5 biggest disappointments in the UFC in 2024 feat. Jon Jones and Islam Makhachev

It's probably fair to say that for the UFC, 2024 was a good year. Not only did the promotion put on some excellent fights, but they made history on a number of occasions too.

Not everything in 2024 was rosy for the UFC, though, the world's biggest MMA promotion faced some disappointments along the way.

While some of these disappointments were self-inflicted, a few were definitely out of the hands of Dana White and company.

Here are the five biggest disappointments in the UFC in 2024.

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#5. Muhammad Mokaev's UFC release

Earlier this month, UFC flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja defended his title for the third time by submitting debutant Kai Asakura. In the aftermath, the immediate question centered around who would be next for 'The Cannibal'.

Two names were mooted, in the form of Brandon Royval and Manel Kape. Both men are excellent fighters, but realistically, the fighter who should been next in line is Muhammad Mokaev.

'The Punisher' took his overall record to 13-0 by defeating Kape in the summer, a win that was also his sixth in the octagon.

However, instead of netting him a title shot, the UK-based fighter was instead released from his contract following the win.

Quite why this happened remains somewhat of a mystery, as despite Dana White suggesting he was PFL-bound, Mokaev has since signed with Brave CF. He's also stated that his goal remains to return to the UFC.

Rumors persist that Mokaev was a "problem" of sorts backstage, but nothing has really been proven. Given that Pantoja is in desperate need of a fresh challenger right now, the fact that such a dangerous contender was let go by the promotion must be considered disappointing.

Hopefully, 2025 can see Mokaev return to the octagon.

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#4. Pound-for-pound king Islam Makhachev only fought once

The UFC prides itself on being the promotion where the best fight the best, and with the odd exception, that's usually the case.

Unfortunately, the promotion's pound-for-pound top ranked fighter was essentially out of action for the majority of 2024, something that has to be seen as a disappointment.

Islam Makhachev came into the year on a high after knocking out Alexander Volkanovski last October to make the second successful defense of his lightweight crown.

However, fans then had to wait until June for him to compete again. While nobody could complain about his thrilling fifth round submission win over Dustin Poirier, it wouldn't be unfair to label his lengthy absence frustrating.

Worse still, Makhachev also suffered a severe hand injury during the Poirier fight, leaving him on the shelf for the remainder of the year.

Makhachev remains ranked at the top of the pound-for-pound lists, but another year that sees him only fight once ought to see him slip from that lofty perch.

The Dagestani is currently scheduled to return in January to face Arman Tsarukyan in his next defense. Fans will be hoping that win, lose or draw, we get to see him at least two, if not three times in 2025.

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#3. There were too many inconsequential APEX events

2024 undoubtedly featured a number of high-level, marquee events. From April's blockbuster UFC 300 - one of the most loaded cards in MMA history - to September's groundbreaking debut at the Las Vegas Sphere, the year featured some unforgettable shows.

Unfortunately, though, at times, the promotion once again spread itself far too thinly. In total, 2024 featured 17 smaller Fight Night events at the Las Vegas APEX.

While some of these events featured fun fights, the majority of them were inconsequential and featured throwaway headline bouts.

No offense to any of the fighters involved, but did anyone need to see five round headliners between Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Shamil Gaziev, or Amanda Lemos and Virna Jandiroba?

Sure, these events still earn the promotion money thanks to its deal with ESPN, but in reality, there's an argument that they harm the product overall by watering it down. With so many events to keep up with, many fans have now seemingly checked out entirely.

If the promotion were to cut some of these APEX events, too, their other cards could easily be filled with better fights top-to-bottom.

Hopefully, 2025 will be the year that we see less inconsequential events - but realistically, nobody should hold their breath hoping this will happen.

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#2. The UFC's insistence on Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic

2023 ended in interesting fashion for the UFC's heavyweight division.

Jon Jones - who claimed the title vacated by Francis Ngannou earlier that year - was forced out of his planned title defense against Stipe Miocic due to injury. With Miocic unwilling to fight a replacement, Tom Aspinall instead knocked out Sergei Pavlovich to claim an interim title.

Coming into 2024, then, especially when it became apparent that Jones wouldn't be ready to return quickly, most fans hoped that the promotion would pursue a unification bout between 'Bones' and Aspinall.

Instead, Dana White and the company's insistence on the 'legacy fight' between Jones and Miocic quickly became one of the year's biggest disappointments.

By the time the fight came around in November, not only did nobody really want to see it, but it'd also been more than three years since Miocic's last bout and more than four since his last win.

Unsurprisingly for someone who'd turned 42 in August, the former champ looked horribly rusty and slow, and was easily dispatched by Jones in the third round.

With Jones' willingness to fight Aspinall still up in the air going into 2025, it's hard not to view his bout with Miocic as a bit of a waste.

Realistically, the UFC should have forced the hand of 'Bones' when Aspinall claimed his interim title, and the fact that they instead allowed him to essentially pick his opponent is definitely one of the year's biggest disappointments.

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#1. Conor McGregor goes another year without fighting

While he's undoubtedly a controversial figure, it's hard to deny that Conor McGregor remains the biggest star in UFC history.

'The Notorious' has been responsible for most of the promotion's biggest-selling pay-per-views since his meteoric rise a decade ago, and 2024 was supposed to be his big comeback year.

McGregor has not fought since suffering a severe leg injury in his loss to Dustin Poirier in the summer of 2021. 2023 was supposed to see him return to fight Michael Chandler, but for various reasons, the fight never panned out.

However, when the bout between the Irishman and 'Iron' was announced as UFC 303's headliner, fans began to get excited about the prospect of his return.

Unfortunately, they were left disappointed when a toe injury forced him out of the clash.

Since then, not only has there been no word of McGregor's return, but he's found himself in legal hot water after being found liable for a 2018 sexual assault in a civil lawsuit case.

At this stage, it's honestly hard to tell whether McGregor will ever return to the octagon, but at the age of 36, time may be running out for him.

Overall, then, another year passing without 'The Notorious' competing is easily the most disappointing thing of 2024.