Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit served up a classic in the first pay-per-view main event of 2016, but it was Lawler who emerged — by the skin of his teeth — with his status as welterweight champion intact thanks to a split-decision victory at UFC 195…
AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
There was one new champion crowned before the end of January, however, as Dominick Cruz got the nod from two of the three judges at UFC Fight Night 81 at the expense of TJ Dillashaw to reclaim the bantamweight title he was stripped of two years earlier due to a series of injuries…
AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
Several popular fighters of past and present passed away this year, including Ryan Jimmo, Josh Samman, Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson and former heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman…
AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
The UFC returned to London in February and Michael Bisping overcame Anderson Silva to claim the first of several big wins in 2016 in the main event at UFC Fight Night
Adam Davy
Adam Davy
After lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos withdrew due to injury from his title defence against Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz stepped in to face the Dubliner at UFC 196 in Las Vegas on 5 March…
Raymond Spencer / INPHO
Raymond Spencer / INPHO / INPHO
Miesha Tate submitted Holly Holm in the co-headliner at UFC 196 to become the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion…
AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
And Diaz upset the odds in the main event to end McGregor’s undefeated run in the UFC…
AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
In April, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a measure to allow professional MMA in New York, which led to the abolishment of the ban on the sport in the Empire State…
Mark Lennihan
Mark Lennihan
In April, just over a week before he was due to face Willie Gates at UFC Rotterdam, a rare blood disorder forced Paddy Holohan to bring a premature end to his career…
Gary Carr / INPHO
Gary Carr / INPHO / INPHO
After being suspended and stripped of his light-heavyweight title due to his involvement in a hit-and-run incident in April 2015, Jon Jones returned at UFC 197 to defeat Ovince Saint-Preux via unanimous decision…
John Locher
John Locher
Conor McGregor’s rematch with Nate Diaz was scheduled for UFC 200 in July, but when the Dubliner refused to attend a press conference in Las Vegas and claimed he had retired, the fight was removed from the card…
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John Locher
John Locher
Instead, a rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier — who had capitalised on Jones’ absence by winning the vacant 205lbs title — was scheduled for the top of the landmark bill in Las Vegas…
John Locher
John Locher
But the second meeting of the rivals fell through again when — two days before the fight — Jones was flagged for an anti-doping violation by USADA…
John Locher
John Locher
Anderson Silva was drafted in on short notice but Cormier was able to wrestle his way to victory…
John Locher
John Locher
Elsewhere on the UFC 200 card, Jose Aldo defeated Frankie Edgar over five rounds for the second time in his career to become ther interim UFC featherweight champion…
Tommy Lakes / The42
Tommy Lakes / The42 / The42
WWE star and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar made a one-night-only return to the octagon to get the better of Mark Hunt, after which he was also flagged for an anti-doping violation…
John Locher
John Locher
And the women’s bantamweight title changed hands again as Amanda Nunes submitted Miesha Tate…
AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
Earlier that week, Donegal’s Joseph Duffy bounced back from his defeat to Dustin Poirier in January by taking just 25 seconds to get the better of Mitch Clarke at UFC Fight Night 90…
Tommy Lakes / The42
Tommy Lakes / The42 / The42
In the main event, Eddie Alvarez dethroned Rafael Dos Anjos to become UFC lightweight champion. It was one of four upsets in UFC title bouts in the summer, in addition to Stipe Miocic’s defeat of heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, Michael Bisping’s win against middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and Tyron Woodley’s swift stoppage of welterweight champion Robbie Lawler…
Tommy Lakes / The42
Tommy Lakes / The42 / The42
