despite being knocked down twice in the opening round, Oliveira rallied back and dropped Gaethje with a crisp right cross. With 'The Highlight' clearly dazed, 'do Bronx' pounced on his back and quickly found a submission, cemeting his standing as the best lightweight in the world.

If not for the Michael Chandler vs. Tony Ferguson and Charles Oliveira vs. Justin Gaethje lightweight bouts, this event likely wouldn't feature on this list. However, with two scorching finishes and the back-and-forth nature of both fights, UFC 274 was definitely one of the better events of the first half of 2022.

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#4. UFC 271: Adesanya vs. Whittaker 2 – Toyota Center, Houston, Texas, USA

The second pay-per-view of 2022, UFC 271, went down at the Toyota Center in Houston, Texas, in February.

Headlined by dominant middleweight king Israel Adesanya and former foe Robert Whittaker, and comprising popular names like Derrick Lewis, Tai Tuivasa, Jared Cannonier and Bobby Green, this fight card delivered an enjoyable evening of MMA action.

There were some incredible bouts on the preliminary card, with the enthalling bantamweight scrap between Douglas Silva de Andrade and Sergey Morozov winning 'Fight of the Night' honors. Elsewhere in the prelims, women's MMA pioneer Roxanne Modafferi called a halt to her career soon after her unanimous decision loss to Casey O'Neill.

Strikeforce veteran Bobby Green put on a striking masterclass to kick off the main card, cruising to a comfortable decision win over Nasrat Haqparast. Next, Renato Moicano picked up an impressive submission victory over Alexander Hernandez, setting the stage for the three marquee bouts atop the card.

With a shot at the middleweight belt up for grabs, top-ranked 185-pound contenders Jared Cannonier and Derek Brunson squared off in the third fight of the main card. After being saved by the bell in the opening round, 'The Killa Gorilla' bounced back in the second and finished Brunson via TKO to stake his claim for a shot at gold.

The pay-per-view co-headliner saw Texas' own Derrick Lewis lock horns with surging Australian Tai Tuivasa. With Lewis ranked in the top five, this was a huge opportunity for Tuivasa to make a massive leap up the rankings, and he did so in spectacular fashion.

'Bam Bam' knocked out 'The Black Beast' with a thunderous elbow in the second round, which put the UFC veteran to sleep to cap off an exhilirating heavyweight slugfest.

In the main event, Israel Adesanya successfully defended his middleweight title for the fourth time, edging out a unanimous decision win against Robert Whittaker to further extend his championship reign.

Overall, it was a solid fight card, with Jared Cannonier and Tai Tuivasa's knockouts standing out as the most shocking moments of the night.

#2. UFC Fight Night: Volkov vs. Aspinall - O2 Arena, London, England

Over the years, English fans have witnessed some unbelievable moments and crazy fights at the O2 Arena in London. Michael Bisping's memorable win over Anderson Silva in 2016 and Jorge Masvidal's shocking KO victory over Darren Till in 2019 stand out as milestone moments in the history of the iconic venue.

When the UFC was set to return to the English capital in 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic prevented the event from coming to fruition. The famously passionate British fans were starved of any UFC action on home soil throughout 2021, as such, the UFC returned with a bang in 2022.

The fight card delivered from start to finish, evident in the fact that nine post-fight performance bonuses were handed out. Flyweight prospect and UFC debutant Muhammed Mokaev kicked off the action at the O2 Arena, cruising to a first-round submission victory to set the tone for the evening.

Later on in the prelims, unbeaten Welsh star Jack Shore and Scottish grappling phenom Paul Craig emerged victorious in their bouts to move up the rankings in the bantamweight and light heavyweight divisions respectively.

The raucous crowd in attendance was clearly deflated after Mike Grundy and Jai Herbert, two English standouts, suffered disappointing back-to-back defeats. However, Liverpool's Molly McCann got the fans back on their feet with her stunning 'Knockout of the Year' contender.

McCann's teammate Paddy Pimblett added to the party-like atmosphere inside the O2 Arena with his first-round submission victory over Rodrigo Vargas. The crowd erupted once again in the co-main event as top-ranked English featherweight Arnold Allen finished perennial lightweight contender Dan Hooker.

The night ended on a perfect note as Mancunian heavyweight Tom Aspinall turned in a flawless performance against Alexander Volkov to make his way into the upper echelons of the division.

At the post-fight press conference, Dana White was clearly in awe of the electrifying experience that was UFC London. White revealed that he was drenched in beer and lost his voice after the record-breaking Fight Night concluded.

Watch a recap of the event below:

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#1. UFC 275: Teixeira vs. Prochazka - Singapore Indoor Stadium, Kallang, Singapore

UFC 275, the promotion's first pay-per-view in Asia, was without a shadow of a doubt the best event of the first six months of 2022. The stacked fight card went down at the Singapore Indoor Stadium, breaking the arena record for attendance and revenue.

The event featured a light heavyweight title fight between two finishers – Glover Teixeira, the champion, and Jiri Prochazka, the challenger – atop the bill. Long-reigning flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko took on Brazilian contender Taila Santos in the co-main event, right after the highly anticipated rematch between Zhang Weili and Joanna Jędrzejczyk.

While the prelims produced some decent fights, the main card stole the show in Singapore.

Aussie welterweight Jack Della Maddalena opened up the pay-per-view portion of the card and looked sensational despite an early scare. The Perth native found himself in a tight submission hold in the first round of his fight against Ramazan Emeev. Somehow, Della Maddalena escaped and proceeded to finish his Russian counterpart via TKO moments later.

Another welterweight from Down Under, Jake Mathews, delivered undoubtedly the best performance of his career, putting away Andre Fialho in the second round of their bout. 'The Celtic Kid' looked like a fighter reborn right from the get-go, repeatedly catching Fialho with accurate and powerful strikes before a right hook put him to sleep.

The Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jędrzejczyk rematch picked up where the two strawweights left off in their first bout, which was 2020's 'Fight of the Year'. The two former champions were slinging heavy leather in the first round, until Weili's improved wrestling saw the Chinese star pull ahead.

In the second round, 'Magnum' uncorked a powerful spinning backfist, knocking Jędrzejczyk out cold. Moments after her disappointing defeat, the Polish star announced her retirement and left her gloves inside the octagon.

Valentina Shevchenko endured the toughest fight of her UFC career in the co-main event. The dominant flyweight queen struggled against Taila Santos in the first three rounds of the fight as she repeatedly found herself fighting off submission attempts. 'Bullet' bounced back in the championship rounds and came away with a narrow split-decision win.

The main event clash between Glover Teixeira and Jiri Prochazka turned out to be one of the greatest championship fights we've ever seen. Both fighters enjoyed moments of success throughout the bout, with Teixeira struggling in the stand-up exchanges and Prochazka taking significant damage on the ground.

In the final round of their rollercoaster affair, Teixeira caught the challenger with some hard shots and was even in full mount with one minute left in the fight. Out of nowhere, Prochazka escaped and latched onto a rear-naked choke, forcing the champion to tap out with just 28 seconds left on the clock.