The Best UFC Cards of the Last 10 Years

The UFC has produced some unforgettable events over the last 10 years, but some stand head and shoulders above the rest.

Some of those all-time great events were expected to be blockbusters, with lineups featuring the likes of Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz, Khabib Nurmagomedov and Georges St-Pierre. Others came as surprises, though, delivering unforgettable action in spite of last-minute lineup changes and a lack of big-name stars.  

Where will the promotion's planned May 9 card, which is expected to end its brief, coronavirus-related hiatus, rank among the best cards of the last 10 years? That remains to be seen, but the bar is certainly high.

Keep scrolling for our favorite events of the last decade. 

Forget the last decade: UFC 189 might be the greatest UFC card of all time. 

The event, which went down in Las Vegas, was supposed to be headlined by a featherweight title fight between then-champion Jose Aldo and challenger Conor McGregor.

When Aldo was forced out of the fight with a rib injury, however, McGregor accepted a short-notice interim title fight with Chad Mendes. The Irishman ended up winning via a second-round TKO, getting his hands on UFC gold for the first time.

That’s not all UFC 189 had to offer, though.

The co-main event of the card, a welterweight title fight between then-champ Robbie Lawler and challenger Rory MacDonald, is still regarded by many fans and pundits as one of the greatest UFC fights of all time.

Though Lawler won with a decisive, fifth-round TKO, the action was as competitive as it gets until the finish.

Other highlights included a war between Jeremy Stephens and Dennis Bermudez, which Stephens won via a late KO, and highlight-reel finishes from fighters like Gunnar Nelson, Thomas Almeida, and Matt Brown.

You’re going to see Conor McGregor’s name a lot over the course of this article.  

That’s partly due to his individual handiwork—he has a propensity for unforgettable fights—but also because the UFC often puts him in the main event of its most important cards. UFC 205 was one of those.

It marked the UFC’s long-awaited debut in New York City, after a longstanding battle to get MMA legalized in New York State, and the promotion stacked the lineup accordingly. 

In the main event, McGregor, still the featherweight champion, battled lightweight titleholder Eddie Alvarez in a bid to become the first concurrent two-division champ in UFC history. The Irish star succeeded on his mission, earning immortality with a dazzling second-round KO.

The card was co-headlined by a welterweight title fight between former champ Tyron Woodley and his challenger Stephen Thompson. Although this fight ended with an unsatisfying majority draw, it was a thrilling contest complete with plenty of momentum swings. 

Elsewhere on the main card, we saw Joanna Jedrzejczyk defend the UFC strawweight title with a decision win over fellow undefeated Pole, Karolina Kowalkiewicz.

Elsewhere, Yoel Romero asserted himself as a legitimate middleweight contender with a rocket-fuelled, flying knee KO of former champ Chris Weidman, while Miesha Tate retired after a decision loss to Raquel Pennington.

The undercard included Frankie Edgar’s exciting decision win over Jeremy Stephens, and Khabib Nurmagomedov’s infamous submission win over Michael Johnson—you know, the one where he kept telling Johnson to "give up" as he pelted him with ground-and-pound.

Unlike UFC 189 and UFC 205, UFC 139 didn’t look to be an all-time great card from the early vantage point, but the San Jose event sure ended up being one.

The event was headlined by a light heavyweight showdown between former Pride stars Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and Dan Henderson, who had somehow managed to avoid each other until that point despite having similar career trajectories. 

This fight ended up going down as one of the greatest wars in UFC history—it was later inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame—as the two light heavyweights pelted each other into unrecognizable purple blobs for five frenzied rounds. In the end, the judges gave the win to Henderson by unanimous decision, but that verdict is still debated to this day.

Amazingly, Henderson vs. Shogun wasn't the only all-time great war on this card. In the co-main event, Pride legend Wanderlei Silva picked up a second-round TKO win over Strikeforce veteran Cung Le in a thrilling slugfest. As a result, this is one of the rare cards in UFC history that produced two Fight of the Night awards, rather than just one.

To top it all off, UFC 139 also featured some great finishes from Urijah Faber, Ryan Bader and Chris Weidman. Suffice it to say it was a good one.  

UFC 199, which took place in Inglewood, California, was expected to be headlined by a middleweight title rematch between then-champ Luke Rockhold, and the man he won the title from, Chris Weidman. When Weidman was forced out of the fight with an injury, though, he was replaced by Michael Bisping. 

By that point, Bisping had been chasing a UFC title for an eternity but had never managed to make it happen. While many fans were excited to see the veteran get the opportunity, he had been decisively beaten by Rockhold less than two years prior, so his chances didn’t look good.

