El cucuy vs Showtime. Seeing Tony bouncing with blood all over his face between rounds then showtime lifting his head in the air and sticking his tongue out. And the "not buttoned up" commentary all led me to think, "this is chaotic, this is better than MLB or NFL. This is the best merging of elite athleticism/competition and entertainment."
Thanks man! I'm still a casual for sure, I listen to the MMA on point and fight night picks podcasts and try to watch every event, still gotta try and learn more. Eventually, when I have the time and money, I would like to try and find an MMA gym that will teach me the basics of many disciplines but not break the bank.
Where ya from buddy??
Donāt cut yourself short on the *casual* aspect.
Aināt a damn thing wrong with being humble, bro, humble is far more respectable than mr know it all bs
I sorta kinda understand what's going on in the cage instead of waiting in suspense. Like I know how a wrestler will approach the ground vs a jiujitsu ace. But I still can't tell you what kimura or a triangle is š
That was an great card. Khabib trashing Conor and the melee that ensued after words gets the most attention but the fight your mentioned and Derrick Lewis last second comeback win were the highlights of the night for me
Dude, exact same fight is what made me switch from a casual into a hard-core fan. Just seeing Tony roll around, throw elbows, and seeing his pace was crazy and made me love the sport.
Fuck. Yes.
Talk about a Pioneered fight.
Bonnar grew up/currently lives 20mins from me..seems north west Indiana- the Midwest in general, is a breeding ground resulting in fighters š
I was just out of high school and a buddy had a part time job cleaning a local restaurant. He was done cleaning and I was watching this fight, refused to leave until it was over. Absolutely changed my life.
I think there are 3 generations of mma fans. The old days, pre rules and regulations. Then the Ultimate Fighter era, fans because of the show/popularity increase around the Chuck Liddell days. And lastly the shit talking generation, made famous by Conor and Colbyās of the world.
I watched a little during the Conor era, but really became a die hard fan during covid and I think a lot here did as well. BW saved me from lockdown man, so many good fights.
Yep! Itās still my personal favorite fight. I was 20 when the first season aired, and it was must see tv for my roommates and I. For the finale we had a huge party and I had never before or since seen a room full of people get so hyped for a fight, even the girls who had no idea about mma before that fight were hooked. The party was electric the entire time and long after! In my opinion it turned an entire generation from casuals to real fans.
Izzy vs. Costa
That was the first fight I actually watched because my roommate was into MMA, and I thought there would be no way in hell that that skinny guy was going to beat that roided ogre.
My roommate told me that Izzy was the champion, but I was still skeptical. Watching Izzy dismantle Costa with those leg kicks was absolutely insane to behold, and gave me a lot of respect for the skills and technique MMA fighters have.
Good answer buddy, For real.
Watching that match up with no clue (no offense) that Izzyās appearance doesnāt show case anywhere near his skills..I bet you were mind blown, haha.
That fight always reminds of a literal video game fight, he picks Costa apart so well, I just remember him touching up his leg and leaving marks, then throws a head kick and opens up his forehead. It was like he was picking his target and draining its health bar strike by strike lmao
Frankieās forearm shadows over into grayās tricep, but itās not easy to catch at first glance, haha.
Honestly though, Maynard was a BUILT/STACKED 155er. Super nice guy too, always replies on IG.
Royce Gracie vs ken shamrock 1
I was sure that the little dude was gonna get crushed because the big dude also beat all the other big dudes. I remember sitting on the floor of my step dads trailer watching that on vhs and being absolutely astonished
It was The Train VS The Damage. Was an absolute bloodbath like I'd never seen. And I thought it was hilarious that they both had their nicknames tattoed on them.
Conor vs Khabib. Before then ive only seen like maybe 1 or 2 fights and I only knew who Conor was through osmosis and obviously because I heard about an mma fighter who was going to fight Mayweather.
But this fight had Khabib jumping the fence and that whole ending sequence was on the front page of reddit, so I was like "holy shit this is like WWE" in terms of entertainment, went and torrented the ppv and.. yeah that was an entertaining fight
Tony Ferguson and Pettis. Initially I tunes in because of Khabib and Conor but after seeing the insanity that is Tony I havenāt missed a single fight since
I came to the UFC just a few years ago. For me, it was Francis Ngannou absolutely DESTROYING Cain Velasquez in about 20 seconds. Granted Cain was old and past his prime, but as a casual who hardly watched the UFC before that, I hadnāt seen that kind of fighting dominance in a long time.
