5 UFC main events that were lacking in star power

This weekend sees the UFC return to its Las Vegas base for another Fight Night show. It’s probably fair to say that the headline bout, Arman Tsarukyan vs. Mateusz Gamrot, lacks some name value.

Over the years we’ve seen numerous examples of UFC main events that lacked star power, and while they didn’t always go down well, they sometimes produced great fights.

Naturally, the promotion sells itself on star power, meaning that a headline bout lacking name value can often frustrate the fans, but it’s definitely cool at times to see prospects given their first chance in the spotlight.

With that in mind, here are five UFC main events that were lacking in star power.

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#5. Yair Rodriguez vs. Alex Caceres – UFC Fight Night 92

Yair Rodriguez vs. Alex Caceres was a curious choice for a headline bout in the promotion's debut in Salt Lake City

When the UFC first announced an event in Salt Lake City, Utah, it was 2010 and the planned headliner was Jon Jones vs. Vladimir Matyushenko. Unfortunately, the event fell through entirely, and it took the promotion another six years before they finally made the trip there.

However, when the event’s headliner was announced, it was somewhat of a head-scratcher. Sure, Yair Rodriguez vs. Alex Caceres sounded like a fun fight between two exciting featherweights, but at the time, ‘El Pantera’ had only fought in the octagon four times.

Caceres had been around longer, but ‘Bruce Leeroy’ had never come close to a headline bout before. With an octagon record of 7-6-1, felt like a journeyman more than an actual contender.

Perhaps the strangest thing of all was that the event did have two top-15-ranked featherweights competing against each other in the form of Cub Swanson vs. Tatsuya Kawajiri, but their fight was hidden on the preliminary card.

In the end, though, Rodriguez and Caceres put on a real show, treating the crowd to five rounds of wild striking exchanges, with ‘El Pantera’ winning a decision. Five months later, he headlined another show against B.J. Penn, and is now seen as one of the featherweight division’s biggest stars.

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#4. Jessica Andrade vs. Amanda Lemos – UFC Fight Night 205

Jessica Andrade's unique submission of Amanda Lemos added some spice to a headliner that lacked name value

Ever since the COVID-19 pandemic forced the UFC to put on a number of behind-closed-doors events at the Las Vegas APEX, the promotion has seemingly been more willing to book headliners with less star power than before.

One such fight came in April 2022, as Jessica Andrade and Amanda Lemos were booked to headline Fight Night 205, a show that came just two weeks after UFC 273, one of the biggest pay-per-views in recent memory.

In this case, Andrade had headlined a handful of shows in her time, most notably defeating Rose Namajunas in a pay-per-view main event for the strawweight title. But she certainly wasn’t a huge name by the usual standards of the promotion.

Lemos, meanwhile, was 5-1 in the octagon but had only ever appeared in one main card bout before, meaning many casual fans had probably never heard of her.

In the end, the hopes were simply that the two women would put on a decent show, even if few fans might be actually watching. Thankfully, Andrade did just that.

‘Bate Estaca’ bossed the fight from the off and eventually managed to submit Lemos with a standing arm triangle choke, marking the first time that the hold had ever been successfully used in UFC history.

The clips of the submission instantly went somewhat viral. Surprisingly enough, it now feels like Andrade is a bigger star than she was even when she was holding strawweight gold.

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#3. Paddy Holohan vs. Louis Smolka – UFC Fight Night 76

A late scramble resulted in the UFC producing a headliner between Paddy Holohan and Louis Smolka

Some of the UFC’s weaker-sounding headline bouts were not actually planned to be in the main event spot. They were simply elevated there due to some unforeseen circumstances. That was the case when Paddy Holohan’s flyweight bout with Louis Smolka ended up headlining the promotion’s trip to Dublin in 2015.

Initially, the show was supposed to feature a lightweight headliner between the surging Dustin Poirier and local fighter Joseph Duffy, who had gone 2-0 in the octagon and was gunning for a rematch with Conor McGregor, who he’d beaten prior to ‘The Notorious’ becoming a mega-star.

However, when Duffy suffered a concussion three days before the fight was supposed to take place, Poirier refused any replacements that were offered to him, including Norman Parke. So, the event was suddenly left without a headliner at all.

The UFC were forced to scramble and with no other options remaining, decided to elevate Holohan vs. Smolka into the spot, clearly banking on Holohan’s popularity with the Dublin crowd being enough to power the event.

When it came to fight time, the fans were into Holohan, but not quite enough to inspire him to a win, as Smolka submitted him in the second round.

The fight also didn’t inspire the interest that the promotion’s previous trip to Dublin – complete with a McGregor headline bout – had done, and they have not returned since.

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#2. Jessica Eye vs. Cynthia Calvillo – UFC on ESPN 10

The COVID-19 pandemic forced the UFC to book some weaker headliners, including Cynthia Calvillo vs. Jessica Eye

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit the globe in early 2020, like most professional sports, the UFC was forced into hibernation for some time.

The promotion put on one final show in Brazil on March 14, and initially planned to continue as usual. It quickly became apparent that wouldn’t be possible, and so all their future events were put on ice shortly after.

In the end, the promotion’s first show back came on May 9, eight weeks after their last one. With such a huge gap, it immediately became clear that they’d need to produce a series of quickfire events in order to give the fighters their contracted bouts. So, in late May, they returned to Las Vegas for a series of behind-closed-doors cards.

One such card ended up being headlined by Jessica Eye and Cynthia Calvillo in a main event that seriously lacked star power. Sure, both women were talented fighters, but neither had headlined before and neither was in title contention, either.

To tell the truth, though, neither the UFC nor the fans appeared to care. At the time, everyone was just glad to be able to see some action after such a lengthy gap and even though the fight disappointed and turned out to be a dull affair, there were few complaints.

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#1. Charles Oliveira vs. Max Holloway – UFC Fight Night 74

Max Holloway and Charles Oliveira headlined an event before either man became a star

Right now, the promotion has few bigger stars than Charles Oliveira and Max Holloway. While he no longer holds the lightweight title thanks to a weight-cutting error, Oliveira is widely recognized as the world’s best 155lber, while Holloway is set to fight for the featherweight title in a few weeks and will be looking to begin his second reign as champion.

However, back in 2015, UFC fans across the world were angered when the promotion announced that a clash between the two featherweights would be headlining their first ever trip to the Canadian province of Saskatchewan.

At the time, both men were on solid win streaks, but neither was seen as a true title contender, and neither man had ever headlined an event before. More to the point, they just lacked the kind of name value that the UFC had traditionally used to break into a new market.

Hardcore fans, though, were definitely excited about the clash, particularly because both men had ridiculous finishing rates, meaning that a dull bout seemed highly unlikely.

Unfortunately, while the fight did finish before the final buzzer, it didn’t go down how anyone would’ve hoped. Oliveira suffered a severe throat injury, forcing a stoppage after just over a minute of action.

While both men have since gone onto massive success, practically justifying the UFC’s decision to push them so hard back then, the fight tends to be remembered as one of the worst headliners in the promotion’s history.