Aug. 26, 2017: Conor McGregor vs. Floyd Mayweather
What started as fantasy became reality, with the UFC co-promoting a boxing match that allowed reigning UFC lightweight champion Conor McGregor to cross over into the world of boxing and take on undefeated superstar [autotag]Floyd Mayweather[/autotag]. Calling it “The Money Fight” was promotional honesty, as cash was the only real goal of the contest, and it delivered both men boatloads of green paper.
In the end, Mayweather did what he was expected to do and earned a 10th-round TKO. It also meant that McGregor would go two years between MMA appearances. Still, it marked one of the biggest moments in the history of MMA, even if it was a boxing match – and a bit of a phony one, at that.
Nov. 25, 2017: UFC hosts first event in mainland China
While this event was memorable as UFC Hall of Famer Michael Bisping’s final fight, it wasn’t so much the card itself that made the night such a massive accomplishment. Western companies across all industries are doing their best to tap into the massive Chinese market, and UFC Fight Night 122 marked the UFC’s initial foray into the mainland, home to some 1.4 billion people.
In the time since, the UFC has opened a Performance Institute in Shanghai and crowned its first Chinese champion, strawweight Zhang Weili. The economic impact of these moves could prove incredibly significant for years to come.
May 8, 2018: UFC announces TV deal with ESPN
While moving off broadcast television and back to cable may seem like a bit of a step down, that changes when ESPN is involved. For sports, the network is clearly the pinnacle, and the financial terms of a five-year deal were massive for the UFC, which ultimately ceded over every last bit of its programming for ESPN to distribute on both digital pay-per-view and subscriptions, as well as through lineal delivery, launching Jan. 1, 2019.
UFC officials have been nothing short of giddy through the first year of the partnership, and the brand’s alignment with the “Worldwide Leader in Sports” is clearly another feather in the cap of a promotion and a sport that battled for years to gain acceptance.
Oct. 6, 2018: Khabib Nurmagomedov submits Conor McGregor at UFC 229
[jwplayer y30zaWDp-RbnemIYZ]
While the post-fight brawl that ensued between the two fighters’ camps left this night with an infamous association, as well, it also marked the crowning of another superstar when Khabib Nurmagomedov submitted Conor McGregor in the fourth round of their heavily hyped clash.
Currently at 28-0, Nurmagomedov has an incredibly marketable undefeated record never before seen at the highest level of the sport (even if Jon Jones has an awfully good case to claim one, as did Fedor Emelianenko at one point). But more than that, his Russian heritage and Muslim beliefs give him ties to several massive fanbases that had not yet necessarily latched on to MMA. Nurmagomedov’s presence is quickly changing that.
Nov. 2, 2019: Jorge Masvidal, Nate Diaz decide who’s ‘BMF’
While the UFC currently awards championship belts in 12 different weight classes, only one man has the right to call himself the “BMF” titleholder: [autotag]Jorge Masvidal[/autotag]. It was Nate Diaz who suggested the UFC 244 matchup with Masvidal was for the title of “baddest mother(expletive) in the game,” and UFC officials agreed, creating a $50,000 custom belt to mark the occasion.
With 31 years of professional fighting experience between them, no moment was bigger for either Masvidal or Diaz than UFC 244. Contested at New York’s famed Madison Square Garden, President Donald Trump was in attendance for the event, a first for an active Commander in Chief. Hollywood luminary Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson was tapped to wrap the belt around the winner. It was a night unique in UFC history and one that company president Dana White insists will never be repeated. Rankings were thrown out in favor of reputation, and two of the toughest men on the planet took center stage to compete for a belt that somehow meant absolutely nothing, and yet also everything.