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The UFC has seen plenty of fights finish in cool ways over its 25-year history – from Conor McGregor’s famous one-punch knockout of Jose Aldo to Forrest Griffin upsetting the odds to choke out PRIDE champ Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua.
Sometimes though, a fight can throw up a finish so crazy, so unexpected, that it leaves the MMA fanbase talking about it for years to come. I’m talking inexplicable comebacks, sudden turnarounds, and even endings that leave the referee in charge baffled.
Here are 5 of the craziest fight finishes in UFC history.
#1 Yair Rodriguez vs. Chan Sung Jung – UFC Fight Night 139 – 11/10/2018
I had to start with this one really as it only happened last week and yet it’ll probably be talked about for the next 25 years of UFC history.
When Frankie Edgar dropped out of his scheduled main event against ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung, only to be replaced with Mexican wildman Yair Rodriguez, everyone figured we’d get some fireworks. They just didn’t realise how insane those fireworks would be.
Main eventing the UFC’s 25th-anniversary show from the city that it all began – Denver, Colorado – Rodriguez and Jung went to war, throwing everything they had at one another for 25 minutes straight.
But despite a hot start to the fight with his flashy kicks, it appeared that Rodriguez was behind going into the final round.
Most fans had Jung ahead and the judges had the fight at 39-37, 39-37 and 38-38, essentially leaving Rodriguez needing a finish to win.
As the seconds ticked away on the clock, it didn’t look like he would get it – especially when he and Jung both raised their hands in camaraderie right before the ten-second clapper sounded.
And then it happened. Jung rushed forward for one last attack; Rodriguez ducked, and hit him with a no-look upward elbow to the jaw, turning his lights out literally one second before the final buzzer sounded.
It was the definition of snatching victory from the jaws of defeat and instantly made a distinctly average 25th-anniversary show into one that nobody will ever forget. It was an unbelievably crazy finish.
#2 Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell – Ultimate Fighter IV Finale – 11/11/2006
TUF 4 castmates Scott Smith and Pete Sell had fought under the same banner during the reality show tapings – ‘Team Mojo’ – but that didn’t stop them from going to war on the undercard of the season’s Finale show.
Despite Sell being more known for his ground game and Smith being a known knockout puncher, ‘Drago’ decided to fight fire with fire, and stood in the pocket, trading off with Smith from the off.
A wild first round saw both men in trouble – Sell was dropped by a left hook from Smith – but they continued to exchange punches, undeterred, and even found time to celebrate the friendship they’d forged on the reality show – pausing the action to high-five a couple of times before going right back to trading.
The second round saw more of the same, but suddenly it was Sell who appeared to have the advantage, landing some clubbing blows that had Smith on the defensive. When Sell hit his opponent with a vicious left hook to the body, the fight looked all but done.
Smith stumbled backwards in agony and Sell charged forward, sensing the finish....only to run directly into a haymaker right hand from ‘Hands of Steel’ that instantly knocked him unconscious. Smith basically collapsed onto Sell to deliver some follow-up shots, but the fight was already over.
If Smith had been playing possum, it would’ve made the finish crazy enough, but incredibly the body shot left him writhing in agony after the fight was over – making everyone question how the hell he’d thrown such a beautiful knockout punch at the moment he did.
If a finish like this had happened in a movie, people would’ve questioned its believability.
#3 Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton – UFC 34 – 11/02/2001
This was a finish so crazy and so controversial that WWE actually decided to rip it off about six months later, and it warranted a rematch less than a year after the initial fight.
The fight in question saw UFC Welterweight champion Carlos Newton – who’d dethroned longtime champ Pat Miletich a few months beforehand – making his first defence against Miletich protégé and brutally powerful wrestler Matt Hughes.
The first round of the fight was an outright classic; the sheer strength of Hughes against the slick technique of Newton, and it was hard to split the two – Hughes took Newton down with some high-impact slams, but found himself outgrappled and even mounted at one point. Going into the second, the best the fans could’ve hoped for was more of the same.
Somehow, they got even more than that. Hughes delivered another trademark slam to begin the round, but before he could land some ground-and-pound, Newton threw his legs up and caught the challenger in a triangle choke.
Unable to free himself, Hughes did the only thing that seemed to make sense to him – and lifted Newton up into the air while still caught in the hold.
