The UFC’s most anti-climactic moments have shown their faces in a variety of ways. For every unbelievable octagon moment that we witness, there seem to be just as many that leave us feeling let down. We’ve witnessed gruesome injuries, controversial endings, and bizarre situations take place inside the eight-sided cage. Let me share with you five moments where that has been the case.
Anderson Silva saw his sixteen-fight unbeaten streak come to a screeching halt when he got dethroned by the up-and-coming “All American” Chris Weidman. Naturally, a rematch was put in the books as many perceived the fight as a fluke. Silva felt the same, and the rematch was set. This fight was promoted as one of the most anticipated rematches ever, and fans were foaming at the mouth.
To the surprise of everyone, the fight ended in the second round as Silva threw a leg kick that Weidman checked. What followed was one of the nastiest and most gruesome injuries ever seen in the octagon. Silva’s tibia and fibula snapped immediately. Silva would be carried out of the octagon as he was grimacing in pain.
While Weidman might have won back-to-back fights against the consensus ‘greatest middleweight fighter of all time,’ he still doesn’t get the credit from some fans who believe these were a string of bad-luck circumstances. The two were slated to box in November of 2025, but the bout was canceled, and the rivalry feels like we never got a clear conclusion.
To no surprise, Conor McGregor makes my list as a fighter who is the king of capturing an audience and building anticipation for his fights. McGregor and rival Dustin Poirier were matched up for their trilogy fight at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada at UFC 264. The rivalry had seen both fighters finish each other with brutal strikes, and the fans were looking forward to a striker’s delight.
Many expected a back-and-forth affair, but were deeply disappointed when the fight ended in the closing moments of the first round due to a broken leg for McGregor. The Irishman stepped back towards the cage, immediately collapsed, and could not continue. Instead of a clear conclusion to the heated rivalry, we were left with a sense of emptiness and a desire for more.
What is more anti-climactic than a fight card that never takes place? Dan Henderson and Jon Jones were slated to fight for the light heavyweight strap, but Henderson had to pull out due to injury. Insert Chael Sonnen “The American Gangster”. Or not, as Jones elected to turn down the fight on short notice.
President Dana White was furious and decided to scrap the entire event. To this day, it remains the only canceled pay-per-view in the promotion’s history. Yes, many fans were upset for good reason, but the Jones-White conflict stole the headlines. Sonnen came out smelling like roses, as the sports G.O.A.T wanted nothing to do with the wrestler from West Linn, Oregon. Instead of a championship fight, we got drama and public backlash.
I refer to this matchup as the most cursed matchup in UFC history. Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson were pitted to fight on five separate occasions; yes, you heard that correctly, five times. Every time that the UFC tried to make this fight, something went incredibly wrong.
Nurmagomedov couldn’t make the walk on three occasions due to a rib injury, weight cut complications, and being locked down in Russia during the COVID-19 pandemic. Ferguson had his own issues, as he pulled out of the second fight when blood and fluid were found in his lungs and the fourth fight, where he tore his knee ligament while tripping over a cord at the press conference.
At the time when these matchups were put together, many believed that Ferguson possessed the skills and presented the toughest challenge for the unbeatable Dagestani. In 2020, Nurmagomedov retired undefeated and followed through on a promise he had made to his mother to stop fighting (due to his father’s passing). Ferguson had also lost his mystique with a couple of losses, and the thirst for this fight had completely faded. Five years of build-up and promotion, and not a second was shared in the octagon by the two men.
Gracing my list for the second time, McGregor had voiced the greatest comeback in sports history at nauseam. The rematch with Holloway was more than ten years in the making, and the two fighters had grown from UFC newbies to future Hall of Famers. There were plenty of questions that needed to be answered. While many wondered about how Holloway would rebound following his one-sided loss to Charles Oliveira, people also questioned the miles he had put on his body and shots absorbed.
There were far more questions to be answered on the McGregor side of things, though. Who would he be in the octagon following his gruesome injury, and how would he compete with a metal rod in his leg? How would the use of steroids, binge drinking, and five years of not competing play into his ability to perform? Popularity and nostalgia have a funny way of blinding some fans, but I don’t believe many could foresee what would transpire next.
As the fight started, McGregor started by throwing a flying scissor-kick that had him landing with his back foot pointed in the wrong direction. He tried getting back up, and it was visible that he was immediately compromised. We would later find out that McGregor had torn his ACL and meniscus. Anyway, the fight was stopped by the doctor and considered a TKO victory for Holloway after a barrage of punches following a McGregor fall where he was unable to hold himself up. Over eight million people tuned in for this card, specifically to see McGregor, and were left feeling angry, sad, and embarrassed.
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Just like the legendary moments that are cemented in our minds and live on forever as unforgettable moments, the anti-climactic moments do the same. Whether it be injury, a fight that never happens, or an event that gets canceled, these moments remind us about the unpredictability of the sport and that anything can happen, good or bad. The conversation isn’t always about who won or lost. Sometimes it’s about being left unsatisfied and empty. There are no promises.
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