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Next weekend at UFC 264, Conor McGregor and Dustin Poirier will complete their epic trilogy inside the octagon. Whoever wins, the three bouts between them will go down in UFC history as classics.
The UFC has always enjoyed putting trilogies together, and while their efforts haven’t always worked, sometimes these trilogies have quickly become part of UFC legend.
With McGregor and Poirier all set to follow that path and end their epic rivalry next weekend, it seems fitting to look back at some of the classic trilogies we’ve seen over the years in the UFC.
So without further ado, here are the five most memorable trilogies in UFC history.
#5 Cain Velasquez vs. Junior Dos Santos – UFC on Fox 1, UFC 155, UFC 166
Both fighters might feel largely forgotten by UFC fans in today’s Francis Ngannou heavyweight era. A decade ago, however, there was no disputing the idea that Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos were the best big men of their generation.
When they first met at the UFC’s first show on the Fox network back in November 2011, Velasquez’s UFC heavyweight title was on the line. The records of both men inside the octagon at the time were insane.
Neither man had tasted defeat in the UFC, and together they’d beaten a combined 13 opponents, including Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
That first meeting, though, belonged to JDS. After working Velasquez with jabs to the body, he caught the champion with a huge overhand right and knocked him silly, claiming the title in the process. The fight lasted just over a minute.
Despite the quick loss, it didn’t take long for Velasquez to get back into title contention. He destroyed Bigfoot Silva to set up a rematch and then went about proving exactly who the real champion was.
At UFC 155, Velasquez dismantled Dos Santos over five rounds. He used the clinch to rough the Brazilian up, battered him with punches, and didn’t allow him a moment to breathe. It was one of the most one-sided title fights in UFC history, and reminded everyone exactly why Velasquez was so highly rated in the first place.
But despite the one-sided nature of the fight, it didn’t take long for the UFC to book a third bout – basically inking it the moment JDS knocked out Mark Hunt with a spinning kick.
Unfortunately for the Brazilian, beating Velasquez again proved to be a step too far. In a career-altering bout at UFC 166, the champion destroyed Cigano once more, this time stopping him in the fifth round after dishing out a scary amount of punishment.
While all three fights were one-sided in their own way, this was a legendary UFC trilogy because it saw the two best heavyweights of their generation doing battle. After all was said and done, neither man was really the same again.
#4 Georges St. Pierre vs. Matt Hughes – UFC 50, UFC 65, UFC 79
This epic trilogy in the UFC’s welterweight division could’ve come straight out of the Hollywood playbook. It saw a young fighter lose to a champion at the top of his game, only to return a few years later as a better fighter than anyone could’ve imagined to topple said champion in a true passing-of-the-torch moment.
Georges St. Pierre’s first fight with Matt Hughes came at UFC 50, back in October 2004. The two men fought for the vacant UFC welterweight title, and from the off, it felt like GSP was out of his depth.
The Canadian only had two UFC fights to his name – Hughes had more title defenses than that – and despite showing flashes of his huge potential, he eventually fell to a first round armbar.
It was a strange fight in that it felt like GSP had the tools to win, but simply didn’t believe in his ability quite enough at that point – allowing Hughes to take advantage of what was a rookie error in giving up the submission.
Even then, it felt like a rematch was inevitable. Sure enough, two years later, GSP had won four consecutive UFC fights to earn himself another shot.
This time, he came in full of confidence and systematically took Hughes apart, stuffing his takedowns and destroying him on the feet, eventually stopping him with a second-round head kick to win UFC gold.
For fans that’d followed the Canadian since the first fight with Hughes, it was cathartic to watch.
Fascinatingly, a third bout between the two wasn’t initially planned by the UFC. Instead, it took place at UFC 79 when St. Pierre stepped in on late notice to replace the injured Matt Serra – the man who had upset him for the title – and saw an interim UFC welterweight title on the line.
And as at UFC 65, St. Pierre won in one-sided fashion – bullying Hughes with his grappling before submitting him with an armbar, completing the circle, if you will.
This time, there was no cathartic feeling when GSP won – simply a feeling that Hughes’ time had come and gone, and the torch was well and truly passed.
#3 Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin – UFC 59, UFC 106, UFC 148
The trilogy between UFC light-heavyweight stars Tito Ortiz and Forrest Griffin often gets overlooked in the bigger picture, probably because none of the three fights had a UFC title on the line.
However, in terms of sheer drama, it’s hard to dispute the rivalry’s position in UFC history. The first fight was about proving that a so-called “reality TV star” could hang with a real UFC legend. The second was about proving that Ortiz’s time had come and gone.
