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As the biggest MMA promotion in the world, the UFC naturally always attempts to put together not just the best fights, but the most exciting too.
The UFC will often attempt to guarantee a slugfest by booking one exciting fighter against another, but at times, such fights turn out to be a major disappointment.
At the end of the day, MMA is a highly unpredictable sport in which anything can happen, and so while being treated to a staring contest after expecting a slugfest can be frustrating, it’s always possible.
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So with this considered, here are five times the UFC booked a potential slugfest, only for it to fail to live up to the hype.
#5. Tim Sylvia vs. Andrei Arlovski – UFC 61
When the UFC booked a third fight between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski for the UFC heavyweight title at UFC 61, both the promotion and the fans understandably expected fireworks.
After all, the first two clashes between the two men had been wild. The first meeting saw Arlovski win in less than a minute after flooring Sylvia with a punch and then submitting him with an Achilles lock.
The second, meanwhile, was even more dramatic, as Sylvia somehow recovered from a brutal knockdown to land an uppercut that knocked ‘The Pitbull’ silly, winning him the UFC heavyweight title in the process.
However, those first two fights seemed to have made both men wary of the other’s punching power. And that meant that when it came to the third fight, neither fighter really wanted to commit all that much.
And so at UFC 61, fans already angered by a controversial stoppage in a fight between Tito Ortiz and Ken Shamrock ended up being treated to plenty of staring, feinting and circling, but very little in the way of actual action. To say they were frustrated would be an understatement.
In the end, Sylvia was awarded a unanimous decision in one of the worst five-round fights in UFC history. Strangely though, it was ‘The Maine-iac’ rather than Arlovski whose reputation was damaged for good, as the fans viewed him as a dull fighter for the remainder of his UFC tenure.
#4. Gray Maynard vs. Clay Guida – UFC on FX 4
From the moment he debuted in the UFC in late 2006, through his classic wars with opponents like Diego Sanchez, Roger Huerta and Tyson Griffin, Clay Guida was always renowned as an exciting fighter to watch.
And so when the UFC matched him with Gray Maynard, who was coming off a pair of instant classics with Frankie Edgar, in the main event of their fourth show on FX in 2012, fans were definitely buzzing.
Unfortunately, anyone anticipating a slugfest in this fight turned out to be painfully mistaken. And strangely enough, it appeared to be Guida who was largely to blame.
‘The Carpenter’ decided to unleash an odd gameplan that involved a lot of circling and dancing around on the outside, complete with plenty of bizarre head movement, but it didn’t really involve attacking Maynard.
And while ‘The Bully’ did his best to corral Guida, chasing him at one point, earning a warning for hair pulling and even begging ‘The Carpenter’ to hit him, it didn’t seem to work.
By the third round the crowd seemed furious, but it didn’t put Guida off his gameplan, despite the fact that he appeared to be losing the fight.
In the end, the fight went to a split decision that was won by a disgusted Maynard, who was clearly expecting a slugfest. Guida did go onto some more big UFC wins, but his reputation with the fans never really recovered.
#3. Rashad Evans vs. Rampage Jackson – UFC 114
When bitter rivals Rashad Evans and Rampage Jackson finally signed on to do battle at UFC 114, UFC fans were convinced that they were about to see a brawl for the ages.
After all, the two light heavyweight stars seemingly despised one another, with their rivalry coming to a head during their coaching stint on TUF 10.
The two fighters had to be physically separated more than once, and the kind of insults they’d slung at one another were almost unheard of in UFC history, with Evans even reportedly labeling Jackson an “Uncle Tom” at one point.
However, despite the fight beginning with a bang – Rashad stunned Rampage with a jackhammer right hand in the opening seconds of the first round – it quickly degenerated into a dull outing, essentially because Evans realized he could easily wear his foe out in the clinch.
Evans set about simply outgrappling Jackson rather than brawling with him, and despite the fans showing their disappointment, ‘Suga’ was clearly more focused on winning than anything else.
A brief third-round comeback from Rampage couldn’t save the day, and Evans won a clear-cut decision, albeit in a fight that couldn’t have been much more disappointing after such an epic build.
#2. Israel Adesanya vs. Yoel Romero – UFC 248
When the UFC decided to book Israel Adesanya’s first UFC middleweight title defense against Yoel Romero at UFC 248 in early 2020, fans were excited, despite Romero actually coming off a loss at the time.
The excitement was understandable, of course. Adesanya looked like the most exciting fighter in the UFC and was coming off his title win over Robert Whittaker, while Romero had been in countless classic fights in his seven years with the UFC. Even his loss to Paulo Costa was a tremendous battle.
However, Romero – admittedly always an eccentric fighter – clearly wasn’t interested in trading with a striker as skilled as ‘The Last Stylebender’. Unfortunately, in turn, Adesanya didn’t want to risk wading in with strikes against a fighter as powerful as his Cuban foe.
Instead, the two middleweights traded low kicks, glancing punches and taunts for basically all five rounds, with the bizarre fight going the distance with just 88 strikes landed in total.
Adesanya was eventually awarded a unanimous decision win, and somehow escaped with his reputation intact, probably because fans forgot about the fight so quickly due to the COVID-19 pandemic that followed.
Romero, on the other hand, would never fight in the UFC again, as he was surprisingly cut from his contract later in 2020 and ended up joining Bellator.
#1. Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou – UFC 226
UFC fans hoping that Derrick Lewis beats Ciryl Gane at UFC 265 this weekend in order to set up a fight with UFC heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou would do well to remember this disappointing clash from 2018.
Lewis, who is the most prolific knockout artist in UFC heavyweight history with 12 stoppages to his name, was expected to produce fireworks alongside ‘The Predator’ when they met at UFC 226. The chances of both men leaving the octagon conscious seemed minimal.
However, ‘The Black Beast’ smartly decided to play the counter game, rightly wary of Ngannou’s power. The only problem was that Ngannou simply didn’t seem willing to play ball at all.
Coming off the first loss of his MMA career at the hands of Stipe Miocic, the Cameroon native seemed completely gunshy, and wasn’t willing to engage with Lewis at all.
Instead, the heavyweights put on a staring contest with the odd glancing blow, something that turned out to be enough to win Lewis a disappointing decision.
The fight overall was dire, though, and the reputations of both men took a major dent. Thankfully, both men had enough future knockouts in their arsenal to rebuild.
