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#2. Ronda Rousey vs. Holly Holm – UFC 193
When the UFC headed to Melbourne’s huge Etihad Stadium for the first time in November 2015, they broke the promotion’s attendance record by filling the building with 56,214 fans.
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The event was always likely to draw a major crowd, but the truth is that most of those fans were in attendance to watch Ronda Rousey.
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The reigning UFC bantamweight queen began her career with the promotion in early 2013 and had quickly shot to fame thanks to her combative attitude, good looks and incredible grappling abilities.
By the time she headed to Melbourne, she’d already reeled off five successful title defenses and had dispatched her last three challengers in just over a minute combined. Because of this, nobody was really giving challenger Holly Holm a shot at beating her, despite her expert striking skills.
However, all of those fans were in for a major surprise in what would go down as one of the UFC’s all-time greatest upsets, as ‘The Preacher’s Daughter’ played the matador to Rousey’s bull for two rounds.
‘Rowdy’ seemed to have fallen in love with her stand-up game, but it was always too wild to catch a pinpoint striker like Holm. As she attempted to charge in with haymakers, the challenger began to pick her apart with counters.
When the first round ended, it was clear that Rousey was in trouble and needed to change up her gameplan. Instead, she continued to charge in and after being hurt by a punch, she essentially walked directly into a head kick that knocked her senseless, ending her run as champion in an instant.
The fight sent shockwaves across the globe, as the seemingly unbeatable champion was completely embarrassed. Rousey would fight just one more time and while Holm’s reign as champion didn’t last for long, she would always have Melbourne.
#1. Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva – UFC Fight Night 33
Undoubtedly the best UFC fight to ever take place in Australia happened at one of the final events of 2013. The headliner of that Fight Night show saw a pair of heavyweights throw down in one of the wildest brawls in octagon history. Incredibly, when all was said and done, nothing was really settled.
The fight in question saw local favorite Mark Hunt take on former title challenger Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva. With both men coming off losses, neither could afford to back down an inch.
The first round saw both men exchange heavy blows. Surprisingly, it was ‘Bigfoot’ who landed first, dropping Hunt with a right hand that ‘The Super Samoan’ managed to recover from to get back to his feet.
The second round, in turn, saw Silva extend his lead on the scorecards, using some hefty low kicks to hurt the former K-1 star, buckling his leg on more than one occasion. However, those first two rounds couldn’t prepare anyone for what was about to happen next.
Hunt decided to come out swinging in the third round. While ‘Bigfoot’ was more than happy to oblige, it didn’t take long for ‘The Super Samoan’ to find his range. He dropped the Brazilian with a crushing right hand and hammered him with a series of brutal punches in an attempt to finish him, only for Silva to somehow survive.
From there, things got even crazier, with both men landing some monstrous bombs to the other and both hitting the deck more than once and coming close to finishing the other. By the fifth round, they were both exhausted, appearing to be wading through treacle, but neither fighter would give any quarter. When the final buzzer sounded, both were bloody and beaten, but not broken.
In the end, one judge decided to go for Hunt, but the other two declared the bout a draw, which was probably the fairest result in the end after a ridiculous amount of action.
The UFC naturally decided to book a rematch two years later, but unsurprisingly, they couldn’t recapture the magic and Hunt swiftly finished Silva by knockout. Regardless, though, this fight remains arguably the best fight in heavyweight history, and stands as the UFC’s best in Australia.
