'%20x='0'%20y='0'%20height='100%25'%20width='100%25'%20%0A%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20%20xlink%3Ahref='data:image/jpg;base64,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'%3E%3C/image%3E%3C/svg%3E)
Whenever the UFC puts together a big event, they intend for the headline bout to be the one that everyone talks about the next day. Of course, that doesn’t always go to plan.
Over the years, we’ve seen numerous examples of co-main events completely overshadowing the headliner on a UFC card, with Conor McGregor’s first fight against Dustin Poirier being an example.
More recently than that, though, there have been a number of co-main events that outshone the headline bout, even when said headliner turned out to be excellent in its own right.
Here are five times that a co-headliner outshone the headline bout at recent UFC events.
#5. Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Weili Zhang – UFC 248
UFC 248, one of the final events to take place prior to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, was built largely around the premise of a wild fight for the middleweight title between champ Israel Adesanya and challenger Yoel Romero.
However, while the fans in attendance at Las Vegas’ T-Mobile Arena were treated to one of the wildest fights they’d ever seen, it didn’t come in the headline bout.
In fact, Adesanya vs. Romero turned out to be one of the worst title fights in recent memory, with both men looking gunshy and largely refusing to engage with the other. In the end, Adesanya came away with a unanimous decision win, retaining his title, but it was safe to say that nobody wanted to rewatch the fight.
The same could not be said for the co-headliner, which saw Weili Zhang defend her strawweight crown against former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. To say this fight was a crazy one would be an understatement.
From the off, the two women traded nothing but bombs with one another, with both taking an insane amount of damage. Quite how neither woman ended up being finished remains a mystery, particularly when you consider that they actually threw a total of 783 strikes at one another.
Either way, Zhang and Jedrzejczyk produced a stone cold classic. While even a so-so fight would’ve outshone Adesanya vs. Romero, this one made the event worth watching even when the headliner went a little wrong.
#4. Nate Diaz vs. Leon Edwards – UFC 263
UFC 263 saw a main event of Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori for the middleweight title. While that fight wasn’t bad at all, it definitely didn’t turn out to be the bout that everyone was discussing the day after the show.
That honor belonged to one of the event’s two co-headliners, the welterweight clash between Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz.
Naturally, fans were more interested in that fight than either of the two title bouts on offer (Adesanya vs. Vettori and a flyweight title clash between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno) from the off, primarily because of Diaz’s star power.
However, had the Stockton-based fighter simply folded under the pressure that Edwards was likely to bring, as many expected, then the fight may well have been lost in the shuffle of the big event.
That wasn’t the case, though. Edwards did dominate the fight for the most part – until Diaz landed a big shot in the fifth round that suddenly had ‘Rocky’ on the verge of going out.
Everyone watching was astonished. While Diaz couldn’t finish him and lost a decision, his name was once again the one on the lips of the fans, ensuring that he’d once again hogged the spotlight despite it not really being offered to him.
#3. Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen – UFC 267
UFC 267 was undoubtedly one of 2021’s best events, as it featured breakout performances from both Khamzat Chimaev and Islam Makhachev amongst some truly fantastic action top-to-bottom.
However, while Glover Teixeira’s upset win over Jan Blachowicz in the night’s headline bout was definitely noteworthy, the fight itself was largely overshadowed by one of the year’s better clashes in the co-main event.
That fight saw Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen do battle for the interim bantamweight title. While the existence of the title was questionable in the first place, the two fighters certainly went to war like something huge was on the line.
‘No Mercy’ and ‘The Sandman’ put on a phenomenal showing, with non-stop action from start to finish. Remarkably, the two men threw a total of 729 strikes across the five rounds of the fight. While Sandhagen actually landed more (172 to 158), it was Yan who came away with the win.
That victory primarily came due to a big third round for ‘No Mercy’, who decked Sandhagen with a spinning backfist and came close to putting him away. ‘The Sandman’ was able to survive, though, and this classic match ended up going the distance.
Overall, it was going to be hard for any fight to follow this one, and while Teixeira vs. Blachowicz was good, it still felt like it’d been outshone when all was said and done.
#2. Michel Pereira vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio – UFC Fight Night 206
This past weekend’s UFC Fight Night show was headlined by a bantamweight bout between highly-ranked contenders Holly Holm and Ketlen Vieira, but despite much more being at stake in that fight than in the co-main event, it’s safe to say that it was thoroughly outshone.
That’s because the co-headliner saw welterweight action heroes Michel Pereira and Santiago Ponzinibbio go to war for three rounds. While the expected finish didn’t come, the fight certainly lived up to the lofty expectations around it going in.
The two men went to war from the off, essentially going strike-for-strike with Pereira seemingly landing the slightly harder blows, wobbling ‘Gente Boa’ in the first round. Ponzinibbio, meanwhile, appeared to have the edge in terms of volume.
It came as no surprise when the fight went to a split decision, then, and in the end, ‘Demolidor’ was able to secure the biggest victory of his UFC career thus far.
More importantly, though, the fight between Holm and Vieira turned out to be a disappointing one, and was in fact one of the dullest main events in recent memory, with little in the way of significant action throughout the bout’s five rounds.
Nobody was shocked when Pereira vs. Ponzinibbio won the event’s Fight of the Night bonus. Unsurprisingly, Pereira is the man who’s gotten the most attention coming out of the event thus far.
#1. Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Pena – UFC 269
UFC 269 was built as one of 2021’s biggest events, largely thanks to a marquee main event that saw Charles Oliveira defend his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier, who was riding the crest of a wave thanks to his two victories over the promotion’s biggest star, Conor McGregor.
Unlike some of the other headline bouts that were overshadowed on this list, it’s safe to say that Oliveira and Poirier delivered the goods inside the octagon. The two men went toe-to-toe and exchanged some huge shots before ‘Do Bronx’ eventually managed to take Poirier’s back, securing a rear-naked choke to win via submission.
However, despite putting on a great show, the two lightweights still managed to get outshone by the co-headliner. That’s because that fight saw genuine history made, as the consensus greatest female fighter in MMA history was finally beaten after going seven years without a loss.
The fight in question was, of course, Amanda Nunes’ bantamweight title clash with Julianna Pena. Literally nobody was giving ‘The Venezuelan Vixen’ a chance in this one, particularly as she’d only won one of her last two fights prior to her title shot.
However, when it came down to it, Pena had a gameplan, standing with Nunes and consistently landing jabs on her while also making ‘The Lioness’ miss her haymakers, tiring her out.
By midway through the second round, it was clear who was on top, but it was still a huge shock to see Pena secure a fight-ending choke, pulling off one of the greatest upsets in MMA history in the process.
Sure, Oliveira vs. Poirier was great, but after a history-making moment like that, any headline bout would’ve been outshone.