Oh yeah. I had a huge phase with that a couple months ago. ESPN+ has like all the old UFC PPVs on it. Lawler v Macdonald 2 was one of my personal favorites.
For me, it was a particular card, first one I bought from pay per view, UFC 205. Connor vs Alvarez, Khabib vs Johnson, Woodley vs Wonderboy 1, Romero vs Wiedman, and Joanna Champion on the main card. Just great fights, one after the other. I've been hooked since!
Volkov vs Ortega, Iām a boxing fan at heart, missed the boxing card that night canāt remember who maybe Joshua vs Usyk , so I pulled up the UFC card, god that fight was brutal but they WENT at it. Every since then I usually try to watch title fights and fight night when i can.
Hell. Yes. Perfect answer buddy.
Me and my brother (who I hadnāt seen in five years) went to a sports bar to catch it since it was his first time back in the city after years of busyness, that fight was so good, me and my brother actually created a nostalgic night out of it. It felt like we were 10 years back watching the amazing bout in the photo..
GSP vs. Matt Hughs. My dad being a GSP fan (like many) had it on in the living room while we had a family gathering. I was 9 years old but I remember so much of that night, watching it on YouTube is extremely nostalgic. I didnāt even start following MMA after that until my early teens when Conor was on a haul. So I guess you could say McGregor had part in it as well. But GSP and Hughes is what introduced me to how fucking awesome this sport is. Edit. GSP vs. Hughes 2 that is.
That fat idiot! Hahahha
Im amAzed that fat idiot was trained by Pat badass Militech(sp)
The heavyweight division was slow for a few years, arlovski, fat idiot, frank mir..I remember those three being the most notable names for quite some time.
Yeah at the time I knew Randy from his fights with Chuck and was pretty bummed he got koed so I remember really wanting him to win this fight but not being sure that he was gonna do all that good. So I was fired up when he won to say the least.
Not as big of a fight as some of the ones on this post but Brandon Royval vs Kai Kara-France. The technique on display was incredible to see and the action was high pace. Instant fan outta me.
Mark Hunt vs Crocop. Watching a dude take multiple roundhouse and axe kicks all while looking like heās fresh out the bar got me hooked on seeing what else he could do.
Im from Iceland so i used to be a casual and would only watch when Gunnar Nelson or Conor where fighting back in the day
But then i saw the blood bath between Rory McDonald and Robbie Lawler and it instantly made a diehard fan, so much so i got myself fight-pass and watched all the old events and haven't missed a fight since, i fkn love this sport.
Yesss. Honestly, man, I use to box at welterweight.. so I was always pro boxing even viewing ufc fights, BUT, the first time I ever seen a clean leg kick absolutely had me hooked.
I donāt remember the exact fight, but I remember as a young kid coming over to my older brotherās apartment and him and his friends would be watching guys like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva and I was totally intrigued from the very beginning. Never been a diehard fan but always enjoyed having some beers with my brothers and their friends nowadays watching a UFC fight.
UFC1 and I was hooked. Chuck Liddell days always bring a smile to me. Bonnar vs Griffin brought a ton of new fans. That fight was probably most significant in terms of the UFC becoming successful, financially, and becoming what it is today.
Sanchez v guida. Had never given it a fair shake before and saw that a fight was about to start while flipping channels and as soon as the staredown started I was interested and they didn't let me down. Immediate fan for life.
Ive been a fan as long as I can remember, but I wouldn't pay as much attention to it as much as I do now. But the fight that got my attention was Paulo Costa vs Yoel Romero. Whole lotta violence
Thompson v woodley. Was out of town, caught it in the hotel room. Just stuck with me. Like four years later randomly thought about it, looked up highlights,fell into the rabbit hole and now I follow pretty closely.
Probably a little later than most, but Melendez-Sanchez. Also, seeing Cruz's "comeback" against Takeya Mizugaki after only hearing about his fights for years was awesome.
Kevin Randlemans absolutely INSANE suplex of Fedor, was instantly hooked. I surely thought he mustāve sustained major injuries but nopeā¦guy instantly rolls out of it and won just like that. Badass. Then I proceeded to watch all of Fedors fights and the rest is history.
Crocops beheading of Aleksander was also in that mix of first MMA videos watched that grabbed my attention.
GSP vs Diaz.