In August, tensions ran high in Las Vegas as Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor prepared to square off for the second time…
Tom Hogan / INPHO
Tom Hogan / INPHO / INPHO
But this time there was a different outcome, as McGregor avenged his first defeat in the UFC by earning a majority-decision victory after five gruelling rounds in the main event at UFC 202…
Tom Hogan / INPHO
Tom Hogan / INPHO / INPHO
The MMA debut of former WWE star Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks finally took place at UFC 203, but Mickey Gall ended it after two minutes and 14 seconds in Cleveland…
David Dermer
David Dermer
On 24 September in her native Brazil, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino reaffirmed her reputation as the best female fighter in the world with a second-round TKO of Lina Lansberg…
AP / Press Association Images
AP / Press Association Images / Press Association Images
Numbered pay-per-view events returned to Europe in October as the sold-out Manchester Arena played host to UFC 204…
Pete Byrne
Pete Byrne
In the main event, Michael Bisping avenged his 2009 loss to Dan Henderson with a unanimous-decision win in his first title defence as middleweight champion, but it was far from easy for the Englishman against the 46-year-old veteran…
Pete Byrne
Pete Byrne
After the abolishment of the ban on the sport in New York earlier in the year, Liz Carmouche and Katlyn Chookagian had the honour of competing in the first ever MMA bout at Madison Square Garden when they kicked off the action at UFC 205…
In one of three title fights on the night, Joanna Jedrzejczyk overcame fellow Polish fighter Karolina Kowalkiewicz to remain strawweight champion…
Julio Cortez
Julio Cortez
In his first outing as welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley fought to a majority draw against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson…
Julio Cortez
Julio Cortez
And Conor McGregor eased to a second-round stoppage of defending lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez to become the first fighter to hold two UFC belts at the same time… before being stripped of his featherweight strap a fortnight later…
Tom Hogan / INPHO
Tom Hogan / INPHO / INPHO
Seven days later, McGregor was in Belfast to cheer his SBG team-mate Artem Lobov on to victory against Teruto Ishihara…
Presseye / Matt Mackey/INPHO
Presseye / Matt Mackey/INPHO / Matt Mackey/INPHO
Just 18 months after he was released by the UFC, Tim Elliott pushed Demetrious Johnson all the way at the TUF 24 Finale in Las Vegas…
John Locher
John Locher
In the main event at UFC 206 in Toronto, Max Holloway got the better of Anthony Pettis to become the interim featherweight champion and set up a unification bout against Jose Aldo in 2017…
John Locher
John Locher
Edit: A previous version of this article stated that Daniel Cormier defended his title against Anderson Silva. It was in fact a non-title bout.
Blood, sweat and tears: The images that sum up the UFC year
Robbie Lawler and Carlos Condit served up a classic in the first pay-per-view main event of 2016, but it was Lawler who emerged — by the skin of his teeth — with his status as welterweight champion intact thanks to a split-decision victory at UFC 195…
There was one new champion crowned before the end of January, however, as Dominick Cruz got the nod from two of the three judges at UFC Fight Night 81 at the expense of TJ Dillashaw to reclaim the bantamweight title he was stripped of two years earlier due to a series of injuries…
Several popular fighters of past and present passed away this year, including Ryan Jimmo, Josh Samman, Kevin ‘Kimbo Slice’ Ferguson and former heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman…
The UFC returned to London in February and Michael Bisping overcame Anderson Silva to claim the first of several big wins in 2016 in the main event at UFC Fight Night
After lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos withdrew due to injury from his title defence against Conor McGregor, Nate Diaz stepped in to face the Dubliner at UFC 196 in Las Vegas on 5 March…
Miesha Tate submitted Holly Holm in the co-headliner at UFC 196 to become the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion…
And Diaz upset the odds in the main event to end McGregor’s undefeated run in the UFC…
In April, Governor Andrew Cuomo signed into law a measure to allow professional MMA in New York, which led to the abolishment of the ban on the sport in the Empire State…
In April, just over a week before he was due to face Willie Gates at UFC Rotterdam, a rare blood disorder forced Paddy Holohan to bring a premature end to his career…
