We’ve gone through the year’s best KOs, and we’ve gone through the year’s best submissions. But now, it’s time to take a look at the fights that ripped the hardest throughout 2021: and buckle up, because there were some real classics.
10. Paul Daley vs. Sabah Homasi, Bellator 257
This list is going to wind up almost entirely UFC, which wasn’t my intention – we’ve just had some really amazing fights in the UFC this year. But I couldn’t bring myself to leave the rest of the MMA world out of it entirely. So I racked my brain – which non-UFC fight did I enjoy the most this year? I kept coming back to this April slugfest between Bellator welterweights Paul Daley and Sabah Homasi.
If you’ve followed these two’s careers, you knew to expect a slugfest, and that’s what you got. In the opening minutes, Homasi came about as close as you can to knocking a guy out without getting the finish, before Daley somehow came back, hurt Homasi at the end of a truly insane first round, then melted Homasi’s brain with the famous Semtex left hook.
Paul Daley’s been in some crazy ones over the course of his long career, but I don’t think any have been crazier than this one was. And on pure action alone, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better fight in 2021.
9. Max Holloway vs. Calvin Kattar, UFC Fight Island 7
It’s very rare that a complete beatdown would make a Fight of the Year list based purely off of how sweet of a beatdown it was. But, then again, that Max Holloway fellow is pretty special.
We’ll all remember it for the rest of our lives. Holloway, head turned away from his opponent, having a conversation with Daniel Cormier on the commentary desk while slipping Kattar’s punches and popping him in the face. It was one of those moments of someone just being completely goddamn out of their brain, fighting on an absolutely absurd level, that you simply do not forget.
The rest of the fight was pretty damn entertaining too, if for no other reason than to admire just how goddamn badass Max Holloway is. That dude rules.
8. Max Holloway vs. Yair Rodriguez, UFC Vegas 42
But as fun as it is to watch Max Holloway beat a guy’s ass, it’s also pretty damn fun to watch him in a competitive fight. And in November, Holloway and Yair Rodriguez ended up in the kind of banger that was so sick that they just had to hang out in the ambulance afterward.
Holloway-Rodriguez was one of the most entertaining back-and-forth striking battles of the year between two fighters with very different, but equally appealing styles. And man, it was just wonderful to have Rodriguez back after over two years away – “El Pantera” jumped right back into the fray by giving one of the best featherweights ever one hell of a scrap, a very impressive feat.
I love when fights that promise big action over-deliver. This fight was one of those.
7. Edson Barboza vs. Shane Burgos, UFC 262
So was Edson Barboza-Shane Burgos, a battle between two of the featherweight division’s most dangerous strikers that wound up being one of the most memorable fights you’ll ever see. Burgos brought every ounce of his vaunted pressure to a fighter who’s traditionally struggled against pressure fighters, but Barboza responded by absolutely bashing the shit out of Burgos with his Muay Thai attack for over two full rounds.
It was quite, quite fun and quite, quite violent. But what took this thing to another level was the finish – in a moment that made my list of the top 10 KOs of 2021, Barboza whacked Burgos with a nice right hand, then stood and watched as Burgos’ brain shut down.
It was one of the most distinctive KOs of the last decade, and it elevated their fight from “really fun back-and-forth stand-up battle” to “completely unforgettable.” And, top 10 on any good Fight of the Year list.
6. Charles Oliveira vs. Michael Chandler, UFC 262
Charles Oliveira isn’t the clear-cut fighter of the year in 2021, but I’ll always remember this as his year. Oliveira changed the entire narrative of his career in 2021, banishing every old demon, silencing every old doubter that called him a quitter or a fighter who failed to live up to his talent. He’s now a world champion, the undisputed best lightweight on Earth, and a man you never count out of a fight. That change started here, when Oliveira rallied to beat Michael Chandler and win one of 2021’s most exciting title fights.
Chandler is one of the fastest starters in the sport, and nearly had Oliveira out of there early. The Brazilian was put on his ass and forced to dig deep. So many times in the past had Oliveira not been able to clear this hurdle, not been able to rally. But this time was different – Oliveira survived this dire danger and escaped a thrilling first round, before creating one of MMA’s all-time feel-good championship wins with a second-round KO.
At almost no point in this fight did I feel like I knew what was going to happen next – and the times I did, I was wrong. And we were given a beautiful moment at the end, to boot. And hell – that win over Poirier was pretty great too.
5. Petr Yan vs. Cory Sandhagen, UFC 267
At its best, mixed martial arts can be a beautiful sport. The highest level of MMA is kinetic chess, testing the limits of human endurance and problem solving in the heat of battle. And in October, bantamweight stars Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen gave us a goddamn symphony.