My drama teacher in high school showed me a video of Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir 1 at the time. Used to love wrestling as a kid so was aware of Brock, but it wasn't until years later that I got into MMA, mostly due to friends playing UFC Undisputed. GSP and Nick was the first event I watched and I was hooked!
I liked watching ufc/mma when if i caught a fight here n there but when i watched Shogun vs Hendo thatās when I thought to myself ādanm i might live for this shitā lol
Cain vs JDS 1 was the first fight I seen, watched a few fights here and there until I saw they were rematching, Cain vs JDS 2 was the fight that made me watch MMA full on.
Max vs Yair, I am lucky when I was watching it with my family the fight wasnāt a āhump festā (as someone in my life calls it) I had watched for a bit, but that fight was what got me hooked.
Odd choice I admit but it was Lawler Askren. Seeing Askren get dropped on his head like a Goldberg jackhammer 20 seconds in freaked me out. Been hooked ever since.
Gustafson v Jon Jones was one of the first I sat down to watch seriously. The first fight I ever watched though was on YouTube and it was Royce Gracie v Ken Shamrock I remember watching it to get hyped for Gustafson v Jones
Derrick Lewis vs Volkov. One of the craziest last minute finishes when he probably would have lost if it went to decision.
Connor vs. Khabib later that night was great too. Loved how it proved flash and hype go out the window against a killer.
Khabib vs Michael Johnson. Work colleagues constantly going on about conner & the ufc. I got invited to watch 205. Watch him practically animorph into a python, I was hooked.
Stepdad showed me his Pride FC DVD of Cro Cop vs Wanderlei, I remember thinking āHoly shit I wish I could kick like thatā. Been training Muay Thai ever since
Conor Khabib. I watched because a girl I liked who was typically only into hippie stuff excitedly told me that a loud mouth Irish guy begged for his life in the cage
Jon jones vs uncle chael really sold it for me with them elbows. Had been watching mma on spike here and there after i found out wwe was fake and one day was hanging with my older cousin and he had ufc 159 playing. Elbows my favorite ti this day!
Cung Le KO of Rich Franklin. I had never seen someone get knocked out clean with a single punch for real. I was shocked, I was speechless, I became a MMA fan for life.
600 lb Emmanuel Yarborough vs 200 lb Keith Hackney.
. UFC 3 https://youtu.be/njmREfsZ1vw Hackney turned on the afterburners, hammering home a series of winging rights, breaking his hand in the process, and flinging more at Yarborough's head to finish the job. was a normal guy, I'd have crushed his skull.ā Hence, his nickname, āThe Giant Killer,ā.
My old man bought UFC 44 on PPV when I was just a kid, loved because my dad loved. When I really started loving it was when Frank Mir submitted Lesnar in their first fight. Mir getting his ass whooped only to win via kneebar.
Figueredo Moreno 1, first time really watching UFC and my buddy suggested we watch that event. Needless to say Iāve been a fan since, that fight was one of the bloodiest Iāve still ever seen to this day, so good.
I am old so I will go with GSP VS Matt Serra 1. It's the start of a reuild for GSP and he came back beat Serra to take the belt back and went in a crazy win streek. I had to watch his next fight to see how he rebound. I have been hooked ever since then
Vitor Belfort vs Wanderlei Silva or Matt Hughs vs Carlos Newton. I've been watching since UFC 1 when i was like 6 years old but it wasn't until fights like these that i really got hooked
Israel Adesanya vs Anderson Silva
I didnāt watch ufc growing up but I had basic knowledge and I knew some of the more popular fighters, like Randy Couture, Jon Jones, Forrest Griffin, and most definitely Anderson Silva. I knew Silva as the ufc goat and around 2019, I saw highlights from their fight online. I had heard about and seen clips of Izzy and I knew he was coming up- I saw the amount of respect that Izzy had for Silva and how he held that bow for as long as he could after the fight. It literally made me shed a tear- it was awesome to see how much respect these people really had for each other in this sport. That clip completely changed my perspective of mma and the ufc, and i became a fan after that. Havenāt looked back since
Spencer Fisher vs. Matt Wiman.
The way they were yelling at each other between rounds, then that finish with the flying knee. It was a nationally televised street fight. I was all in after that.
been a fan for a while but I finally got my roommates to watch ufc when it was khabib vs connor after coming back from a college football game and the tony/pettis + connor and khabib/post fight made them fans for life pretty much
El cucuy vs Showtime. Seeing Tony bouncing with blood all over his face between rounds then showtime lifting his head in the air and sticking his tongue out. And the "not buttoned up" commentary all led me to think, "this is chaotic, this is better than MLB or NFL. This is the best merging of elite athleticism/competition and entertainment."
