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2018’s been an up-and-down year for the UFC – for the most part the quality of the shows put on by the biggest MMA promotion in the world has been fantastic, but unfortunately, TV ratings and pay-per-view buyrates haven’t quite reflected that.
With that said, there have still been a ton of tremendous moments this year thus far – with hopefully more to come as the year goes on.
Here are the ten most memorable moments from the UFC in 2018.
#10: Ortega knocks out Edgar and arrives as a contender
UFC 222 was supposed to see Frankie Edgar finally take his shot at Featherweight champion Max Holloway, but in the end, he was hit with a major curveball – in the form of a vicious uppercut from Brian Ortega.
Holloway ended up sidelined with a leg injury and so Edgar bravely did something few other fighters would’ve done – he accepted a fight with red-hot contender Ortega instead, with the winner gaining the coveted shot at the champ later down the line.
But if he expected to knock off a potential contender early, he was gravely mistaken. The fight began with Edgar’s usual footwork and in-and-out striking working well, but despite being more known for his grappling than his striking, Ortega seemed strangely cool.
Suddenly, he struck back. ‘T-City’ caught Edgar with an elbow as he stepped in, and ‘The Answer’ was stunned. Ortega quickly followed with a series of uppercuts, and for the first time in his career, Edgar was knocked out.
The win not only made Ortega the undisputed top contender at 145lbs – but it sent a notice to every Featherweight on the roster. And now Holloway vs. Ortega – which is scheduled for UFC 231 – has everyone salivating.
#9: Till wins in Liverpool
When the UFC announced that they’d be putting on their first show in Liverpool on May 27th – and the headliner would be hometown boy Darren Till taking on former Welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson – everyone was excited to see how the Scouser would do under a huge spotlight.
It turned out that he’d be absolutely fine. With the crowd already emotionally charged thanks to Liverpool FC’s Champions League final loss the night before, Till walked to the cage to the sounds of Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline – providing a sing-along moment rarely seen in the UFC.
From there he went on to put on a very tight striking affair against ‘Wonderboy’ – usually Thompson’s realm, but this time the South Carolina native couldn’t uncork his usual pinpoint counter-striking due to the pressure of Till.
A knockdown in Till’s favor in the fifth round swung the fight for him, and although some fans disagreed with the decision, ‘The Gorilla’ ended up with his hand raised – and quickly became a cult hero to his fellow Scousers, even if his eventual title challenge didn’t go quite so well.
#8: DJ’s reign of terror finally ends
September 22nd, 2012. That date will live a long time in the memories of the UFC fanbase and management alike, as it was the date of UFC 152, when Demetrious Johnson first defeated Joseph Benavidez to claim the inaugural UFC Flyweight title.
Since then, Johnson had defended his title successfully 11 times – a new UFC record – and along the way, he’d been able to finish 7 of his challengers in dominant fashion. By the time his 12th title defense against Henry Cejudo came around at August’s UFC 227, there was talk of him being the best fighter in MMA history.
Incredibly though, that dominant run finally ended against Cejudo. Although the majority of the MMA fanbase and analysts scored the fight for Johnson, the judges in the Staples Centre disagreed – two of them scoring it 48-47 for Cejudo.
Quite what happens next is anyone’s guess. An immediate rematch was rumored, but now there have been reports of a “trade” – sending Johnson to ONE FC with Ben Askren coming the opposite way. Regardless, the reign of ‘Mighty Mouse’ finally ending after 6 years was a massive deal – and is easily one of the most memorable moments of 2018.
#7: Dillashaw proves he’s the man at 135lbs
Coming into his UFC 227 rematch against Cody Garbrandt, it felt like many fans were underrating TJ Dillashaw. The reigning UFC Bantamweight champion had defeated Garbrandt for the title back in November and yet despite his only recent loss being a debatable decision against Dominick Cruz, many fans were favouring Garbrandt to reclaim his belt.
Dillashaw proved them all wrong though by sparking Garbrandt out in the first round. His laser-sharp striking was simply able to cut Garbrandt’s wilder, more emotional style to shreds, and ‘No Love’ was stopped while out on his feet after a huge knee and a combination from Dillashaw.
With his rivalry with Team Alpha Male finally out of the way, maybe it’s time to consider Dillashaw up there with the all-time greats at 135lbs. A next contender hasn’t been decided yet – it seems like a three-way race between Flyweight champ Henry Cejudo, former champ Dominick Cruz, and the red-hot Marlon Moraes, but it’s anyone’s guess really.
If Dillashaw can overcome them though – and judging on how he beat Garbrandt, he could well do – then he’ll have to be considered the best 135lber ever. But right now he’s the man at Bantamweight – and his win over Garbrandt proved it.
#6: Whittaker vs. Romero delivers in spades
When Robert Whittaker fought Yoel Romero for the Interim Middleweight title back in July 2017, it proved to be one of the best fights of the year, and ended with Whittaker edging a decision to claim the title. Few people expected a rematch just a year later, but that’s what happened – and somehow, the fight was even better than the first.
Whittaker wasn’t meant to fight Romero – initially, he’d been matched with Luke Rockhold, but when he caught a bad staph infection, Romero stepped in and knocked Rockhold right out of contention. Suddenly, the rematch was on.
At UFC 225, the Aussie and the Cuban went to war – hammering each other with everything they had for five straight rounds, with Whittaker doing more cumulative damage with his leg kicks and jabs but Romero having the bigger moments in the fight, knocking Whittaker down in the 3rd and 5th rounds and having him on the verge of a TKO loss.
