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As with most years in the UFC, 2018 has been an up-and-down one when it comes to the quality of their shows. We’ve seen a handful of stinkers, but a handful of brilliant cards filled with action throughout too.
As it’s very hard to rank the free-TV Fight Night cards against the UFC’s bigger ‘numbered’ pay-per-views, I’m not going to attempt that and so this will be a two-part article, the first looking at the best pay-per-views of the year, and the second looking at the Fight Night cards.
So firstly, here are the 5 best UFC pay-per-views of 2018.
#5 UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington
The only pay-per-view of 2018 to be held in Brazil, UFC 224 was like a breath of fresh air after a couple of disappointing big shows in the form of UFC 222 and UFC 223. It didn’t have the biggest names on show – it only did 85,000 buys in fact due to a weaker headliner between Amanda Nunes and Raquel Pennington – but in terms of action, nobody who did order could complain.
We got one of 2018’s best knockouts in the form of Lyoto Machida’s incredible front kick KO of Vitor Belfort; a wild brawl between John Lineker and Brian Kelleher ending in a violent knockout; and a super-quick finish from hot prospect Mackenzie Dern, who knocked down and choked out Amanda Cooper in just over 2 minutes.
While the main event turned into a bit of a slower, drawn-out affair with Nunes slowly dismantling Pennington en route to a 5th round TKO, the co-main event was the best fight on offer. Jacare Souza and Kelvin Gastelum put on a back-and-forth war, with Jacare dominating the first round with his grappling before Gastelum managed to come back with his stronger striking to take a razor-close split decision.
This was a show chock-full of finishes – alongside Jacare vs. Gastelum, only one other fight on the 13-bout card went the distance – and for its sheer entertainment value, it definitely belongs on this list.
#4 UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier
The UFC’s July show has historically been one of the biggest of the year – remember UFC 148 in 2012, for instance, or UFC 189 in 2015? – and 2018 was no different, as UFC 226 saw the first fight in promotional history between the reigning Light-Heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier, and the Heavyweight champion, Stipe Miocic.
The show did lose its co-main event late on, Max Holloway being forced to withdraw from his planned Featherweight title defense against Brian Ortega, but it didn’t affect what was already a packed card too much. And if the show looked good on paper, it delivered hugely in execution.
The opener saw a violent upset finish, as Khalil Rountree knocked out notable kickboxer Gokhan Saki in the first round. Next, Anthony Pettis returned to the kind of form that once made him the most exciting fighter in the entire sport, as he overcame the challenge of Michael Chiesa and submitted him in the second round. And the late addition to the main card – Paul Felder vs. Mike Perry – also turned into a fun scrap.
Francis Ngannou vs. Derrick Lewis – a highly-anticipated co-main event – turned out to be a stinker which means this show doesn’t crack the top 3, but thankfully the crowd were reinvigorated when Cormier knocked out Miocic in the first round of a wild fight, and went onto an even crazier confrontation with Brock Lesnar in a post-fight scene. This was a truly memorable show.
#3 UFC 230: Cormier vs. Lewis
The UFC struggled to put together a main event for their yearly trip to New York’s Madison Square Garden in November, but eventually, they set upon a Heavyweight title match between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis. But it was the Middleweight division that was truly spotlighted at UFC 230, and the 4 fights at 185lbs all delivered in spades.
We began with an incredible showing from one of the hottest up-and-comers in the sport – Israel Adesanya – as he used his slick striking skills to take out Derek Brunson in the first round – setting up a mouth-watering encounter with Anderson Silva in early 2019. Next, Karl Roberson outgrappled Jack Marshman in the night’s only slower fight.
The pace soon picked up again though as David Branch was upset by Jared Cannonier – dropping down to 185lbs for the first time to devastating effect – and then we were treated to a stone-cold classic brawl between Chris Weidman and Jacare Souza that ended in one of the year’s most violent knockouts, Jacare leaving the hometown boy unconscious after a huge right hand.
