Most historically significant fights in MMA history?

1. Gordeau vs. Tuli

The first UFC fight, no one knew what to expect, lots of people thought a big sumo would just sit on anyone and crush them.
 
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These cats are too young to get this.
I say they run it back one more time.
 
Imagine if different commentary teams had been there for certain fights?

I think Bas would just start laughing if he saw Khabib attack Conor's corner! "Whoa! its beautiful! its perfect! In Ukraine i did same thing with like 16 guys with AK47s! bam boom bap knees to the head. So good."

Mike Goldberg: CORN NUTS. THE ONLY SNACK WORTHY OF BEING IN THE OCTAGON.

<Goldie11>
 
Conor vs Aldo. McGregor was already a star, and the thirteen second knockout exponentially increased his fame. If McGregor loses that fight, we never get sent into the money fight era, the UFC doesn't sell for $4 billion, we might still have champs who are content to stay in their division and dominate, the sport might actually still be legitimate instead of the pro wrestling without scripted outcomes like it is now.
 
good list

I agree with all but would replace Silva/Sonnen with McGregor/Diaz 1 as it ushered in the current money fight generation of the UFC we are currently in. They made a lot of money on capitalizing fair weather interest of casuals with the celebrity of McGreogor, and he was viewed as being pretty much unbeatable by the public/media headed into that fight. Beginning with Nate's initial call out and going into the week he was announced as a replacement opponent for McGregor. The promo was so good I remember the media pretty much trolling Nate in the lead-up as they assumed he was just another victim on McGregor's path toward being an Ali level personality for the UFC. Nate stopped the train and all of a sudden the UFC could build stars off of their stars losing to underdogs it's quite significant imo. Without McGregor/Diaz I the sustained stardom of Masvidal, Izzy, Usman and lot of these guys doing callouts, wearing suits, and promoting themselves would not be as prominent.
 
I nominate Rousey vs. Tate for bringing WMMA to the UFC (not arguing that's good or bad).
 
I do think Conor-Aldo for better and worse was pretty historically significant
Yes,but in the grand scheme of things,the Khabib fight took things to an even higher level. That was as far as Conor could take things.
 
Plus :
Lawler vs MacDonald 2
Zhang vs Jedrzejczyk
Gaethje vs Ferguson
 
Fedor vs Crocop is by far the best.

A HW fight will always be more significant than a fight between midgets or LWs
 
Unfortunately I think Mcgregor vs Aldo is up there. It made him a star and brought in so many casual fans.
Without that amazing performance the UFC wouldn't have been as successful as it was during covid without live gates
 
Fedor vs Crocop is by far the best.

A HW fight will always be more significant than a fight between midgets or LWs

Top selling PPV's of all time:

Mayweather vs Pacquaio (147 pounds) - 4.6 million buys
Mayweather vs McGregor (154 pounds)- 4.3 million buys
Khabib vs McGregor (155 pounds)- 2.4 million buys
Mayweather vs De La Hoya (154 pounds)- 2.4 million buys
Mayweather vs Canelo (152 Pounds)- 2.2 million buys
* Tyson vs Lewis (Heavyweight)- 1.9 million buys
*Tyson vs Holyfield II (Heavyweight)- 1.9 million buys
McGregor vs Diaz II (170 pounds)- 1.65 million buys
McGregor vs Poirier (155 pounds)- 1.6 million buys
*Tyson vs Holyfield I (Heavyweight)- 1.6 million buys

Nice try bud...Clearly the general public doesn't care about weight, they care about skills/persona/buildup.

The biggest draws of the past 20 years (Mayweather, Pacquaio, De La Hoya, McGregor) have all been guys who spent the majority of their career below 150 pounds.
 
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Conor vs Khabib
Fedor vs Nog 1
Jones vs Shogun (or Ronda vs Carmouche)
Sakuraba vs Royce
Royce vs Gordeau
 
Shit just got real,FAST in that one.

Yeah within 15 seconds the myth of the "limber sumo" was exposed, a kick to the face sent a tooth flying, and the fight was stopped, which it shouldn't have been, everyone tried to figure out wtf was going on, and they decided to just leave it as is.

So many rules were clarified in the few seconds after the end of that fight. "Ok next fight you don't stop it, ok? ok"

It also established to everyone watching that this indeed, was real fighting, shoots not works and nothing pre-determined, which even the fighters on the card weren't 100% certain of until then.
 
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