The 5 worst ever endings to UFC shows

This Saturday’s UFC Fight Night 159 saw its main event between Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephen end in unfortunate circumstances, as Stephens suffered an eye injury in just 15 seconds that rendered him unable to continue. To say that the crowd in Mexico City were unhappy would be an understatement, but this is the UFC, and even in a big-time main event, you never know what you’re going to get.

We’ve seen UFC shows end in awful circumstances many times before, and it’s never good to watch; even if the undercard of the show has been fantastic, it’s very hard to overlook a main event that ends badly, like being served an amazing starter at a restaurant only to find your main course is made of sewage.

As a caveat, I’m not going to bring up shows that ended in a dull decision here; this is a ranking of the 5 worst show endings in UFC history, and to simply stuff it with a bunch of boring fights that the fans hated wouldn’t be in the spirit of the article.

Here are the 5 worst endings to UFC shows in the history of the promotion.

#5 UFC 3 – Steve Jennum vs Harold Howard

Steve Jennum became an unlikely UFC champion in disappointing circumstances

Back in its formative days in the early 1990s the UFC was a very different animal to the one we know and love today. The first handful of shows were all based around tournaments with martial artists of different disciplines facing off, and nobody had even heard of the term “MMA”.

Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Royce Gracie won the first two UFC tournaments, but you could tell things were beginning to change by the time the third show rolled around, as the promoters at the time – SEG – seemed to have loaded the brackets of the tournament to ensure that Gracie met the UFC’s other burgeoning star, Ken Shamrock, in the finals.

Things seemed to be going to plan when Gracie submitted Kimo Leopoldo in an engaging brawl in the quarter-finals. Shamrock then held up his end of the bargain by defeating Christophe Leninger in the quarters and followed that by choking out Felix Lee Mitchell in the semis, but things went awry when Gracie was forced to withdraw from the semis due to injuries he’d suffered in the Kimo fight.

Harold Howard – who had made the semis after a sloppy brawl with Roland Payne – was duly given a bye into the final, where everyone expected Shamrock to beat him comfortably. But Shamrock then withdrew himself, citing a hand injury – although later reports suggested he was only interested in facing Gracie. It was a massive disappointment to the fans who’d attended the show and those watching on pay-per-view, too.

In the end, alternate Steve Jennum – a Nebraska police officer – stepped in as an “alternate” and defeated Howard in a quick, sloppy fight, becoming the most unlikely champion in UFC history. To say this was a letdown would be an understatement.

The weak ending to UFC 3 had a long-standing effect on the promotion; seeing the writing on the wall, just two shows later the UFC booked Gracie against Shamrock to decide the first ‘UFC Superfight Champion’, an early precursor to the UFC Heavyweight title, and slowly, tournaments were phased out altogether.

#4 UFC Fight Night 74 – Max Holloway vs Charles Oliveira

Max Holloway's fight with Charles Oliveira ended in anticlimactic fashion

It came as a bit of a surprise when the UFC booked a Featherweight clash between Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira as the headliner for Fight Night 74 – their debut in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan – given neither man had been that high up the card before, but it also sounded like a hell of a fight on paper.

Holloway had won his last 6 fights and had only gone the distance in one of them, while Oliveira was on a 4-fight streak including 3 tapouts. The winner would surely vault themselves into title contention – unless something bizarre happened, of course.

The two men exchanged some early strikes before Oliveira attempted a takedown, and when Holloway was able to defend, the Brazilian attempted to pull guard. Holloway was having none of that and stood back up – only for Oliveira to collapse to his back, clutching his neck. Referee Herb Dean was then forced to stop the fight, awarding a strange and anticlimactic TKO to Holloway.

To say this was a bad ending would be an understatement; to that point, the show had been filled with fun brawls like Patrick Cote vs. Josh Burkman and Francisco Trinaldo vs. Chad Laprise, but the main event basically ruined everything.

As for Oliveira? Early reports suggested that he’d somehow torn his esophagus, but eventually, it was reported that he had no major throat injuries and that the pain was caused by a minor neck injury that he’d suffered during his training camp.

#3 UFC Fight Night 159 – Yair Rodriguez vs Jeremy Stephens

The Octagon was pelted with trash after Jeremy Stephens' eye injury stopped his fight with Yair Rodriguez

This weekend’s disaster sits in third place in my countdown. Not only were the fans in attendance at the Mexico City Arena – as well as those watching on television – salivating over the possibility of a classic brawl between Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens, two of the UFC’s most exciting fighters, but in the arena at least, Rodriguez was being treated like a conquering hero returning home.