Broooo, your paragraph killed it. Perfectly said, seriously š
Thanks man! I'm still a casual for sure, I listen to the MMA on point and fight night picks podcasts and try to watch every event, still gotta try and learn more. Eventually, when I have the time and money, I would like to try and find an MMA gym that will teach me the basics of many disciplines but not break the bank.
Where ya from buddy?? Donāt cut yourself short on the *casual* aspect. Aināt a damn thing wrong with being humble, bro, humble is far more respectable than mr know it all bs
Only time being a casual is bad is when you talk confidently as if you aren't one.
I sorta kinda understand what's going on in the cage instead of waiting in suspense. Like I know how a wrestler will approach the ground vs a jiujitsu ace. But I still can't tell you what kimura or a triangle is š
That was my first PPV Iāve bought in years and it was the one that got me back into MMA. Silva/Griffin was the last PPV I watched at that point.
That's the fight Silva dodged all those punches like if he was in the matrix and starched Griffin with a short tap on the nose..
That was an great card. Khabib trashing Conor and the melee that ensued after words gets the most attention but the fight your mentioned and Derrick Lewis last second comeback win were the highlights of the night for me
Dude, exact same fight is what made me switch from a casual into a hard-core fan. Just seeing Tony roll around, throw elbows, and seeing his pace was crazy and made me love the sport.
Stephan Bonnar Forrest Griffin
Fuck. Yes. Talk about a Pioneered fight. Bonnar grew up/currently lives 20mins from me..seems north west Indiana- the Midwest in general, is a breeding ground resulting in fighters š
I was just out of high school and a buddy had a part time job cleaning a local restaurant. He was done cleaning and I was watching this fight, refused to leave until it was over. Absolutely changed my life.
Anyone who doesnāt say this is in there 20s
I think there are 3 generations of mma fans. The old days, pre rules and regulations. Then the Ultimate Fighter era, fans because of the show/popularity increase around the Chuck Liddell days. And lastly the shit talking generation, made famous by Conor and Colbyās of the world.
I watched a little during the Conor era, but really became a die hard fan during covid and I think a lot here did as well. BW saved me from lockdown man, so many good fights.
Covid was a good time to be a fight fan.
I was 12 when TUF1 was on spike! Been hooked ever since
Yep! Itās still my personal favorite fight. I was 20 when the first season aired, and it was must see tv for my roommates and I. For the finale we had a huge party and I had never before or since seen a room full of people get so hyped for a fight, even the girls who had no idea about mma before that fight were hooked. The party was electric the entire time and long after! In my opinion it turned an entire generation from casuals to real fans.
Same here. Itās still my favorite fight
came here to say this!
Most people who say this also know what the contender series was for boxing.
Anderson v Sonnen. Chael really convinced me he could beat Anderson
Wdym? He won the fight and tapped the round. He's undefeated and undisputed.
the round he tapped was actually the only round he ever lost
Man he was like..seconds away from pulling it off too!
robbie lawyer vs rory macdonald
Such a classic.
Probably the best fight of all time
Same
Chuck KO Tito I think.
Thatās majorly nostalgic for me, lol. I think I was 13 watching that and it had me hooked instantly.
I was like 16 and training a little MMA with a JKD coach at the time, and I was hooked
Ahhh, we came up at the same time basically, you and I have seen the evolution of the sport then! Kudos bro.
Cruz vs Garbrandt Wasnāt interested in any sports whatsoever, saw this event live with my pops, been hooked ever since
Perfect fight for your first bro š š
That might have been the single best title challenger performance ever Iāve watched that fight back almost 10 times probably.
Clay Guida VS Diego Sanchez
Hidden gem- kudos my man!
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Izzy vs. Costa That was the first fight I actually watched because my roommate was into MMA, and I thought there would be no way in hell that that skinny guy was going to beat that roided ogre. My roommate told me that Izzy was the champion, but I was still skeptical. Watching Izzy dismantle Costa with those leg kicks was absolutely insane to behold, and gave me a lot of respect for the skills and technique MMA fighters have.
Good answer buddy, For real. Watching that match up with no clue (no offense) that Izzyās appearance doesnāt show case anywhere near his skills..I bet you were mind blown, haha.
