Highlights
The 10 | Memorable December Moments
With The Final Month Of The Year Upon Us, Let’s Look Back At Highlights From Previous Decembers Inside The Octagon
In putting together this list, I wanted to make sure that it was differentiated from the Year-End Moments collection also running this week, so I actually created the two as companions for one another, with no overlap.
So before you go wondering why BJ Penn’s blistering effort against Diego Sanchez or Cody Garbrandt’s virtuosic performance against Dominick Cruz at UFC 207 aren’t featured on this list, it’s because they’re on the other list, as outstanding moments from previous year-end events as we work towards UFC 296 and the end of the 2023 campaign.
This list is comprised of additional memorable moments that took place in the month of December, and even without year-end efforts, it’s a pretty outstanding collection of milestones, benchmarks, and pivotal efforts.
Let’s get into them, shall we?
Matt Hamill defeats Jon Jones (The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale)
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)
Robbie Lawler | Fighter Timeline
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Robbie Lawler | Fighter Timeline
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Over the last year, I’ve adjusted the title of these pieces to include the word “moments” more than “fights” for situations just like this one.
The second fight between Lawler and Hendricks was solid, but not spectacular, by any means, but the result and what it all meant made it an absolute stone-cold lock for being included here.
Lawler went 3-5 under the Strikeforce banner, mostly competing at middleweight while generally looking marginally interested, at best, in what was going on in his professional life at the time. He famously fell asleep on the dais at a press conference, and so when he returned to the UFC and the welterweight division in the early part of 2013, it was cool to have “Brutal Bob” back in the fold, but no one was expecting him to make a run to the title or anything.
But then he knocked out Josh Koscheck and Bobby Voelker in back-to-back fights, looking like a fully actualized version of the young kid that showed so much promise during his initial days on the UFC roster. A split decision win over Rory MacDonald set up a title fight with Johny Hendricks at UFC 171, where he dropped a close decision in a fight many feel he had done enough to win.
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Rather than say, “I tried, got close, but came up short,” Lawler got right back to work, stopping Jake Ellenberger two months later and out-hustling Matt Brown two months after that to set up a rematch with Hendricks at UFC 181.
When the scores were announced and Lawler was declared victorious, everyone around him erupted, while the ever-stoic new welterweight champion took it all in. You could see the emotions starting to wash over Lawler as he spoke with Joe Rogan and the way he celebrated coming out of the Octagon.
This moment was a long time coming, and it was certainly one of the best to transpire inside the Octagon in the month of December.
Carla Esparza defeats Rose Namajunas (The Ultimate Fighter 20 Finale)
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)
Cub Swanson vs DooHo Choi | Sleeper Hits
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Cub Swanson vs DooHo Choi | Sleeper Hits
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Inducted into the Fight Wing of the UFC Hall of Fame last year, Swanson and Choi paired up to deliver a symphony of violence at the Air Canada Centre in December 2016.
Both men were coming in on winning streaks — Swanson with wins over veteran contenders Hacran Dias and Tatsuya Kawajiri, while Choi had stopped Juan Puig, Sam Sicilia, and Thiago Tavares in his first three UFC appearances — and each had something to prove in Toronto. Swanson was spurred on by the fact that Choi had called him out, while “The Korean Superboy” was aiming to show that he was ready to hang with the best in the division.
The first round was competitive and fun, but nothing that made you think “this fight is going to be Fight of the Night,” let alone Fight of the Year and a Hall of Fame-caliber contest. Business picked up early in the second and it was “all gas, no brakes” the rest of the way, with each man having their moments, and everyone watching the contest immediately recognizing that something special was happening right before their eyes.
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There was no quit from either man in any position, at any instance; whether they were hurt or doing the hurting, they each kept throwing, right through to the final horn. Swanson poured it on down the stretch, putting a stamp on the victory, but this was one of those instances where Choi’s stock still climbed despite his lengthy winning streak coming to a halt.
Just an absolute classic and the greatest example of the “Beautiful Destruction” that “Killer Cub” is always looking to create and deliver whenever he steps into the Octagon.
Eddie Alvarez defeats Justin Gaethje (UFC 218)
Gaethje arrived in the UFC with a 17-0 record and a reputation for engaging in human demolition derbies each time he stepped in to compete. That was reiterated in his promotional debut against Michael Johnson just under five months earlier, where he collected a second-round stoppage win, but not without taking more than a few good licks himself.
Alvarez entered on a two-fight run without a victory, having dropped the lightweight title to Conor McGregor 13 months earlier before his first encounter with Dustin Poirier was halted due to an inadvertent, illegal knee.
This clash in “The Motor City” was the non-stop slobberknocker everyone anticipated, with Gaethje battering Alvarez’ lead leg early, and the former champion remaining undaunted in his approach, targeting the body early and often before landing upstairs. Each man was battered and bleeding before the first five minutes expired, but it didn’t deter either of them.
As the fight progressed, Alvarez started to take over more and more, as his output and defensive movements allowed him to do more damage as Gaethje got away from the low kick and threw hands exclusively. But “The Highlight” went back to attacking the leg early in the third, leaving Alvarez compromised and fighting from the southpaw stance, the two men trading in close quarters heading into the final two minutes of the contest.
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With both men absolutely wearing it and showing incalculable toughness and grit, Alvarez continued to track down a tiring Gaethje and put a knee on his chin that finally sent the UFC sophomore collapsing to the canvas.
This was not only a reminder of how outstanding Alvarez was in his day, but one of two fights that convinced Gaethje to alter his approach, which has since helped to transform him into a former interim champ, the current BMF titleholder, and one of the best lightweights in the world.
Max Holloway defeats Brian Ortega (UFC 231)
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.”