The fight started off well enough – Rodriguez came right out and threw a hard leg kick before winging a front kick at Stephens, but in the process, he reached out with his hand and caught ‘Lil’ Heathen’ in the eye. Referee Herb Dean was forced to call time, but instantly everyone knew this was bad – the cameras even picked up on Stephens saying it.

Dean attempted to let Stephens recover, giving him the allotted 5 minutes, but when it became clear that he couldn’t open his eye, let alone see, the fight was stopped and declared a No Contest after just 15 seconds.

That would’ve been bad enough, but to make matters worse the Mexican fans then began to pelt the Octagon with trash, with some debris even striking Rodriguez, who seemed indignant at the idea of Stephens being unable to continue. These were hugely ugly scenes and the lasting memory of the show will be one of sheer disappointment, as well as disgust towards the fans. A rematch may be on the cards – but I doubt it’ll be in Mexico City.

#2 UFC 46 – Randy Couture vs Vitor Belfort

Randy Couture's rematch with Vitor Belfort was ruined by a freak injury

Another main event ruined by an eye injury, this one sits above Rodriguez vs. Stephens for the sole reason that it came in the headlining fight of a major pay-per-view, and to make things even worse the UFC Light-Heavyweight title was on the line and exchanged hands in easily the worst circumstances in promotional history.

Randy Couture was coming into UFC 46 as the new champion of the UFC’s then-marquee division, after dethroning longtime kingpin Tito Ortiz some months prior. Vitor Belfort meanwhile had returned to the UFC with a highlight-reel knockout of Marvin Eastman. The two men had history – Couture had handed Belfort his first career loss 7 years prior – and so a rematch made sense.

Unfortunately, everyone expecting a classic was left disappointed. Just seconds in, Couture attempted to bull his way into a clinch, and as he did so, Belfort threw a left-hand counter that appeared to miss. Belfort then forced him into the cage, but right away it was clear that something was wrong, as ‘The Natural’ was blinking in a strange manner.

Seconds later referee John McCarthy called time, and when Couture’s left eye was examined by the doctor, it became clear what’d happened; Vitor hadn’t poked him in the eye, instead, the stitching on his glove had caught Couture’s eyelid as the punch missed, slicing it wide open. It was quickly established that Couture was unable to continue – and as the cut had been caused by a legal blow, somehow, Belfort was declared the winner by TKO – and the new UFC Light-Heavyweight champion.

Things were put right 7 months later as the two rematched; this time Couture won with a third-round TKO to reclaim his title, but UFC 46 would forever go down as a show with an incredibly disappointing finish. Nobody wanted to see a show end like that – and even more so as a UFC title changed under such terrible circumstances.

#1 UFC 229 – Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Conor McGregor

The chaos that followed Khabib Nurmagomedov's fight with Conor McGregor left a black eye on the sport of MMA

Okay, so I’ll preface this by saying that the actual fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Conor McGregor – arguably the biggest UFC fight of all time with the UFC Lightweight title on the line – totally lived up to the hype, even though it was a little one-sided in favor of Nurmagomedov. But in terms of the ending to a UFC show, UFC 229 was by far the one that left the worst taste in the mouth.

After a huge win like this one, everyone should’ve been talking about whether Khabib was the best Lightweight of all time, or in the least, how McGregor would ever be able to rebound from taking such a one-sided beating. But instead, everyone was only focused on one thing: the ugly and controversial aftermath.

Everyone knows what happened at this stage; Khabib looked angry even after McGregor had tapped out, yelling at the Irishman before scaling the Octagon fence. Next, he leaped into the crowd to attack McGregor’s training partner Dillon Danis, before Khabib’s teammates entered the cage to confront McGregor, who began to exchange punches with both Abubakar Nurmagomedov and Zubaira Tukhugov.

In the end, cooler heads managed to prevail as the whole scene was flooded with security and Daniel Cormier – a training partner of Khabib’ – even got involved to attempt to calm ‘The Eagle’ down. The crowd in attendance was so horrified and disgusted at the entire scene that UFC President Dana White simply ushered everyone from the Octagon, meaning Khabib wasn’t even presented with his title belt.

Not only did the ending have far-reaching consequences – everyone involved, from Khabib and McGregor to Danis and Tukhugov were slapped with various fines and suspensions – but it also harkened back to an uglier time for MMA, and left a firm black eye on the sport. Despite the fight that preceded it being a great one, this was definitely the worst ending to a UFC show in the promotion’s history.