In the end, the decision went to Whittaker – but it could’ve gone either way. One thing was for definite, though – the fight was one of the best of 2018 thus far. And the best part? Nobody would bet against a third fight coming sometime in the future, such is the quality of both men inside the cage.
#5: Cormier becomes a two-division champion
Before 2018, only four fighters had ever won UFC titles in two different weight classes. BJ Penn (Welterweight and Lightweight), Randy Couture (Heavyweight and Light-Heavyweight), Conor McGregor (Featherweight and Lightweight) and Georges St-Pierre (Welterweight and Middleweight).
All four would be considered amongst the genuine greats on the UFC pantheon, and only one of them – McGregor – had held his two titles at the same time. Well, now Daniel Cormier can count himself amongst those legends – and his win over Stipe Miocic for the Heavyweight title is definitely one of the best moments of 2018.
The fight didn’t quite draw as well on pay-per-view as the UFC had hoped, but Cormier probably didn’t care about that when he landed the short right hand that knocked Miocic unconscious. Miocic had been the best Heavyweight champ the UFC had ever seen – and Cormier dispatched him within a round.
Does this make Cormier an all-time great? Absolutely. We’ll come back to him a little later on this list, but his historic win over Miocic might well be the best moment of an already-storied career.
#4: Woodley silences his critics
Ever since winning the UFC Welterweight title from Robbie Lawler back in July 2016, Tyron Woodley has claimed that he’s the best 170lber of all time. Three successful title defenses would back that claim up, but unfortunately, the dull nature of those three fights meant that the UFC brass and fanbase alike didn’t really agree.
On the shelf since July 2017, Woodley returned to action at September’s UFC 228 to take on Darren Till – a heavily pushed contender who some, myself included, favored to beat ‘The Chosen One’. But Woodley managed to shut up all of his critics.
After a dull first round, the champion decked Till with a huge right hand, destroyed him with elbows on the ground and forced him to tap out with a D’Arce choke – being rewarded with his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu for good measure.
The win was Woodley’s most impressive since the Lawler victory – and hopefully, it’ll go a long way to bringing some interest back around one of the UFC’s most dominant champions right now.
#3: Poirier’s big run
Long considered one of the UFC’s most exciting fighters thanks to his wild brawls with the likes of Chan Sung Jung and Anthony Pettis, prior to 2018 it felt like Dustin Poirier was always missing the kind of consistency that would make him a genuine title contender in the UFC’s most stacked division.
That changed in 2018, though. Poirier has fought twice thus far – and has, unfortunately, had to withdraw from a fight with Nate Diaz due to a hip injury – and has won both fights in impressive fashion, stopping ultra-tough opposition in Justin Gaethje and Eddie Alvarez.
The best part about Poirier’s run? He not only beat – and stopped – Gaethje and Alvarez, but he also did it while retaining his super-exciting style, taking plenty of punishment himself before turning it up to take out his opponents with vicious strikes of his own.
It feels like Poirier’s finally become a consistent fighter against elite opposition – and while that means trouble for top 155lbers like Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov, it means a hell of a lot of fun is in store for UFC fans. Whatever he does in 2019 will be must-see stuff.
#2: The Daniel Cormier/Brock Lesnar showdown
When rumors began to leak out that Brock Lesnar would be making a return to the UFC following his suspension for a positive test for PEDs in 2016, most people figured it was the usual nonsense that he’d used before to gain a more lucrative deal from WWE.
This time though, that doesn’t appear to be the case. Not only did Lesnar re-enter the USADA’s drug testing pool in 2018, he also showed up at UFC 226 – and set the internet on fire by entering the Octagon and shoving new UFC Heavyweight champ Daniel Cormier to set up a meeting in 2019.
Sure, Cormier has to beat Derrick Lewis first – and Lesnar has to pass all of his drug tests. Neither one of those is a given, but assuming the fight does go ahead, there can be no doubt that it’ll be one of the biggest fights of 2019.
And when fans look back to the build for the fight, the showdown between the two at UFC 226 will be recognized as the starting point. The shove will be used on countless video trailers, and the pay-per-view will likely draw millions of buys. That makes it one of the biggest moments of 2018, point blank.
#1: Nurmagomedov vs. McGregor lives up to the hype
When Conor McGregor launched his controversial bus attack at UFC 223 – the event that saw Khabib Nurmagomedov win the UFC Lightweight title once held by the Irishman – the incident ensured that the rivalry between ‘The Notorious One’ and ‘The Eagle’ became arguably the biggest in MMA history.
Few people believed the fight would actually happen in 2018 though, but somehow, Dana White and the rest of the UFC brass made it happen. And at UFC 229 – the show that ended up breaking the UFC’s pay-per-view buyrate record by drawing a wild 2.4m buys – the two men went to war in a fight that lived up to all of the hype.
McGregor tried his best, but he was outclassed by the Dagestani – dropped by a big right hand in the second round while trying to impose his striking, and completely dominated on the ground before Nurmagomedov ended things with a nasty-looking neck crank in the fourth round.
Obviously, everyone knows what happened afterward. The wild brawl that erupted between Nurmagomedov, McGregor and their respective teammates is still having ramifications today – a hearing is set for December to decide the fate of the two fighters – but overall, the fight was by far the most memorable moment in the UFC in 2018.
It’s a fight that’ll probably be talked about for years – if not decades – to come, and it may well yet lead to the biggest rematch in UFC history. We shall see.
