5 greatest non-pay-per-view events in UFC history

#2. UFC Fight Night 143: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw (2019)

Henry Cejudo started the ESPN era with a bang by taking out TJ Dillashaw in 2019

When the UFC made the move to ESPN in 2019, it was the culmination of a dream that Dana White and company had had for years: breaking the promotion, and the sport of MMA, into the biggest mainstream sports network in the US.

Despite their first show with the network coming on the ESPN+ streaming service, the promotion stacked it to high heaven, even sacrificing a pay-per-view in the form of UFC 233 to beef it up.

In the end, this stacked card delivered hugely. Nearly every one of the 13 fights on offer produced ridiculous action. Incredibly, nine of them ended before the final buzzer.

The headliner – a champion vs. champion bout which pitted flyweight kingpin Henry Cejudo against his bantamweight equivalent T.J. Dillashaw – didn’t last long, but ended with a bang, as ‘Triple C’ turned out Dillashaw’s lights after just 32 seconds.

Elsewhere, controversial former NFL star Greg Hardy was disqualified in his octagon debut, while the likes of Glover Teixeira, Paige VanZant, Donald Cerrone and Cory Sandhagen all picked up highly impressive finishes.

Overall, this event was fantastic from top to bottom. It was not only a great way to start the UFC’s ESPN era, it remains one of the promotion’s best non-pay-per-view cards, too.

---

#1. UFC on Fox: dos Anjos vs. Cowboy 2 (2015)

The UFC's Fox era peaked with its 17th event on the network, headlined by Rafael Dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone

The UFC produced plenty of tremendous shows during its seven-year relationship with the Fox network. The best of the lot was probably the promotion’s 17th event to air in prime time, an event that took place in December 2015.

The show was headlined by a lightweight title bout between champion Rafael dos Anjos and challenger Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, who was riding a lengthy eight-fight win streak. The co-headliner saw a long-awaited grudge match between heavyweight stars Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem.

In the end, Overeem and dos Anjos came away with their hands raised in those fights, with both men delivering knockouts that were amongst the most memorable of the year.

This event didn’t just have those two outstanding fights, though. It also featured tremendous finishes for Vicente Luque, Nate Marquardt and future lightweight champ Charles Oliveira, the first meeting between Kamaru Usman and Leon Edwards, and impressive octagon debuts from two future champions in Valentina Shevchenko and Francis Ngannou.

Add in a classic Nate Diaz performance that saw him pick apart Michael Johnson before unleashing his much-quoted promo on Conor McGregor, and this show is basically untouchable. Simply put, it’s up there with the best UFC shows of all time.