5 most important Zuffa era UFC events

#4. UFC 129

UFC 129 was another significant event in the Zuffa era. The event was the promotion’s first-ever stadium show as well as their first in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The province had legalized MMA, which allowed the promotion to host in Toronto and the nation’s capital, Ottawa.

The promotion would need star power if they were going to sell out Rogers Centre and that’s exactly what they brought. The main event saw then-welterweight champion and Canadian Georges ‘Rush’ St-Pierre defend his title against former Strikeforce champion Jake Shields.

Th­­­­e main card also featured then-featherweight champion Jose Aldo vs. Mark Hominick and Lyoto Machida vs. Hall of Famer Randy Couture. It was a massive success as 55,724 fans in attendance witnessed GSP end Shield’s 15-fight winning streak. This proved that the promotion was capable of putting on stadium shows. The event also remains the promotion’s largest attendance in North America.

---

#3. UFC 157

UFC 157 marked an important milestone for the promotion. The event was more meaningful than any other pay-per-view. It was the first-time women headlined their event as then-women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey defended against Liz Carmouche. 'Rowdy' made her first successful title defense by submitting Carmouche in 4:49 of the first round.

Dana White had said for years that women wouldn’t compete in the promotion, however, he eventually changed his mind. Rousey’s popularity was a major factor in his decision and it ended up being significant for their long-term success. Since that night, the promotion has expanded their women’s roster and now have four different weight-divisions: featherweight, bantamweight, flyweight, and strawweight.

In addition, the women’s divisions have increased in popularity and overall quality since the promotion invested in women’s MMA. There have been many women’s main events and TUF seasons dedicated to the women.