The 5 worst UFC shows of the decade (2010-2019)

The UFC has put on some landmark events during this decade (2010-2019), with shows like UFC 205, UFC 229 and UFC 166 being considered among the best MMA shows of all time, while also drawing millions of dollars on pay-per-view.

Unfortunately, for every great UFC show this decade, there have also been some pretty bad efforts too. The promotion’s free-TV ‘Fight Night’ shows are always a bit of a coin flip depending on the card, but when the UFC are expecting people to pay to watch their shows, fans expect to see the best – and that hasn’t always been the case.

Here are the 5 worst ‘numbered’ UFC shows of the decade (2010-2019).

#5 UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch (2011)

UFC 127 disappointed the Australian crowd

This was the UFC’s second-ever show in Australia, and while the first one was one of the best cards of 2010, this one was almost certainly the worst of 2011. Entirely lacking in name value, the main event featured a strange Welterweight pairing of BJ Penn and Jon Fitch, with the co-main event seeing Michael Bisping taking on journeyman Jorge Rivera in a grudge match.

The event started slowly and gradually got worse; Aussie native Kyle Noke submitted Chris Camozzi in an opener that was at least rescued by a hot crowd. But Brian Ebersole’s victory over Chris Lytle was unmemorable in every possible way, as was Dennis Siver’s slow, striking-based decision over local hero George Sotiropoulos.

That was enough to turn the crowd off, and when Bisping vs. Rivera turned into an angry, foul-filled match that ended with ‘The Count’ spitting on the cornermen of his beaten foe, it was clear that the event needed saving by its main event.

Unfortunately, Penn and Fitch couldn’t deliver; ‘The Prodigy’ surprisingly outwrestled Fitch to win the first round, but then gassed out and allowed the Indiana native to grind him down for the next two rounds, before the whole thing was rendered largely pointless when the judges declared it a majority draw.

2011 was a fantastic year for the UFC, with plenty of classic shows, but unfortunately, UFC 127 missed the mark by a considerable amount.

#4 UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao (2012)

Hector Lombard's UFC debut at UFC 149 turned into a damp squib

July 2012’s UFC 149 misses the top three in this countdown purely on the basis that the opening fight – an energetic Welterweight tilt between future WWE star Matt Riddle and Chris Clements – was a perfectly acceptable fight that was a lot of fun to watch. Outside of that, though? This show basically stunk.

It was an injury-hit card from the start, as the initially planned main event between Jose Aldo and Erik Koch was scrapped and replaced by a fight between Urijah Faber and Renan Barao for the Interim Bantamweight title, but the fans also lost Michael Bisping vs. Tim Boetsch, Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Thiago Alves and Thiago Silva vs. Mauricio Rua.

In their place, we were treated to snore-fests between Brian Ebersole and James Head, and Shawn Jordan and Cheick Kongo – two fights that were thoroughly forgettable. The co-main event was somehow even worse, as former Bellator champ and major signing Hector Lombard completely flopped and put on a poor showing in a dull loss to Boetsch.

The main event wasn’t horrible, as Barao used his pinpoint striking to pick Faber apart en route to a unanimous decision, but by that point the crowd in Calgary, Alberta had given up and were more than willing to boo anything. This was the worst show of 2012 and ended with UFC President Dana White giving a post-fight press conference apology to the fans in attendance.

#3 UFC 161: Evans vs. Henderson (2013)

UFC 161 was forgettable in every possible way

Another injury-hit Canadian-based UFC show, 2013’s UFC 161 lost both its main event (Renan Barao vs. Eddie Wineland) and its co-main event (Mauricio Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira), leaving the promotion with a painfully depleted card headlined by a three-rounder between veteran Light-Heavyweights Dan Henderson and Rashad Evans.

The show actually started off with a bang of sorts, as Shawn Jordan quickly knocked out Pat Barry in a Heavyweight clash, but from there, we got one whimper after another, as a Women’s Bantamweight match between Alexis Davis and Rosi Sexton and a Light-Heavyweight tilt between Ryan Jimmo and Igor Pokrajac were incredibly dull to watch.

The co-main event between future Heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic and veteran Roy Nelson wasn’t half-bad, as Miocic showed some glimpses of his elite potential by smacking Nelson – the favorite coming into the fight – around for three rounds, but things then slowed down with the main event, as Evans and Henderson failed to live up to their potential in a slow affair that ended in a split decision in Evans’ favor.

Nothing on this show was horrible per se, but the entire card was simply forgettable, which isn’t what anyone wants from a big-time UFC pay-per-view.

#2 UFC 208: Holm vs. de Randamie (2017)

UFC 208 featured a dull main event between Holly Holm and Germaine De Randamie

When the UFC first broke into New York in late 2016, they put on one of the greatest shows in promotional history in the form of UFC 205. Unfortunately, the next pay-per-view to take place in the state – Brooklyn’s UFC 208 – was not nearly as successful. On paper, it wasn’t a horrible card; although the main event wasn’t too strong, the likes of Anderson Silva, Jacare Souza, Dustin Poirier, and Glover Teixeira all featured.

In execution though, the show was absolutely terrible. Poirier’s opener against Jim Miller was a solid enough fight, but Teixeira’s clash with Jared Cannonier was a painfully dull fight dominated by the Brazilian on the ground, and while Jacare’s fight at least saw a finish, nobody really needed to see him submit a massively overmatched Tim Boetsch.

Silva’s fight, meanwhile, was a dull outing against Derek Brunson that the judges somehow awarded to ‘The Spider’ despite seeing him stunned by Brunson on multiple occasions. And the main event – the UFC’s inaugural Women’s Featherweight title match between Holly Holm and Germaine de Randamie was even worse; a foul-filled, ugly fight that ended with a questionable decision in favor of ‘The Iron Lady’.

Not only was this show forgettable, but it was also downright tough to watch – a true head-scratcher from the UFC in the early days of the Endeavour ownership that did nothing for any of the fighters involved.

#1 UFC 122: Marquardt vs. Okami (2010)

Dennis Siver's victory over Andre Winner was the lone highlight of UFC 122

We have to go all the way back to 2010 to find the worst ‘numbered’ UFC show of the decade. UFC 122 took place in Oberhausen, Germany, and perhaps the only redeeming feature of the whole show was the fact that – in the US at least – it was shown for free on Spike TV and thus UFC fans weren’t forced to pay for it.

Like many of the UFC’s European efforts, the show was low on star power, with a Middleweight title eliminator between Nate Marquardt and Yushin Okami acting as the headliner and little of note on the undercard. But previous weaker cards on paper had at least delivered in terms of action. UFC 122 simply failed to deliver in every possible way.

The opener featured a bogus decision from the judges, as Duane Ludwig was somehow adjudged to have beaten Nick Osipczak despite suffering two knockdowns, and the following two matches – Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Goran Reljic and Peter Sobotta vs. Amir Sadollah – were fought at a glacial pace and went the distance too.

The fans were treated to a finish in the fourth televised fight; local hero Dennis Siver lit up the crowd with a quick submission of Andre Winner, but things slowed down to a crawl once again for the main event as Okami edged a dull decision over Marquardt. This was a truly diabolical show with essentially no redeeming features, and was by far the worst of 2010.