Bisping ended up producing one of the greatest upsets in UFC history, hammering Rockhold to a first-round knockout to get his first taste of UFC gold. And that’s not all this card had to offer. 

While Dominick Cruz’s co-main event decision win over Urijah Faber wasn’t exactly a show-stopper, Max Holloway’s main card decision win over Ricardo Lamas absolutely was. So, too, was the UFC 199 undercard scrap between Polo Reyes and Dong Hyun Ma, which the former won by KO. Dan Henderson’s insane, elbow-induced knockout of Hector Lombard is something most fans will never forget, either.

This card had a bit of everything: historic upsets, wild wars and devastating finishes. It doesn’t get much better.

Not long after Conor McGregor experienced his first UFC loss at the hands of Nate Diaz at UFC 196—an all-time great card in its own right—he was given a shot at redemption. The rematch headlined the UFC 202 card in Las Vegas.

While McGregor was submitted in his first fight with Diaz, the pair ended up engaging in an all-out war in their rematch, with the Irishman ultimately earning a controversial majority-decision win.

Having moved to 1-1 in his rivalry with Diaz, McGregor laid the groundwork for a big-money trilogy fight with his rival. Amazingly, it still hasn’t happened.

Outside of the McGregor vs. Diaz rematch, UFC 202 also featured a devastating knockout win from light heavyweight wrecking ball Anthony “Rumble” Johnson. On this card, Rumble’s victim was former title challenger Glover Teixeira, who he sent to the shadow realm with a destructive uppercut just 13 seconds into the first round.

Speaking of highlight-reel finishes, UFC 202 also included one of the best wins ever from future McGregor opponent Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone. On the main card, Cowboy squared off with welterweight veteran Rick Story. The fan-favorite ended up winning this fight with one of the slickest combos in UFC history: first a jab, then a sizzling cross to the body, then a left hook, and finally a kick to the noggin. All it took was a few follow-up strikes to seal the deal.

Other UFC 202 highlights? The UFC debut of “Platinum” Mike Perry, who beat the brakes off Hyun Gyu Lim, and a savage, first-round KO from future bantamweight champ Cody Garbrandt, who laid it on Japanese veteran Takeya Mizugaki.

It might be debatable to include UFC 202 on this list, but not the card that set it up: UFC 196, which was also staged in Las Vegas.

UFC 196 was originally supposed to be headlined by a lightweight title fight between champ Rafael dos Anjos and challenger Conor McGregor, who held the featherweight belt at the time.

When Dos Anjos sustained an injury, however, Nate Diaz stepped in to replace him on just 11 days’ notice. He and McGregor agreed to fight at welterweight, rather than featherweight.

Diaz ended up authoring one of the greatest upsets in UFC history, rocking McGregor on the feet and then finishing him off with a rear-naked choke in Round 2. The win kick-started one of the greatest rivalries in modern MMA history—one that still hasn’t been settled.

UFC 196 also featured a title win from Miesha Tate. Like Michael Bisping before UFC 199, she had long been chasing UFC gold but had yet to make it happen.

For most of her UFC 196 fight with then-champ Holly Holm, it looked like she’d be out of luck again. As the fifth round wore down, though, Tate locked up a rear-naked choke that put the titleholder to sleep.

The event also included a fun fight between future bantamweight champ Amanda Nunes and future flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko, which the former won via a competitive unanimous decision.

UFC 129 marked the promotion’s long-awaited debut in Toronto, Ontario, Canada—a region that had pushed against the legalization of MMA for many years prior.

Just like it did for its debut in New York years later, the UFC stacked this first-ever Ontario card with high-level talent.

In the main event, long-time welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, the greatest Canadian fighter in MMA history, defended his title with a unanimous decision win over former Strikeforce champ Jake Shields. It  wasn’t an all-time great fight, but it marked the first time we’d seen St-Pierre lose a round in a long time.

The UFC 129 co-main event saw MMA legend Jose Aldo defend his newly acquired UFC featherweight title for the first time against Mark Hominick.

Aldo spent the majority of this fight giving Hominick MMA’s most infamous hematoma—that is, until Joanna Jedrzejczyk inflated at the hands of Weili Zhang earlier this year. As the fight wore down, however, Hominick rebounded with a late surge. It wasn’t enough to sway the judges, but it sure was fun to watch.

Other highlights of the UFC 129 bill included a highlight-reel knockout from Lyoto Machida, who punted MMA legend Randy Couture into retirement with a foot to the chin, and impressive finishes from John Makdessi and Pablo Garza.