The crowd might not have been treated to the underdog fairytale that they hoped for in the main event, as Lewis had no answer for Cormier’s takedowns and was submitted easily in the second round, but that couldn’t take away from what was a fantastic show. The UFC has always put on great showings in MSG and this one was no exception.
#2 UFC 228: Woodley vs. Till
September’s UFC 228 was largely overshadowed by the build to UFC 229 a month later, but the show from Dallas, Texas was absolutely brilliant in its own right. Of the main card fights, four ended in the kind of finishes that are likely to be shown on highlight reels for years to come – often a rarity in the modern-day, closely-matched UFC.
The show opened with one of the wildest brawls of the year – and one of the shortest, too, as Abdul Razak Al-Hassan knocked Niko Price unconscious in just 43 seconds. A slower fight between Jimmie Rivera and John Dodson followed, but any bad taste that might’ve been left by that fight was erased by the genius of Zabit Magomedsharipov, who somehow used a completely unique submission – a hybrid of a kneebar, hamstring stretcher and banana split – to submit Brandon Davis in the second round.
In the co-main event, the Strawweights took centre stage and not to be outdone by Al-Hassan earlier in the night, Jessica Andrade landed a rare (for the division) one-punch knockout of the usually durable Karolina Kowalkiewicz. It was the kind of knockout that you simply couldn’t forget.
Finally, after a trio of less-than-inspiring title defences, Tyron Woodley returned to scintillating form in the main event. Faced with a monstrous, unbeaten challenger in Darren Till, Woodley stepped up to the plate in the second round, and knocked the Liverpudlian down with a massive right hand before submitting him with a D’Arce choke – earning his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu in the process.
The show might not have been box office gold – only drawing 130,000 buys on pay-per-view – but in terms of the action in the Octagon, UFC 228 delivered like few others.
#1 UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor
We’ve seen plenty of times in the past that the UFC hyping a show as one of the biggest of all time doesn’t necessarily guarantee great action inside the Octagon. UFC 200, for instance, was a huge disappointment in execution, while UFC 182 – the first meeting between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier – was a card full of stinkers.
UFC 229 was pushed as the biggest show ever – literally – thanks to its main event of Khabib Nurmagomedov defending the Lightweight title against Conor McGregor, but a robust undercard featuring some of the best prospects and contenders in the promotion meant that this was far more than a one-fight deal.
And thankfully, pretty much all of the fights delivered hugely. Felice Herrig vs. Michelle Waterson was a somewhat slow opener, but on a lesser show, it would’ve been one of the better fights on the card. But what followed was spectacular. Firstly, Derrick Lewis pulled off one of the all-time great UFC comebacks – knocking out Alexander Volkov after being beaten up for practically the entire 15-minute fight. It was enough to earn him a Heavyweight title shot a month later.
Next, Dominick Reyes – arguably the hottest prospect in the Light-Heavyweight division – lived up to that billing by picking Ovince St. Preux apart over three rounds and was robbed of a TKO win by some poor refereeing – he had to settle for a decision victory instead.
The best was yet to come, though; Tony Ferguson and Anthony Pettis – apparently determined to out-do the main event – put on a brawl for the ages, with Ferguson somehow coming back from a bad knockdown in the second round to destroy Pettis, forcing his corner to stop the fight before the third round. The fight was widely considered possibly the best of the year, point blank.
But could Khabib vs. Conor deliver? Of course, it could. Most fans will probably remember the fight as a one-sided beating in Nurmagomedov’s favour, but that wasn’t really the case – sure, McGregor was on the defensive for most of the fight, but he did well to survive Khabib’s barrage in the second round and actually won the third round before being submitted in the fourth.
Of course, the thing that sticks in most people’s minds about this event is the wild brawl that took place after Khabib vs. McGregor was over, but while it didn’t show the sport in the best light, it was certainly memorable and received plenty of press coverage for weeks following the event.
And it was a box office hit, too – drawing a monstrous 2.4m buys, making it the best selling UFC pay-per-view of all time. Essentially, UFC 229 was the most hyped card of all time and somehow, some way, it delivered everything it promised and more. It was by far the best show of 2018.