The third and final fight saw two aging legends doing battle for one last time, with nothing but pride on the line.
Ortiz and Griffin’s first clash – at UFC 59 – remains their most dramatic meeting. Early on, it felt like Griffin’s doubters would be proven right. Ortiz powered through him with a takedown in the opening moments of the fight and began to brutalize him with elbows, slicing him open.
But then something strange happened. Griffin refused to go away or back down, and began to take the fight to the tiring Ortiz in the later rounds, landing clean combinations that had him in trouble.
The Huntington Beach Bad Boy edged out a tight decision in the end, but in the process, Griffin had earned his respect – as well as the respect of longtime UFC fans who derided him following his star turn on The Ultimate Fighter.
It was three and a half years before the two men did battle again. After another back-and-forth battle that saw both fighters get their fair share of shots in, Griffin was the one with his hand raised.
At that stage there was no question that the UFC would look to book the trilogy fight at some stage, and that stage turned out to be UFC 148 – one of the biggest UFC events of all time.
Again, it was a back-and-forth battle with both men having their moments. Although Ortiz landed the more memorable blows – knocking Griffin down twice – it was Griffin’s volume that really told the story, and he came away with the victory.
Neither man would fight in the UFC again after this bout, and despite both being intrinsically linked with other rivals during their UFC tenures, it’s arguable that this trilogy summed them up more than anything else.
#2 Chuck Liddell vs. Randy Couture – UFC 43, UFC 52, UFC 57
The UFC’s first epic trilogy was arguably the series of fights that brought the promotion out of its so-called ‘Dark Ages’ and allowed it to become the juggernaut that it is today.
Incredibly, the first fight between Chuck Liddell and Randy Couture – at UFC 43 in 2003 – was never supposed to happen. Couture was only inserted into the bout, which became for the first interim UFC light-heavyweight title, when Tito Ortiz decided to sit out rather than face former training partner Liddell.
Of course, the rest is history. Couture destroyed Liddell – outboxing him on the feet before smashing him to pieces on the ground – and then defeated Ortiz in turn to become the first UFC fighter to hold titles in two weight classes.
The second fight had a lot more hype behind it. This time, the UFC used its first season of The Ultimate Fighter – a surprise reality TV hit – to build to the fight. It took place at UFC 52 with Couture’s UFC light-heavyweight title on the line.
By the time the fight came around, Couture and Liddell were the UFC’s biggest superstars – and Liddell became the poster-boy of the promotion when he avenged his earlier loss with a brutal counterpunch knockout in the first round.
It was clear that the fans wanted more, though – so the UFC unsurprisingly booked a rubber match for UFC 57.
This time, the fight lasted a little longer, and Couture even managed to land a takedown on Liddell at one point. But in the end, the result was the same – the Iceman capitalized on a slip from Couture and knocked him silly in the second round.
Sure, the quality of the fights between Couture and Liddell weren’t as good as those in some of the UFC’s other trilogies, but its overall importance to the UFC means it’s impossible not to score this one highly.
#1 Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier – UFC 226, UFC 241, UFC 252
The most recent epic trilogy to take place inside the octagon came between legends Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier. The two fought for the UFC heavyweight title on three occasions – once in 2018, once in 2019 and once in 2020. All three fights were fantastic, and like all good trilogies, neither was the same after all was said and done.
UFC 226 saw their first meeting. At that point Cormier was the reigning UFC light-heavyweight champion, meaning their clash was a rare champion vs. champion fight.
Despite most fans favoring Miocic – who had made three successful defenses of his UFC heavyweight crown – it was DC who came out on top, catching the champion with a brutal right hand on his way out of the clinch.
Miocic went down and out, and Cormier entered UFC history as one of the promotion’s few double champions.
If that fight had a dramatic ending, their rematch at UFC 241 stood as one of the most dramatic heavyweight clashes in UFC history, period.
The two men went toe-to-toe for four rounds, both taking an insane level of punishment before Miocic’s body work paid off, allowing him to stop Cormier, becoming the first man to do so and reclaiming his title in the process.
The fight was so good that it was a no-brainer for the UFC to book a third bout. And somehow, that third bout lived up to the lofty standards of the second, with Miocic and Cormier swinging everything they had at one another before Miocic had his hand raised, edging a tight decision.
Cormier would retire from MMA following the loss, while Miocic – who absorbed a ridiculous amount of damage across the three fights – was subsequently knocked out by Francis Ngannou in his next UFC appearance.
Overall, the sheer quality of the final two fights between the two – they’re amongst the best heavyweight fights in UFC history – means that Miocic vs. Cormier stands as the UFC’s greatest-ever trilogy.