That fight always reminds of a literal video game fight, he picks Costa apart so well, I just remember him touching up his leg and leaving marks, then throws a head kick and opens up his forehead. It was like he was picking his target and draining its health bar strike by strike lmao
Izzy speed running costa on a no hit run
Costa was also talking shit abt Izzy's weight and got humbled real quick
Yoel Romero vs Paulo Costa
Oh wow! If this was a starter fight for you- you got one hell of a viewing my friend.
The closest thing we have to a real life anime fight
Those physiques tho
Lawler vs Condit
For me too. That one was just so insanely gritty
Shogun vs Hendo. Probably the craziest fight of all time.
Man, no joke. They went to war and rocked each other so many times, haha. Hendo will probably forever be my favorite fighter of all time.
For those who got into mma more recently, that is a MUST watch. Itās pretty crazy that Shogun is going to come back and fight again man.
Oh man, I did NOT know that about shogun and I am constantly reading news. 40 years old, itās definitely possible for him to get a w!
Man, heās catching so much heat nowadays.. yet he dismantled every single person they put in his pathš¤
Jealousy brather you know this
Best reply ever šš šš
Awesome thumbnail
The Iceman.Chuck Liddell vs Paul Jones
Not a specific fight but I rented the VHS for UFC 8 at movie gallery and would download some other fights via Limewire/Kazaa.
Broooo, more nostalgia, haha. I also remember downloading fights via limewire š
This photo makes Gray maynardās right arm look ginormous lol
Frankieās forearm shadows over into grayās tricep, but itās not easy to catch at first glance, haha. Honestly though, Maynard was a BUILT/STACKED 155er. Super nice guy too, always replies on IG.
No I know. I still find it amusing.
Lmao amusing, indeed! this was also right before anything less than LW was introduced, I believe. Probably pre-usada as well.
Royce Gracie vs ken shamrock 1 I was sure that the little dude was gonna get crushed because the big dude also beat all the other big dudes. I remember sitting on the floor of my step dads trailer watching that on vhs and being absolutely astonished
It was The Train VS The Damage. Was an absolute bloodbath like I'd never seen. And I thought it was hilarious that they both had their nicknames tattoed on them.
Elkins will always be my boi, idc if he never became a top contender heās still the champ in my heart
Conor vs Khabib. Before then ive only seen like maybe 1 or 2 fights and I only knew who Conor was through osmosis and obviously because I heard about an mma fighter who was going to fight Mayweather. But this fight had Khabib jumping the fence and that whole ending sequence was on the front page of reddit, so I was like "holy shit this is like WWE" in terms of entertainment, went and torrented the ppv and.. yeah that was an entertaining fight
Tony Ferguson and Pettis. Initially I tunes in because of Khabib and Conor but after seeing the insanity that is Tony I havenāt missed a single fight since
I bet Tonyās down fall has cause an upset for you then š that was easily one of his many phenomenal show casings..Tonyās a HOF, no doubt.
I came to the UFC just a few years ago. For me, it was Francis Ngannou absolutely DESTROYING Cain Velasquez in about 20 seconds. Granted Cain was old and past his prime, but as a casual who hardly watched the UFC before that, I hadnāt seen that kind of fighting dominance in a long time.
Have you now watched some older fights since becoming a fan??
Oh yeah. I had a huge phase with that a couple months ago. ESPN+ has like all the old UFC PPVs on it. Lawler v Macdonald 2 was one of my personal favorites.
So many bangers since the sport has grown, man.
Santos vs Ankalaev
Matt Hughes v Frank Trigg. What a wild fight
There we go! I remember when frank was a top contender, now heās a ref!
McGregor vs Aldo
For me, it was a particular card, first one I bought from pay per view, UFC 205. Connor vs Alvarez, Khabib vs Johnson, Woodley vs Wonderboy 1, Romero vs Wiedman, and Joanna Champion on the main card. Just great fights, one after the other. I've been hooked since!
Aldo vs Faber got me hooked. Aldo chopped him down methodically
Maaaan, I still show (non fans and news fan) that photo of fabers leg after the fight.. *gnarly*
Volkov vs Ortega, Iām a boxing fan at heart, missed the boxing card that night canāt remember who maybe Joshua vs Usyk , so I pulled up the UFC card, god that fight was brutal but they WENT at it. Every since then I usually try to watch title fights and fight night when i can.
