5 of the most forgettable UFC events of 2021 so far

#4. UFC Fight Night: Cannonier vs. Gastelum – August 21st 2021

Jared Cannonier's win over Kelvin Gastelum headlined a largely forgettable show

This UFC Fight Night show from late August was another one that lacked depth in terms of name value. On paper, it did appear to have some interesting matchups.

With the likes of Kelvin Gastelum, Jared Cannonier, Vinc Pichel and Alexandre Pantoja in action, this felt like it could have been a truly action-packed event. Unfortunately, that wasn’t the case.

Things didn’t start badly at all. The prelims delivered four straight finishes, with one of them – Ignacio Bahamondes’ wheel kick knockout of Roosevelt Roberts – being among the best of 2021.

However, once the main card got started, things slowed down dramatically. Outside of Pantoja’s second round submission of Brandon Royval, we were treated to just one more finish – and even that came with just seconds remaining in the final round.

More to the point, fights like the heavyweight clash between Parker Porter and Chase Sherman, as well as Pichel’s fight with Austin Hubbard, were thoroughly skippable.

The headliner, meanwhile, wasn’t bad per say, but it definitely didn’t deliver the kind of action that we’d seen Gastelum and Cannonier produce in some of their previous outings in the octagon, making this one of 2021’s most forgettable events.

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#3. UFC Fight Night: Ladd vs. Dumont – October 16th 2021

UFC Fight Night: Ladd vs. Dumont featured a large number of last-minute card changes

In terms of weak main events, a clash between Aspen Ladd and Norma Dumont in the UFC’s already-thin featherweight division probably tops the list for 2021.

Of course, this wasn’t the fault of either fighter, or the fault of the UFC. This event was supposed to be headlined by a bout between Ketlen Vieira and Miesha Tate, only for the fight to fall through with four weeks to go when Tate contracted COVID-19.

Dumont was then pegged to headline against Holly Holm, only for ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ to withdraw, leaving Ladd to step in and save the show on a week's notice.

Interest levels remained remarkably low for the event, most likely because it came just two weeks before UFC 267, one of the most anticipated and stacked cards of the year.

Those UFC fans who chose to skip the show didn’t miss a lot either. Dumont’s win over Ladd went the distance and was uneventful to say the least.

While it was cool to see veterans Andrei Arlovski and Jim Miller pull off wins, Miller’s knockout of Erick Gonzalez was probably the only memorable moment on the entire card.