The 8 Biggest Upsets in UFC in the Last 10 Years

It's one of the best things about the UFC.

Whether it's due to matchmaking, the fighters or simply good fortune, there's no such thing as a sure thing once the cage doors are locked.

And unlike boxing, where truly monumental upsets are limited to a few times per generation, surprises in the Octagon are a frequent, if not common, occurrence.

In fact, no matter who's the A-side or betting favorite, once Bruce Buffer is through with introductions, there's no telling for certain exactly how a bout is going to end.

So when compiling a list of the promotion's great upsets, it's more of a challenge to narrow the task to a specific time frame rather than find enough fights to fill it.

Nevertheless, the B/R combat sports team toed the line and handled its business, whittling down the greatest shocks of the last decade to a collection of eight—plus an honorable mention—that have occurred since the start of 2012.

The criteria were simple. The magnitude of the upset was considered along with the significance of the bout, meaning a surprise in a prelim opener on a Fight Night show didn't quite carry the weight of a stunner in a title fight atop a monthly pay-per-view event.

Scroll through to see what we came up with and feel free to drop a suggestion or two of your own in the comments section.

So here's one where the criteria come into play.

Some UFC observers will suggest Shana Dobson's second-round finish of Mariya Agapova is the biggest upset in the promotion's history because Dobson was such a prohibitive betting underdog heading into their Fight Night show in August 2020.

But considering neither fighter had a high profile and the fight itself was in the No. 4 slot on the show, on our list it falls behind others involving more recognizable competitors.

Still, there's no arguing it was a shock.

Agapova had won nine of 10 pro bouts and was coming off a first-round finish in her UFC debut, while Dobson was a much less-heralded commodity at 3-4 overall and 0-3 in the UFC.

It seemed as if the favorite would prevail when Agapova started strong in the first round, but Dobson endured the barrage and worked her way to a controlling position on the ground in the second before landing a flurry of head strikes that prompted a wave-off at 1:38.

Neither has been a hot commodity since their matchup, with Dobson losing via second-round finish to Casey O'Neill in her lone subsequent bout while Agapova has split two outings—finishing Sabina Mazo and getting finished by Maryna Moroz.

Given the level Henry Cejudo ultimately reached as a two-division champion, it's hard to remember back to the days when he was merely a flyweight-title wannabe.

A flyweight-title wannabe, in fact, who'd already been stopped in less than three minutes in a bid for the 125-pound belt held by then-champ Demetrious Johnson in 2016.

Still, that's precisely where he was two years later at UFC 227 in Los Angeles.

But rather than falling again at the fists and feet of a dominant Mighty Mouse, Cejudo mustered a valiant effort in which he targeted Johnson's head and body with strikes and took him down three times on the way to earning 48-47 verdicts on two of three scorecards.

He went on to defend once before conquering new ground at bantamweight 10 months later, beating Marlon Moraes for the vacant title in 2019 and retiring the following year after defending the crown once against former champ Dominick Cruz.

A quest for an unprecedented third weight-class title could soon begin, however, as Cejudo has recently made noise about a possible challenge to reigning featherweight king Alexander Volkanovski.

As difficult as it is these days to recall Cejudo's non-elite status back then, it may be just as challenging to recall just how high the Conor McGregor arc had reached by early 2016.

The Notorious was a few months past a featherweight-title blitzing of Jose Aldo and was set to challenge at UFC 196 for the lightweight belt then held by Rafael Dos Anjos.

That match was scrubbed 11 days out when the reigning titleholder broke his foot, prompting a call to veteran Octagon tough guy Nate Diaz to sub in and save the pay-per-view show.

He agreed to do so at a 170-pound catchweight and arrived at the MGM Grand Garden Arena on fight night as a huge underdog, a billing that seemed appropriate as the Irishman strafed him with strikes through much of the opening five minutes.

The problem for McGregor as Round 2 began, though?

Diaz was still there.

The Californian began taking control of things as the second round progressed and eventually worked his way into position for the rear-naked choke that forced McGregor's tapout at 4:12 and changed MMA history.

The two men ran it back five months later at UFC 202 and McGregor evened things out with a majority decision, though a trilogy fight still hasn't been set up six years later.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk was a woman on a mission.

To dominate.

The Polish phenom and fearsome striker was already queen of the strawweights—having won the title and defended it five times—and carried a pristine 14-0 record into Madison Square Garden for a routine defense at UFC 217 against challenger Rose Namajunas, who was a less-gaudy 7-3.

Namajunas hadn't scored a KO or TKO victory since her amateur days and had been choked out in a previous title try by Carla Esparza, but she managed to pull one off in the unlikeliest of spots, stopping the champion in just more than three minutes in November 2017.

She and Jedrzejczyk got back together for a rematch five months later, and the new champ retained her status and legitimized the initial result, winning by unanimous decision.

Namajunas dropped her belt to Jessica Andrade in her next fight and didn't regain it until 2021, while Jedrzejczyk had two more unsuccessful title tries at strawweight and flyweight and retired last month after a KO loss to second-time rival Zhang Weili.

Taunting doesn't pay. Ask Anderson Silva.

The legendary middleweight was nearly seven years into a record-setting title run at 185 pounds, having defended 10 times—including eight by finish—while running his UFC record to a spectacular 16-0.

He reached defense No. 11 against Chris Weidman at UFC 162 in Las Vegas with seemingly no end in sight, though the first five minutes against the unheralded American challenger hadn't exactly been a stroll in the park.