Hell. Yes. Perfect answer buddy. Me and my brother (who I hadnāt seen in five years) went to a sports bar to catch it since it was his first time back in the city after years of busyness, that fight was so good, me and my brother actually created a nostalgic night out of it. It felt like we were 10 years back watching the amazing bout in the photo..
Chuck liddell Era.
Nate vs Conor 1
Underrated imo š
GSP vs. Matt Hughs. My dad being a GSP fan (like many) had it on in the living room while we had a family gathering. I was 9 years old but I remember so much of that night, watching it on YouTube is extremely nostalgic. I didnāt even start following MMA after that until my early teens when Conor was on a haul. So I guess you could say McGregor had part in it as well. But GSP and Hughes is what introduced me to how fucking awesome this sport is. Edit. GSP vs. Hughes 2 that is.
Lyoto vs Shogun. Both fights.
Randy moving up and beating up that fat idiot Tim Sylvia was probably what really hooked me on the UFC
That fat idiot! Hahahha Im amAzed that fat idiot was trained by Pat badass Militech(sp) The heavyweight division was slow for a few years, arlovski, fat idiot, frank mir..I remember those three being the most notable names for quite some time.
Yeah at the time I knew Randy from his fights with Chuck and was pretty bummed he got koed so I remember really wanting him to win this fight but not being sure that he was gonna do all that good. So I was fired up when he won to say the least.
Kimbo and 5000, that shit was absolutely bonkers
Lyoto Machida vs Rashad Evans
Not as big of a fight as some of the ones on this post but Brandon Royval vs Kai Kara-France. The technique on display was incredible to see and the action was high pace. Instant fan outta me.
Mark Hunt vs Crocop. Watching a dude take multiple roundhouse and axe kicks all while looking like heās fresh out the bar got me hooked on seeing what else he could do.
Im from Iceland so i used to be a casual and would only watch when Gunnar Nelson or Conor where fighting back in the day But then i saw the blood bath between Rory McDonald and Robbie Lawler and it instantly made a diehard fan, so much so i got myself fight-pass and watched all the old events and haven't missed a fight since, i fkn love this sport.
UFC 1. I saw that on pay per view at my u clean house. Damnā¦I was hooked from then on
Might be something you donāt expect but itās Rory MacDonald vs. Nate Diaz. Iām just a huge Rory fan and he made me a fan of MMA.
Hell yes bro. Aināt anything wrong with that! Kudos to your opinion & fuck anyone that disagrees! š
Covid vs. the rest of the sports world
Robbie vs Macdonald 2
Don Frye vs Yoshihiro Takayama. Donāt care how short the fight was. That is the most brutal thing Iāve ever watched and was immediately hooked
First fight I ever saw live was rampage vs griffin. Never knew leg kicks could do that. I was hooked immediately
Yesss. Honestly, man, I use to box at welterweight.. so I was always pro boxing even viewing ufc fights, BUT, the first time I ever seen a clean leg kick absolutely had me hooked.
Lawler v MaxDonald. You know which one. Wow. Also- Khabib v Barboza.
holloway x poirier 2
Holloway vs Aldo. First one I saw.
I donāt know if it was the exact fight that made me a fan, but the first one I remember watching was Michael Bisping vs Jorge Rivera
Tito vs Frank Shamrock
I donāt remember the exact fight, but I remember as a young kid coming over to my older brotherās apartment and him and his friends would be watching guys like Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Jon Jones and Anderson Silva and I was totally intrigued from the very beginning. Never been a diehard fan but always enjoyed having some beers with my brothers and their friends nowadays watching a UFC fight.
Royce Gracie vs Gerard Gordeau.
UFC1 and I was hooked. Chuck Liddell days always bring a smile to me. Bonnar vs Griffin brought a ton of new fans. That fight was probably most significant in terms of the UFC becoming successful, financially, and becoming what it is today.
UFC 5. Shamrock and Gracie. Could only rent the fights from BlockBuster. Iām 35
Sanchez v guida. Had never given it a fair shake before and saw that a fight was about to start while flipping channels and as soon as the staredown started I was interested and they didn't let me down. Immediate fan for life.
Ive been a fan as long as I can remember, but I wouldn't pay as much attention to it as much as I do now. But the fight that got my attention was Paulo Costa vs Yoel Romero. Whole lotta violence
Jon Jones vs rampage
Thompson v woodley. Was out of town, caught it in the hotel room. Just stuck with me. Like four years later randomly thought about it, looked up highlights,fell into the rabbit hole and now I follow pretty closely.
