5 of the most stacked cards in UFC history

#2. UFC 100: Brock Lesnar vs. Frank Mir II

Brock Lesnar's mega-rematch with Frank Mir was the headliner at UFC 100

Until the rise of Conor McGregor as the UFC’s all-time biggest drawing card, it looked like no UFC show would ever top the pay-per-view buyrate of 2009’s UFC 100. The event drew a monster 1.6 million buys, and it was for good reason.

This was a genuinely stacked card that featured two of the UFC’s biggest three stars at the time – UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and UFC welterweight kingpin Georges St-Pierre – defending their titles against Frank Mir and Thiago Alves respectively.

The Lesnar vs. Mir fight, in particular, garnered unheard of levels of hype thanks to the star power of Lesnar, as well as the shocking ending to the first fight between the two.

There would be no controversy here, as Lesnar crushed Mir in the second round before going on an epic rant in his post-fight interview. It only cemented him as the UFC’s most bankable star at the time.

UFC 100: Brock Lesnar manhandles Frank Mir to retain UFC title - http://tinyurl.com/lxnzsn

— ESPN (@espn) July 12, 2009

But UFC 100 wasn’t all about Lesnar and St-Pierre. The show also featured a major grudge match between TUF 9 coaches Michael Bisping and Dan Henderson, the UFC debut of Japanese superstar Yoshihiro Akiyama, and a stacked undercard that featured Jon Jones, Jim Miller and former UFC heavyweight champion Mark Coleman.

Add in the fact that this was the first time the UFC had produced its now-traditional ‘International Fight Week’ – building it around this landmark show – and it’s easy to see why UFC 100’s buyrate record held fast for over seven years.

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#1. UFC 205: Eddie Alvarez vs. Conor McGregor

Conor McGregor cemented himself as the UFC's biggest-ever star at UFC 205

For years, the UFC had been desperate to put on an event in New York City’s famous Madison Square Garden. And so once MMA was finally legalized in the state, it was no surprise that the promotion put together one of the most stacked cards in its history.

Nobody could’ve predicted quite how stacked UFC 205 would become, though. During the build up to the event, it felt like every other day would see a new amazing-sounding fight added to the card.

UFC 205 was unsurprisingly headlined by the promotion’s biggest star – then-UFC featherweight champ Conor McGregor, who moved up to 155 pounds for the first time to challenge UFC lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez.

This promo for #UFC205 was one of our firsts and still one of our favourites 🇮🇪We're not here to take part, we're here to take over 😏 pic.twitter.com/4c5abky4o1

— UFC on BT Sport (@btsportufc) April 20, 2020

Underneath that, UFC fans were treated to two more title fights – Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson for the welterweight title and Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz for the strawweight title.

The show also featured New York favorites Chris Weidman, Frankie Edgar and Jim Miller, as well as a clash between former UFC bantamweight champion Miesha Tate and Raquel Pennington. A late addition saw future UFC champion Khabib Nurmagomedov matched with Michael Johnson.

Unlike many other stacked cards, the PPV also delivered when it came to action. The fans watching for McGregor were awestruck as he knocked out Alvarez in the second round, but practically every fight on the card was either wildly entertaining or featured a violent finish.

The promotion would return to MSG three more times after this event, but it’s arguable that, to date, UFC 205 has never been topped.