Newton ended up propped against the cage in mid-air, but still continued to tighten the choke – and as the blood supply to his brain was cut off, Hughes collapsed to the ground – taking Newton with him.
The two men crashed to the canvas and for a second, it looked like referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy didn’t know quite what to do as it appeared that both fighters were unconscious. That was until Hughes came around first – and was promptly awarded the fight – and title.
Post-fight even Hughes couldn’t believe what had happened, while Newton’s team protested that as both men had been unconscious, the fight should’ve been deemed a No Contest.
Hughes was able to settle things by beating Newton in a rematch a year later, but the finish to that fight was nowhere near as crazy as this one – which remains a unique ending in UFC history almost 20 years later.
#4 Andrei Arlovski vs. Paul Buentello – UFC 55 – 10/07/2005
From a fight where even the referee seemed confused, we go to a finish that baffled everyone – everyone outside of referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy, who made one of the bravest calls of his career and saved an unconscious fighter from what could’ve been a brutal beating in the process.
Andrei Arlovski had captured the UFC Interim Heavyweight title at UFC 51 in early 2005, and after one successful defence, the UFC officials decided to upgrade his title to the ‘real’ championship when reigning champ Frank Mir was unable to return to action.
His first proper defence would come against striker Paul Buentello – winner of two successive UFC fights – at UFC 55.
Most fans were picking Arlovski, although the majority also agreed that Buentello – with his surprisingly quick boxing game and tough reputation – would give the Belarusian a tougher fight than he was expecting. In the end, they couldn’t have been further from the truth.
The fight began and Buentello came out firing punches at Arlovski, who appeared to duck underneath for a takedown....only for McCarthy to quickly dive in and stop the fight. At first, it seemed like a classic gaffe.
Arlovski began to celebrate, first in silence, and then to a crowd chant of “bullsh*t”, but when the fans saw Buentello being helped to his feet, it was clear that something else had happened.
Finally, a replay confirmed it – Arlovski hadn’t ducked for a takedown, he’d caught Buentello cleanly with a killer right hand to the jaw, knocking him senseless, and the reason he’d ducked was to avoid Buentello’s falling body. The camera angle shown on TV simply hadn’t picked up the telling blow.
This wasn’t a unique one-punch knockout – the UFC has seen hundreds – but it was very much a crazy finish in that everyone – from the fans to announcers Craig Hummer and Joe Rogan – was baffled until they saw the replay.
In the end, it stands as a testament to Arlovski’s punching power – and the great refereeing skills of ‘Big John’.
#5 Derrick Lewis vs. Alexander Volkov – UFC 229 – 10/06/2018
Coming into his fight with Alexander Volkov at UFC 229, it was the general consensus of well, everyone, that Derrick Lewis had to perform a lot better than he’d done a few months prior against Francis Ngannou if he wanted to win.
The Ngannou fight had been an all-time stinker – more of a staring contest than anything – and Lewis had squeaked out the victory by doing slightly more.
Volkov, however, was on a big winning streak, had knocked out former UFC champion Fabricio Werdum in his previous fight, and was itching for a shot at reigning champ Daniel Cormier.
Early on though, it appeared that somehow, Lewis was looking to do even less than he’d done against Ngannou, rather than more.
Volkov unloaded on ‘The Black Beast’ with everything in his arsenal – kicks to the body, power hooks to the body and head – and on a number of occasions, it looked like Lewis was wilting under the Russian’s power.
Time and time again ‘Drago’ cracked Lewis with huge shots, causing him to double over and cover up, all while barely firing back.
By midway through the third round, a telling statistic appeared on the screen – in almost 15 minutes of action, Lewis had thrown a total of just 30 strikes – essentially, around two for each minute of the fight. It looked like he was on his way to a pretty awful loss. And then suddenly, something snapped inside him.
With literally seconds remaining in the fight, Lewis finally started to swing heavy punches. Volkov was taken by surprise, and moments later a crushing right hook sent the Russian to the canvas.
The crowd exploded with shock and awe as Lewis pounced on his fallen opponent, stiffening him up with some follow-up shots, and inexplicably, came away with the KO victory with just 11 seconds left in the fight.
It was perhaps the best comeback in UFC history, and despite Lewis failing in his title shot against Cormier a month later, his involvement in one of the all-time crazy UFC finishes means that he’ll be a fan favourite for a long time to come.
