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#4. Stipe Miocic vs. Francis Ngannou – UFC 260
UFC 260 was headlined by a UFC heavyweight title bout between Stipe Miocic and Francis Ngannou. While the fight was surprisingly one-sided, it was still hugely entertaining and featured a truly shocking ending.
The two big men had fought previously at UFC 220 in January 2018. While many fans had favored Ngannou coming in, Miocic used his wrestling skills to grind out ‘The Predator’, cementing himself in the eyes of many as the UFC’s heavyweight GOAT.
However, if Miocic had hoped to replicate that gameplan here, he was painfully mistaken. The champion did attempt to take Ngannou down early in the fight, but unlike in their first clash, ‘The Predator’ was ready. Not only did he stuff the attempt, but he turned the tables on Miocic, dumping him down before taking his back to land some punches.
The first round ended with Miocic looking frustrated, but things would only get worse for him in the second stanza. Within seconds of the round beginning, Ngannou stunned the champion with a jab, knocking him into the fence. Somehow, Miocic got to his feet and then fired back with a right hand that appeared to have Ngannou stunned in return.
The champion waded in to look for a finish but walked directly into a crushing left hand that instantly switched his lights off, causing him to fall back at a terrible angle, bending his legs in the process.
The fight was naturally called off. Not only had Ngannou taken violent revenge over Miocic, but in a memorable title bout, he’d also proven that he was the baddest man on the planet, no questions asked.
#3. Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen – UFC 267
Petr Yan began 2021 as the undisputed UFC bantamweight champion following his title win over Jose Aldo at UFC 251 in 2020.
However, in his first defense, ‘No Mercy’ delivered an illegal knee to his opponent Aljamain Sterling's head. The result was a disqualification and Yan lost his title despite being clearly ahead in the fight.
However, the Russian was given a chance to regain some UFC gold later in 2021 at UFC 267, albeit in the form of an interim title introduced when Sterling was unable to fight due to injury.
Yan’s opponent was a curious choice, as Cory Sandhagen had actually lost his previous fight, albeit due to a questionable decision against T.J. Dillashaw. On paper, however, it sounded like an amazing clash of strikers. In execution, the fight delivered hugely.
Both men went toe-to-toe from the beginning, with ‘The Sandman’ looking to work Yan’s body in the early going before ‘No Mercy’ turned the tide with a vicious spinning backfist that dropped Sandhagen in the third.
That knockdown largely gave Yan the advantage and he ended up edging a tight decision in a fight that saw the momentum swing back-and-forth on more than one occasion.
With an insane amount of action on offer and both men throwing a ludicrous amount of strikes, this was an instant classic and more than made up for Yan’s reign as undisputed champion ending in such bad fashion.
