5 of the wildest post-fight celebrations in UFC history

#2. Jose Aldo vs. Chad Mendes – UFC 142

Jose Aldo celebrated in the crowd after his big win over Chad Mendes in 2012

When Jose Aldo stepped into the octagon at UFC 142 to face Chad Mendes, he was understandably excited. After all, the reigning featherweight kingpin had not fought in his home country of Brazil since 2007, five years earlier.

At that stage, of course, Aldo was little more than a prospect. Coming into his fight with Mendes, on the other hand, he was not only seen as the best featherweight in the world and one of the sport’s best pound-for-pound fighters, but he was also one of Brazil’s biggest superstars.

Mendes was expected to be Aldo’s toughest test to date. In reality, despite all of his skills, ‘Money’ never stood a chance against the fired-up Brazilian, who was competing in front of his home crowd for the first time in a while.

As the first round ticked towards its end, Aldo caught the challenger with a vicious knee that sent him crashing to the ground and quickly finished him off with some added strikes.

It was time to celebrate and in a wild scene, rather than stay in the octagon with his team, Aldo leapt over the fence and sprinted directly into the crowd, who mobbed him, leaving the UFC’s security team completely unsure of what to do.

Eventually, Aldo, who was seen holding a flag with the badge of his favorite soccer team, Flamengo, was brought back into the octagon. By that point, he’d turned himself into a bigger superstar in Brazil than ever before.

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#1. Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Conor McGregor – UFC 229

Khabib Nurmagomedov celebrated in truly insane fashion after his win over Conor McGregor

While it’s possible to suggest that Khabib Nurmagomedov’s antics after his win over Conor McGregor at UFC 229 shouldn’t really count as a “celebration” per say, there’s no disputing the fact that the scenes that followed the bout were some of the wildest in MMA history.

Simply put, nothing like this had ever been seen in the history of the UFC. To tell the truth, it’s unlikely that we’ll ever see anything close to it ever again.

The fight had arguably more hype on it than any fight in the promotion’s history in the first place. McGregor, the biggest star in the sport, and Nurmagomedov had been at one another’s throats on social media for years.

To add to that, the unsavory incident that saw ‘The Notorious’ attack a bus carrying Khabib and his team to an earlier event only added fuel to the fire. So, when the two finally met with the lightweight title on the line, fireworks were guaranteed.

Khabib went onto dominate the Irishman en route to a fourth-round submission win, but when the fight was over, the Dagestani was clearly still fired up. So rather than celebrate, he leapt over the cage and into the crowd to attack McGregor’s teammate Dillon Danis.

Suddenly, all hell broke loose, and while security attempted to pull ‘The Eagle’ back, McGregor got into a brawl with two of the Dagestani’s cornermen, with punches openly being exchanged.

Eventually, cooler heads prevailed, but the scene had become so chaotic that Khabib was unable to be presented with the lightweight title belt.

The incident landed both Khabib and McGregor, as well as some of their teammates, suspensions from the Nevada State Athletic Commission. While the UFC were quick to condemn the debacle, it was hard not to be entertained by the wild scenes.