From a pure technical standpoint, Yan-Sandhagen was probably the best MMA fight of the year. It was a masterful display of adjustments and counter-adjustments from two of the best strikers in the sport. But you don’t beat Petr Yan in a five-rounder – perhaps the best pure boxer in the sport, both offensively and defensively, Yan was the one to make the right reads and finish strong in a tactical classic.
If you want bone-crushing violence, you’ll find better examples elsewhere. But if you’re interested in the sport at its highest level, look no further.
4. Jiri Prochazka vs. Dominick Reyes, UFC Vegas 25
Jiri Prochazka gives us pure entertainment every time he steps into the ring (or, more recently, the cage.) He’s an insane Czech samurai with a high-octane fighting style completely his own, sent on a mission by whatever obscure Pagan god he worships to cause some goddamn ruckus wherever he goes. And in May, in his first UFC main event, Jiri Prochazka and Dominick Reyes gave us nine and a half minutes of pure fucking havoc.
The memorable moment of that fight will always be the spinning elbow that scored the knockout, one of the best knockouts of 2021. But that’s not to diminish Reyes’ performance, and not to forget all the insane shit that happened leading up to the spinning elbow. Reyes absolutely whacked Prochazka the hell up the entire fight, and at one point in the second round appeared to knock the Czech cold with an upkick – Prochazka was only out for a second before reviving out of nowhere like the Undertaker and continuing his attack.
Reyes pulled out every stop, but Prochazka’s chin is made of granite, and he appears to only grow stronger the more you hit him. This fight was a complete white-knuckler from beginning to end. I cannot recommend it higher.
3. Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington II, UFC 268
Compared to most of the rest of these fights, Kamaru Usman-Colby Covington II was relatively light on big fireworks – it was a back-and-forth striking battle with only one knockdown, a five-round decision that was close but I thought pretty clear. But no fight delivered as big on pure circumstance than this one. Out of every fight this year, I don’t know if any felt quite as big as this one.
Sometimes, in pro wrestling, a story is so hot that the wrestlers involved don’t need to do that much to create a great match – they let the story, and the crowd, take center stage. And if nothing else, Colby Covington is just a pure pro wrestling heel. When people spend as much time examining the post-fight as much as the fight itself, you know they really care.
And as it stands, this fight was as gripping as they come. Usman had evolved into an ever more dangerous puncher since their first epic in 2019, but an outgunned Covington put on a brave performance, growing into the fight as it went on and giving the best fighter in the world hell. It wound up being a legacy-boosting win for a champion with designs on going down in history, and a respect-winner for the controversial challenger. It was everything we imagined the fight would be, and more.
2. Alexander Volkanovski vs. Brian Ortega, UFC 266
Alexander Volkanovski-Brian Ortega was, ultimately, kind of a one-sided fight. Volkanovski retained his world featherweight title by scores of 50-44, 50-45 and 49-46. Ortega walked away bloodied and broken. But one round – round 3 – turned the fight from a dominant title defense into a heart-stopping classic.
There was no more thrilling round of mixed martial arts that occurred all year. Volkanovski had the read – he was in cruise control to roll on through to a victory. Then, all of a sudden, Ortega dropped him with a left hand and jumped on a tight guillotine choke. The champion was fighting for his life.
Brian Ortega had two hands on the belt. He had done it – he had shocked the world, upset the champion and taken the title. But in one of the most gripping shows of defiance and pure will ever seen in the history of this sport, Volkanovski powered out, unleashed holy hell on Ortega, and fended off a surging challenger for the rest of the fight.
Volkanovski-Ortega was an example of why you shouldn’t judge the quality of a fight by the scorecards. Yes, it appeared that Volkanovski dominated, and for much of the fight, he did. But it was what happened in between that made this fight an all-time great.
- Michael Chandler vs. Justin Gaethje, UFC 268
For me, there was absolutely no other fight that could have been No. 1. Sometimes, a fight gets booked that you just know, the second you look at it, can only be absolute chaos. Then it comes along and destroys even your wildest expectations. And last month, two of the lightweight division’s most entertaining violence machines gave us a big-budget action thriller that would put even Michael Bay to shame.
Gaethje – the calm killer – ultimately took Chandler apart in the last two rounds, but the story was Chandler, who gave arguably the performance of his career. Throughout his career, Chandler has been a thrilling hot-starter with a few familiar knocks: a gas tank that he would often expend early, and a chin that often failed him. Chandler fought that night in Madison Square Garden like he was on PCP. He was a snarling animal, one that could only be stopped by a shotgun blast to the face. It was everything Gaethje could do to hold him off.
Gaethje ultimately had Chandler just a tad outgunned, but it was the kind of fight where there were no losers. The lightweights lit up Madison Square Garden like no two opponents had since Bruno Sammartino was wrestling Larry Zbyszko. This was call-your-friends, tell-them-to-turn-on-the-TV-right-fucking-now type shit. It was pure manic insanity where anything could have happened. It was why we love this sport.
The Big Fight 