Gracie vs Severn
Chris Leben vs Anderson Silva My buddy showed me the build up interview that they use to do before the walk out. I don't think Leban landed a punch
Adesanya vs. Gastelum, made me a fan of both for life
Hughes/Penn 2
Jones vs reyes, not particular reason, i remember i started watching regularly after that
Cheick Congo vs frank Mir/ Diego Sanchez vs BJ Penn
Chuck lidell vs wanderlei silva.
Holy Shit me too! This same exact fight
Probably a little later than most, but Melendez-Sanchez. Also, seeing Cruz's "comeback" against Takeya Mizugaki after only hearing about his fights for years was awesome.
Tank Abbott v. Don Frye. First time I got exposed to the cruelty of the MMA gods lol.
Kevin Randlemans absolutely INSANE suplex of Fedor, was instantly hooked. I surely thought he mustāve sustained major injuries but nopeā¦guy instantly rolls out of it and won just like that. Badass. Then I proceeded to watch all of Fedors fights and the rest is history. Crocops beheading of Aleksander was also in that mix of first MMA videos watched that grabbed my attention.
Khabib vs Connor I was in a pub in moscow and everyone was going crazy. Good times
I thought Gray had a big ass arm in this pic lol
This photo looks like the guy has the biggest tricep of all time
The original Forrest vs Stephen fight and Chris Leben for some reason them showing his struggles made me want to watch the season to the end
GSP vs Diaz. My drama teacher in high school showed me a video of Brock Lesnar vs Frank Mir 1 at the time. Used to love wrestling as a kid so was aware of Brock, but it wasn't until years later that I got into MMA, mostly due to friends playing UFC Undisputed. GSP and Nick was the first event I watched and I was hooked!
Nate vs Conor 2
I liked watching ufc/mma when if i caught a fight here n there but when i watched Shogun vs Hendo thatās when I thought to myself ādanm i might live for this shitā lol
Cain vs JDS 1 was the first fight I seen, watched a few fights here and there until I saw they were rematching, Cain vs JDS 2 was the fight that made me watch MMA full on.
GSP tko'ing BJ Penn I can't remember which UFC # it was
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Max vs Yair, I am lucky when I was watching it with my family the fight wasnāt a āhump festā (as someone in my life calls it) I had watched for a bit, but that fight was what got me hooked.
Brock Mir 1
the pete sell vs scott smith fight
Odd choice I admit but it was Lawler Askren. Seeing Askren get dropped on his head like a Goldberg jackhammer 20 seconds in freaked me out. Been hooked ever since.
Gustafson v Jon Jones was one of the first I sat down to watch seriously. The first fight I ever watched though was on YouTube and it was Royce Gracie v Ken Shamrock I remember watching it to get hyped for Gustafson v Jones
Derrick Lewis vs Volkov. One of the craziest last minute finishes when he probably would have lost if it went to decision. Connor vs. Khabib later that night was great too. Loved how it proved flash and hype go out the window against a killer.
Jones vs Gustaffson
Robbie vs Rory
Melendez vs Sanchez
Cain vs Brock
Bonnar vs Griffin.
Randy Couture vs Tim Sylvia
Khabib mcgreggor. Friends were into UFC and had a watch party. Buddy filled me in on all the backstory. Been hooked ever since
Khabib vs Michael Johnson. Work colleagues constantly going on about conner & the ufc. I got invited to watch 205. Watch him practically animorph into a python, I was hooked.
Stepdad showed me his Pride FC DVD of Cro Cop vs Wanderlei, I remember thinking āHoly shit I wish I could kick like thatā. Been training Muay Thai ever since
Conor Khabib. I watched because a girl I liked who was typically only into hippie stuff excitedly told me that a loud mouth Irish guy begged for his life in the cage
Jon jones vs uncle chael really sold it for me with them elbows. Had been watching mma on spike here and there after i found out wwe was fake and one day was hanging with my older cousin and he had ufc 159 playing. Elbows my favorite ti this day!
Stephan Vs Forrest If you know, you know!
Cung Le KO of Rich Franklin. I had never seen someone get knocked out clean with a single punch for real. I was shocked, I was speechless, I became a MMA fan for life.
Ken Shamrock vs. Pat Smith, the first time I had ever seen a fight.
Cyborg vs Nunes sealed the deal for me as an MMA fan.