Still, Silva began playing to the crowd and mocking his foe in the second and paid for it soon after, taking a combination from Weidman that knocked him cold and abruptly ended the title reign at 1:18 of the round.

It's been a steep decline ever since for both men.

The skillful Brazilian broke his leg in a Weidman rematch five months later, failed a drug test to nullify a win over Nick Diaz in a January 2015 comeback and ended his UFC stay with five losses in six fights—including a TKO by Uriah Hall atop a Fight Night card in October 2020.

Weidman defended twice more before dropping the title to Luke Rockhold at UFC 194 and is 2-5 in seven fights since, including a gruesome broken leg against Hall at UFC 261.

In late 2015, Ronda Rousey was the UFC.

She'd become the face of the franchise, the most recognizable female athlete in the U.S. and had made her way to acting crossovers in motion pictures and at WrestleMania.

She was 12-0 as an MMA pro and 6-0 in the Octagon, winning each match inside the distance and only once venturing beyond the first round.

Her last four bouts, in fact, had lasted a grand total of 130 seconds. Combined.

So Holly Holm, in spite of a distinguished, championship-level boxing career, was not considered a significant threat to upend bantamweight dominance in her third UFC fight.

But soon after the main event at UFC 193 began, perception changed.

Holm eluded Rousey's early attempts to get to the mat and consistently held her own when it came to striking, eventually tiring the champion as the initial round wound down.

The gas tank was all but empty as Round 2 began and the challenger took advantage, ultimately landing a high kick to the right side of Rousey's head that left her defenseless.

The fight was waved off at 59 seconds of the round and the Rousey era was over.

She fought only once more, losing in 48 seconds to Amanda Nunes, before eschewing the sport for a full-time run with WWE.

Holm, meanwhile, dropped the belt to Miesha Tate in her first defense four months later and is just 4-5 in nine bouts since, including a split-decision loss to Ketlen Vieira in May.

Brazilian jiu-jitsu ace Renan Barao lost his first pro MMA fight in 2005.

But he spent the subsequent nine years making up for it and then some, winning 33 straight overall bouts (alongside an injury-prompted no contest) and seven in a row in the UFC.

So when he got to UFC 173 in Las Vegas in May 2014, he was a reliable commodity.

As for TJ Dillashaw, it was a little less certain.

The Colorado-based wrestler arrived to his bantamweight title shot with plenty of street cred, but he'd dropped a decision to Raphael Assuncao just two fights earlier and wasn't expected to be the one to end the champion's multi-year streak.

Until he did.

Dillashaw stopped the dominant titleholder with a series of fifth-round strikes that included a head kick and punches, ending the fight at 2:26 and earning both Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night bonuses in doing so.

He successfully defended once before meeting Barao again 14 months later and he repeated the feat a round earlier, stopping his foe in four rounds atop a card on Fox TV.

Barao fought seven more times under the UFC banner but won just once, while Dillashaw lost and regained the title at 135 pounds and unsuccessfully challenged Cejudo for the flyweight belt in 2019 before failing a drug test and sitting out for two years.

He's fought once since, defeating Cory Sandhagen on points last July, and is penciled in for a title shot against reigning bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling at UFC 280 in October.

Not much was expected of Michael Bisping.

Though he's now a Hall of Famer and a recognizable face on ESPN broadcasts, in mid-2016 he was a 37-year-old veteran of the Octagon who'd lost four of his last 10 bouts before getting a call to face Luke Rockhold just 17 days before their main event at UFC 199.

And because Rockhold had choked him out on a Fight Night show 19 months earlier, few were expecting much beyond a walkover for the since-crowned middleweight champ.

But The Count was ready for his second opportunity and made the most of it early, stopping Rockhold with a barrage of punches that ended matters at 3:36 of the first round and made Bisping the first English champion in the promotion's history.

He defended once against Dan Henderson but lost the belt via rear-naked choke against Georges St-Pierre in November 2017. He fought just once more before retiring.

Rockhold has since followed the same three-fight script, winning once and losing twice before what's now become a three-year layoff because of injury and canceled bouts.

Let's face it: In December, Amanda Nunes was as good as it gets.

She was a two-division champion at bantamweight and featherweight and arrived at UFC 269 in Las Vegas last December with a 12-fight win streak that covered six years and provided consensus acclaim as the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time.

So while Julianna Pena's solid record and trash talk had elevated her to a 135-pound title shot against the preeminent Brazilian, it wasn't expected to be much more competitive than the champion's nine previous title fights—five of which had ended in first-round finishes.

And as things got started and continued through the opening five minutes at T-Mobile Arena, it seemed everyone was following the script. Nunes connected on 71 percent of her significant strike attempts and scored the fight's lone takedown, while Pena sustained enough damage to prompt angry swelling beneath her left eye.

But something else happened in that first round.

Nunes emptied her gas tank.

The champion began taking more than she was giving as Round 2 evolved, and Pena eventually got her to the mat and worked her into a rear-naked choke position that prompted the most shocking surrender in Octagon history at 3:26.

Shocking to everyone else, that is.

"I'm not surprised, motherf--kers!" Pena said. "I told you. Don't ever doubt me again. Willpower, strength and determination—it will take you places."

The two have continued their rivalry as opposing coaches on the current season of The Ultimate Fighter and a bantamweight title rematch is scheduled for UFC 277 on July 30.