The 10 | Memorable December Moments

This has to be included — HAS TO BE — because it stands as the only loss on Jones’ otherwise undefeated record, and it has only become more difficult to fathom as the currently injured heavyweight champion continues to march on without incurring an actual loss.

Yes, Jones landed three “12 to 6” elbows, including one to the bridge of the nose of Hamill, however, the fight could have and probably should have been halted earlier because Hamill was doing very little other than blocking his face and “Bones” was unrelenting. More importantly, though, if you watch the end of the fight — when referee Steve Mazzagatti asks Hamill if he’s done — “The Hammer” immediately touches his left shoulder and collarbone area, and is standing in the center of the Octagon keeping his left arm elevated when the decision is announced.

The beautiful trip that Jones hit to get the fight to the floor left Hamill with a dislocated shoulder, which also could have halted the action had (a) the Ultimate Fighter alum informed the ref that he was injured and compromised or (b) the referee clocked the significant impact of the trip and recognized Hamill wasn’t getting out of that position.

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Nearly 14 years later, this remains the only loss on Jon Jones’ record.

This was Jones’ fourth fight in the UFC. He bounced back with three straight stoppage wins after this, faced off with Shogun Rua for the light heavyweight title at UFC 128 in March 2011, and has not been in a non-title fight since, going 14-0 with one no contest during that stretch.

Frank Mir defeats Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (UFC 140)

The setup to this one was that Mir and Nogueira had coached opposite one another years earlier on The Ultimate Fighter, and then faced off at UFC 92, with Mir turning in an outstanding performance to stop “Minotauro” in the second round, claim the interim heavyweight title, and set up his rematch with Brock Lesnar at UFC 100.

Nogueira was hurt going into the contest, believed he could have done significantly better if fully healthy, and entered the bout off a blistering effort in Brazil against Brendan Schaub, while Mir had picked up consecutive victories over Mirko Cro Cop and Roy Nelson.

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Midway through the opening round, Nogueira hits Mir with a couple clean shots that leave him on rubber legs, shooting for a panic takedown, and eating big punches while face-down on the canvas before Nogueira looks to sink in a guillotine choke. Mir instinctively clear the hands and rolls into top position, defends the switch attempt by the Brazilian legend, and attacks a far-side kimura on Nogueira’s left arm, immediately stepping over the head and torquing on the arm.

It’s a great comeback from being on the brink of getting finished and a huge victory for Mir.

Robbie Lawler defeats Johny Hendricks (UFC 181)

Season 20 of The Ultimate Fighter brought some new wrinkles.

For the first time, the long-running reality TV competition featured an all-female cast, as 16 strawweights hunkered down in Las Vegas to go through a single-elimination tournament to crown the inaugural UFC strawweight champion.

Esparza, who entered the competition as the reigning Invicta FC champion, was the No. 1 seed — a dominant wrestler with a wealth of experience under her belt heading that beat Angela Hill, Tecia Torres, and Jessica Penne to arrive at the finale.

Namajunas was the seventh seed — a rising star with immense upside that collected submission wins over Alex Chambers, Joanne Wood (then Calderwood), and Randa Markos to punch her ticket to a showdown with Esparza.

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Would it be the established veteran that easily worked her way to the finals or the ascending prospect that finished everyone and looked like the future of the division?

Esparza would rule the day, controlling the action from the outset with her grappling, taking full advantage of her previous championship experience and Namajunas’ lack thereof to ultimately secure a third-round submission win and etch her name in the history books at the first UFC strawweight champion.

Conor McGregor defeats Jose Aldo (UFC 194)

13 seconds.

After a year-long build that included a world tour and a postponed clash in July, the highly anticipated bout between Aldo and McGregor lasted just 13 seconds.

McGregor hurried to the center in his typical southpaw stance, lands a left hand and an oblique kick, and when Aldo rushes forward with a reaching left of his own, “The Notorious” one slides back and puts a left hand on Aldo’s chin that ends the fight and the Brazilian’s lengthy reign atop the featherweight division in an instant.

