10 big UFC fights that failed to deliver

#4: Tyron Woodley vs. Stephen Thompson, UFC 209

Tyron Woodley's rematch with Stephen Thompson was incredibly dull

The first meeting between UFC Welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and top contender Stephen Thompson at UFC 205 wasn’t the most exciting fight of all time, but it certainly had its moments – largely a wild fourth round that saw Woodley have Thompson on the verge of being knocked out. ‘Wonderboy’ survived though and did enough for the fight to be called a draw, and so a rematch was booked for UFC 209 four months later.

By the time the rematch came around, the fact that the original fight had lots of slow points seemed to be forgotten, as the UFC did such a good job with their hype videos, which made the first meeting look like an all-time classic. This rematch though was anything but.

Both Woodley and Thompson came out with defensive gameplans – evidently respecting the other’s skills following the first meeting – and so we ended up with what was essentially a 25-minute staring contest, as they refused to engage and spent most of the fight circling around the Octagon while feinting.

Eventually, Woodley landed a huge knockdown in the fifth round and almost put Thompson away in the waning seconds, and that was enough for the judges to award him a decision. Despite retaining his title though, Woodley probably lost more fans than he gained due to the dull nature of the fight – which goes down as one of the most disappointing in UFC history.