After being suspended and stripped of his light-heavyweight title due to his involvement in a hit-and-run incident in April 2015, Jon Jones returned at UFC 197 to defeat Ovince Saint-Preux via unanimous decision…
Conor McGregor’s rematch with Nate Diaz was scheduled for UFC 200 in July, but when the Dubliner refused to attend a press conference in Las Vegas and claimed he had retired, the fight was removed from the card…
Instead, a rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier — who had capitalised on Jones’ absence by winning the vacant 205lbs title — was scheduled for the top of the landmark bill in Las Vegas…
But the second meeting of the rivals fell through again when — two days before the fight — Jones was flagged for an anti-doping violation by USADA…
Anderson Silva was drafted in on short notice but Cormier was able to wrestle his way to victory…
Elsewhere on the UFC 200 card, Jose Aldo defeated Frankie Edgar over five rounds for the second time in his career to become ther interim UFC featherweight champion…
WWE star and former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar made a one-night-only return to the octagon to get the better of Mark Hunt, after which he was also flagged for an anti-doping violation…
And the women’s bantamweight title changed hands again as Amanda Nunes submitted Miesha Tate…
Earlier that week, Donegal’s Joseph Duffy bounced back from his defeat to Dustin Poirier in January by taking just 25 seconds to get the better of Mitch Clarke at UFC Fight Night 90…
In the main event, Eddie Alvarez dethroned Rafael Dos Anjos to become UFC lightweight champion. It was one of four upsets in UFC title bouts in the summer, in addition to Stipe Miocic’s defeat of heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum, Michael Bisping’s win against middleweight champion Luke Rockhold and Tyron Woodley’s swift stoppage of welterweight champion Robbie Lawler…
In August, tensions ran high in Las Vegas as Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor prepared to square off for the second time…
But this time there was a different outcome, as McGregor avenged his first defeat in the UFC by earning a majority-decision victory after five gruelling rounds in the main event at UFC 202…
The MMA debut of former WWE star Phil ‘CM Punk’ Brooks finally took place at UFC 203, but Mickey Gall ended it after two minutes and 14 seconds in Cleveland…
On 24 September in her native Brazil, Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino reaffirmed her reputation as the best female fighter in the world with a second-round TKO of Lina Lansberg…
Numbered pay-per-view events returned to Europe in October as the sold-out Manchester Arena played host to UFC 204…
In the main event, Michael Bisping avenged his 2009 loss to Dan Henderson with a unanimous-decision win in his first title defence as middleweight champion, but it was far from easy for the Englishman against the 46-year-old veteran…
After the abolishment of the ban on the sport in New York earlier in the year, Liz Carmouche and Katlyn Chookagian had the honour of competing in the first ever MMA bout at Madison Square Garden when they kicked off the action at UFC 205…
In one of three title fights on the night, Joanna Jedrzejczyk overcame fellow Polish fighter Karolina Kowalkiewicz to remain strawweight champion…
In his first outing as welterweight champion, Tyron Woodley fought to a majority draw against Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson…
And Conor McGregor eased to a second-round stoppage of defending lightweight champion Eddie Alvarez to become the first fighter to hold two UFC belts at the same time… before being stripped of his featherweight strap a fortnight later…
Seven days later, McGregor was in Belfast to cheer his SBG team-mate Artem Lobov on to victory against Teruto Ishihara…
Just 18 months after he was released by the UFC, Tim Elliott pushed Demetrious Johnson all the way at the TUF 24 Finale in Las Vegas…
In the main event at UFC 206 in Toronto, Max Holloway got the better of Anthony Pettis to become the interim featherweight champion and set up a unification bout against Jose Aldo in 2017…
Edit: A previous version of this article stated that Daniel Cormier defended his title against Anderson Silva. It was in fact a non-title bout.
The Irishman who took on Eddie Alvarez long before the rise of Conor McGregor
Owen Roddy never reached the summit but he carved a path for others who did
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