I’ve never heard an arena erupt the way the MGM Grand Garden Arena erupted when that shot landed, and the electricity that went shooting through the building was palpable. I have no idea why I made the decision to close my laptop as the two combatants were readying to make their way to the Octagon, but there was just something inside of me that said, “You don’t have to live tweet this one; just take it all in.”

I watched this scene play out in front of me in real time, have watched it back innumerable times since, and still, to this day, it feels a little unreal to me.

This was the perfect capstone to this rivalry — from McGregor’s perspective, obviously — and just added to the incredible, invincible aura “Mystic Mac” had created for himself during his initial ascent in the UFC.

Cub Swanson defeats Dooho Choi (UFC 206)

We head into fights with a certain expectation of how things are going to play out; sometimes it goes the way we envisioned, and other times, we get something entirely different.

This one falls under the latter heading.

Holloway had won and successfully defended the featherweight title with a pair of victories over Jose Aldo in 2017 but was forced to postpone this meeting with the unbeaten Ortega from July after exhibiting “concussion-like symptoms” during an interview conducted just a few days prior to UFC 226.

Ortega was 14-0 (with one no contest) and coming off a first-round knockout win over Frankie Edgar in March. He was 6-0 with that one no contest in seven UFC starts, had finished everyone he’d faced, and felt like he was poised to be a colossal test for the talented Hawaiian champion that was suddenly faced with a whole bunch of questions about his health.

In hindsight, this fight feels like a precursor to Holloway’s “I’m the Best Boxer in the UFC!” performance against Calvin Kattar on Fight Island — a one-sided drubbing that became increasingly more one-sided as the fight progressed. Holloway thoroughly out-classed Ortega from the jump, with the fight being halted after the fourth round as the challenger was unable to continue.

Any questions about “Blessed” and his standing as the top dog in the featherweight division was answered emphatically that evening.

Alexander Volkanovski defeats Max Holloway (UFC 245)

This is such a great fight.

Actually, each of the first two fights in this series are fantastic and I recommend you watch them back-to-back like I do with The Godfather and The Godfather, Part II every Christmas in order to get the full experience and complete the picture of how closely matched these two were at this moment in time. Whether you watch the third instalment in either series is up to you; they’re both important, but neither has the same kind of gravitas and importance as the first two of each.

Holloway hadn’t lost a featherweight fight in more than six years, rising to the top of the division and successfully defending his title three times, with dominant efforts against Aldo, Ortega, and Edgar. Volkanovski was unbeaten in the UFC and riding a lengthy winning streak of his own, having most recently earned a one-sided decision win over Aldo in a fight at UFC 237 that didn’t have the same resonance as Aldo’s previous defeats, despite the fact that he came in off two straight stoppage victories.

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All three scorecards that were turned over the course of the bout were different, but all three arrived at the same conclusion: Volkanovski was the better man and the new featherweight champion, unseating Holloway with scores of 48-47, 50-45, and 48-47, setting the table for an immediate rematch.

And much like The Godfather series, the sequel was even better than the original.

Julianna Peña defeats Amanda Nunes (UFC 269)

No matter how many times I watch this fight back, I’m still surprised by the outcome.

Nunes had won a dozen straight. She was a two-division world champion, coming off a rapid first-round submission win over Megan Anderson and had bested every woman to hold UFC gold in both the bantamweight and featherweight divisions.

Pena was the No. 1 contender almost by default. The best available option and lone fresh name in the division, the former Ultimate Fighter winner confidently called out “The Lioness” and promised she was going to be the one to dethrone her.

And wouldn’t you know it… she did.

Nunes won the opening round handily, putting Pena on the canvas and working her wrestling to neutralize the challenger, but Pena came out and got in her face to start the second, Nunes started throwing wildly, and Pena began to land more frequently. As the challenger’s confidence continued to grow, Nunes’ energy reserve waned, quickly, and by the time Pena started to lace up the rear naked choke, the end was a foregone conclusion.

While not quite on the level of Matt Serra’s win over Georges St-Pierre or Holly Holm’s defeat of Ronda Rousey, this was then and remains now a massive upset and a career-defining victory for “The Venezuelan Vixen.”