5 of the craziest finishes in UFC history

#3 Matt Hughes vs. Carlos Newton – UFC 34 – 11/02/2001

Matt Hughes and Carlos Newton's first fight saw a finish so crazy that WWE ripped it off

This was a finish so crazy and so controversial that WWE actually decided to rip it off about six months later, and it warranted a rematch less than a year after the initial fight.

The fight in question saw UFC Welterweight champion Carlos Newton – who’d dethroned longtime champ Pat Miletich a few months beforehand – making his first defence against Miletich protégé and brutally powerful wrestler Matt Hughes.

The first round of the fight was an outright classic; the sheer strength of Hughes against the slick technique of Newton, and it was hard to split the two – Hughes took Newton down with some high-impact slams, but found himself outgrappled and even mounted at one point. Going into the second, the best the fans could’ve hoped for was more of the same.

Somehow, they got even more than that. Hughes delivered another trademark slam to begin the round, but before he could land some ground-and-pound, Newton threw his legs up and caught the challenger in a triangle choke.

Unable to free himself, Hughes did the only thing that seemed to make sense to him – and lifted Newton up into the air while still caught in the hold.

Newton ended up propped against the cage in mid-air, but still continued to tighten the choke – and as the blood supply to his brain was cut off, Hughes collapsed to the ground – taking Newton with him.

The two men crashed to the canvas and for a second, it looked like referee ‘Big’ John McCarthy didn’t know quite what to do as it appeared that both fighters were unconscious. That was until Hughes came around first – and was promptly awarded the fight – and title.

Post-fight even Hughes couldn’t believe what had happened, while Newton’s team protested that as both men had been unconscious, the fight should’ve been deemed a No Contest.

Hughes was able to settle things by beating Newton in a rematch a year later, but the finish to that fight was nowhere near as crazy as this one – which remains a unique ending in UFC history almost 20 years later.