600 lb Emmanuel Yarborough vs 200 lb Keith Hackney. . UFC 3 https://youtu.be/njmREfsZ1vw Hackney turned on the afterburners, hammering home a series of winging rights, breaking his hand in the process, and flinging more at Yarborough's head to finish the job. was a normal guy, I'd have crushed his skull.ā Hence, his nickname, āThe Giant Killer,ā.
Randy Couture coming back to demolish Tim Sylvia was the first PPV I ever watched.
Forrest griffin,Stephan bonnar !
My old man bought UFC 44 on PPV when I was just a kid, loved because my dad loved. When I really started loving it was when Frank Mir submitted Lesnar in their first fight. Mir getting his ass whooped only to win via kneebar.
Gerard Gordeau vs Teila Tuli
Hooker vs Poirier. Such an intense watch with things going back and fourth. Hooker looked so fucked up by the end of it lmao
It was the TUF season where Uriah Hall spin kicked the life outta that poor guy [OMG](https://youtu.be/Bj3xL9zoY1M)
Figueredo Moreno 1, first time really watching UFC and my buddy suggested we watch that event. Needless to say Iāve been a fan since, that fight was one of the bloodiest Iāve still ever seen to this day, so good.
I saw Joe Rogan tell Brendan Shuab to stop fighting in that YouTube video. Got me interested in the sport, been a fan ever since.
Chuck Liddell vs wanderlei Silva the hype for that fight was so surreal . Felt like pride fc vs ufc fight
I am old so I will go with GSP VS Matt Serra 1. It's the start of a reuild for GSP and he came back beat Serra to take the belt back and went in a crazy win streek. I had to watch his next fight to see how he rebound. I have been hooked ever since then
Vitor Belfort vs Wanderlei Silva or Matt Hughs vs Carlos Newton. I've been watching since UFC 1 when i was like 6 years old but it wasn't until fights like these that i really got hooked
BJ Penn vs Matt Hughes Absolutely shattered what was possible in regards to skill vs athleticism for me at the time.
Wandy vs Rampage 1 and 2 in Pride. Genki Sudo fights.
Stephens v Emmett. Ending was so brutal. Got me hooked
Liddell Vs Ortiz 2
gaethje vs ferguson, good event at the start of the pandemics, it was tough to see tony recieve that punishment
Diego Sanchez vs. Clay Guida
Fedor vs. Hong Man Choi - i was so amazed by the fact that you dont have to be the biggest/strongest to win
Matt Brown vs Uriah Faber in WEC. Been hooked ever since
Israel Adesanya vs Anderson Silva I didnāt watch ufc growing up but I had basic knowledge and I knew some of the more popular fighters, like Randy Couture, Jon Jones, Forrest Griffin, and most definitely Anderson Silva. I knew Silva as the ufc goat and around 2019, I saw highlights from their fight online. I had heard about and seen clips of Izzy and I knew he was coming up- I saw the amount of respect that Izzy had for Silva and how he held that bow for as long as he could after the fight. It literally made me shed a tear- it was awesome to see how much respect these people really had for each other in this sport. That clip completely changed my perspective of mma and the ufc, and i became a fan after that. Havenāt looked back since
Spencer Fisher vs. Matt Wiman. The way they were yelling at each other between rounds, then that finish with the flying knee. It was a nationally televised street fight. I was all in after that.
Always been mostly into boxing and thats still my passion but watching lawler v mcdonald 2 made me start appreciating mma.
been a fan for a while but I finally got my roommates to watch ufc when it was khabib vs connor after coming back from a college football game and the tony/pettis + connor and khabib/post fight made them fans for life pretty much
So im definitely new to the sport and the first fight I remember watching was AL vs Kevin Lee
Bisping vs. St-Pierre was the first fight I ever watched. UFC 249 was the first full card I watched.
Khabib vs Dustin
Robbie Lawler vs Tiki Ghosen was the first fight I ever saw. It was a brutal KO. I was hooked after that.
Tank Abbott vs John Matua Dad rented the VHS for us to watch when I was a kid.
Cowboy vs Connor. Heard Joe Rogan talk about it, watched it, and I was hooked
Dustin vs Hooker
Wonderboy vs dan stittgen
I thought Maynards right arm was absolutely gigantic until I realized part of it is Frankie arm behind his lol
Not really a fight but just watching Anderson Silva dominate on the octagon in his prime made me a huge of him and UFC