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In a week’s time, UFC fans across the world will be counting down the days until UFC 267, an event that looks like potentially one of the best of 2021.
In the United States at least, the UFC has always traditionally put their biggest shows on pay-per-view, but that hasn’t always been the case. UFC 267 will air for free in the U.S., at least for subscribers of the ESPN+ streaming service.
However, it won’t be the first huge show that the world’s biggest MMA promotion has given away for practically nothing.
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With that in mind, here are five times that the UFC gave their fans pay-per-view-level events for free.
#5. UFC 267: Jan Blachowicz vs. Glover Teixeira
UFC 267 undoubtedly looks like one of the most loaded cards in recent memory. Due to take place in Abu Dhabi on October 30, the only reason that this mega-event isn’t ranked higher on this list is that there may still be last-minute changes to the card, something that feels inevitable for any UFC show at this point.
UFC 267 features two title fights, with the main event being a light heavyweight title clash between champion Jan Blachowicz and challenger Glover Teixeira. With a combined age of 79, the two make for one of the oldest title fights in UFC history, but should still give the fans an epic slugfest.
The co-main event, meanwhile, will see two of the UFC’s best 135lbers, Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen, doing battle for the interim UFC bantamweight title. Based on their previous fights, it’s highly likely that this clash could be a classic.
The rest of the card, meanwhile, is filled with high-level talent. Eyeballs are sure to be on the lightweight battle between Dan Hooker and Islam Makhachev, while the return of Khamzat Chimaev is also guaranteed some attention too.
Add in fights involving the likes of Magomed Ankalaev, Alexander Volkov and Amanda Ribas, and this one looks like an event for the ages. Essentially, were this a pay-per-view card, it’d be well worth parting with $70 to see.
#4. UFC on Fox: Benson Henderson vs. Nate Diaz
After three years of events on the ESPN network, albeit with a COVID-19 sized caveat, it’s probably fair to suggest that the UFC’s free-TV cards on Fox were stronger than the ones currently being produced by the promotion.
One of the strongest events the UFC produced for Fox came in December 2012. The main card saw just four fights scheduled, but they were among the most intriguing that the promotion had put together that entire year.
The main event saw Benson Henderson successfully defend his UFC lightweight title against Nate Diaz in a five-round thriller. The clash surprisingly enough still remains Diaz’s only attempt at claiming UFC gold.
The best fight of the night, meanwhile, came between light heavyweights ‘Shogun’ Rua and Alexander Gustafsson. The back-and-forth fight was eventually edged by the Swede, who moved up to the elite level in style thanks to his victory.
The final two fights were more one-sided, albeit no less entertaining. In the opener, Matt Brown delivered a truly brutal knockout to take out veteran Mike Swick, while Rory MacDonald beat down former UFC welterweight champion B.J. Penn in what was a seminal fight for him.
Overall, this was easily a pay-per-view-level card, with the top four fights being worthy of any of the UFC’s biggest events of 2012.
#3. UFC 70: Nations Collide
Prior to April 2007 and ignoring the promotion’s ‘Dark Ages’ during the cable ban, all of the UFC’s numbered events had traditionally been shown on pay-per-view. That all changed when the UFC returned to the UK for the first time in five years with UFC 70: Nations Collide.
Not wishing to make fans pay for a tape-delayed pay-per-view, the UFC instead decided to show the event for free in the US on Spike TV. However, despite making this decision, the promotion still loaded the card up like it was any other major event.
UFC 70 featured some of the promotion’s biggest stars at the time, with names like Mirko Cro Cop, Andrei Arlovski, Michael Bisping and Cheick Kongo all in action.
Former Pride FC star and future UFC heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum also made his debut in Manchester. The show was also initially pegged to feature a huge fight at 205 pounds between Forrest Griffin and Lyoto Machida before Griffin withdrew citing an injury.
In the end, the event drew over 15,000 fans to the MEN Arena and was a huge hit on Spike TV, with 3.5 million viewers tuning in to see Cro Cop suffer a major upset defeat to Gabriel Gonzaga in the show’s main event.
Following it, the UFC would air a number of its UK shows on Spike TV, but none were quite as stacked as UFC 70 was.
#2. UFC Fight Night 14: Anderson Silva vs. James Irvin
When clothing company Affliction decided to throw their hat into the world of MMA promoting in 2008, they immediately became the biggest threat to the UFC’s market domination.
Signing a number of high-level fighters such as Fedor Emelianenko, Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski, Affliction announced that their first event would take place on July 19, 2008. In response, the UFC announced that they would produce their own event on the same night, airing it for free on Spike TV.
Naturally, the UFC couldn’t risk coming out second-best in this war. So, despite their show being a free-TV one, they brought out plenty of big guns for what would become UFC Fight Night 14.
In the main event, UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva, then considered the best pound-for-pound fighter on the planet, stepped up to 205 pounds for the first time to knock out James Irvin in another highlight-reel moment.
Elsewhere on the card, future UFC champions Frankie Edgar and Cain Velasquez both picked up victories, while Anthony Johnson and Brandon Vera were also in action.
Overall, the event delivered plenty of action. It also delivered in terms of television ratings, too, drawing 3.8 million viewers at its peak. The UFC’s intentions may not have been noble here, but the fans still benefitted hugely.
#1: UFC on Fox: Rafael dos Anjos vs. Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone II
As mentioned earlier, the UFC aired a number of pay-per-view-level events on the Fox network during their years with the broadcaster. Arguably the strongest of those shows came in December 2015.
The promotion gave away a title fight in the main event, as Rafael dos Anjos successfully defended his UFC lightweight crown against Donald Cerrone, finishing ‘Cowboy’ violently in the first round. Overall, the depth of this event was insane.
The co-main event saw heavyweight rivals Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos finally face off after a lengthy wait, with Overeem winning by knockout.
Meanwhile, Nate Diaz made his first UFC appearance in a year, defeating Michael Johnson in an entertaining bout that opened the door for his clashes with Conor McGregor in 2016.
The rest of the card was equally stacked, with no fewer than four future UFC champions in action. Charles Oliveira, Valentina Shevchenko, Kamaru Usman and Francis Ngannou all won key fights.
Essentially, this was a ridiculously deep card by anyone’s standards and was far superior to many of the pay-per-views that the UFC produced in 2015. Six years later, it remains the gold standard for the UFC giving a pay-per-view-level event away for free.
