5 worst shows in UFC history

Everyone remembers the best UFC shows – the likes of UFC 189, UFC 40 and UFC 52 helped to shape the promotion and make it into the juggernaut it is today.

Of course, not every show can be as great as those ones – due to the amount of cards the UFC puts on today, most of them are largely forgotten by the time the next big one comes along – but for many fans, the shows that stick out as much as the great ones are the really bad ones.

In all honesty, the UFC doesn’t put on many outright bad shows – the law of averages suggests that there’ll be at least one or two decent fights on any card – but over time, there have definitely been a handful of true stinkers.

As a disclaimer I’ll note that I’m only considering shows after the 2001 Zuffa buyout for this list – it’s almost impossible to compare the old SEG-era shows to today’s ones – and I’m also only considering the ‘numbered’ shows that are usually on pay-per-view, rather than the free-TV Fight Nights.

So without further ado, here are the 5 worst shows in UFC history.

#5 UFC 174: Johnson vs. Bagautinov – 06/14/2014

A weak main event between Demetrious Johnson and Ali Bagautinov helped to make UFC 174 a poor show

2014 was the first year that the term ‘oversaturation’ began to be heavily associated with the UFC, as they put on more and more shows to help to build the newly-launched Fox Sports 1 channel, to the point where it felt like there was a UFC every single week. And with legends like Georges St-Pierre and Anderson Silva gone temporarily, the promotion also hit new lows in terms of a lack of star power.

UFC 174 was the nadir of that year when it came to pay-per-view shows. One of 4 shows (!) in June, the UFC’s third visit to Vancouver was headlined by a Flyweight title fight that saw Demetrious Johnson defend against the tough – but largely unheralded – Ali Bagautinov. It was a largely dull fight that saw Johnson edge out a unanimous decision over the Dagestani import. The undercard wasn’t much better.

The co-main event saw Rory MacDonald beat Tyron Woodley essentially by backing him into the cage with his jab – another unanimous decision – and yet somehow, two of the other three main card fights were even more boring; Ryan Bader pulled a lay-and-pray special to defeat Rafael Feijao while the less said about Andrei Arlovski vs. Brendan Schaub, the better.

A strange opener between Ovince St. Preux and Ryan Jimmo, which ended when Jimmo verbally tapped due to a broken arm, was probably the highlight of the main card, but it wasn’t exactly a good fight either.

Realistically, none of the fights on offer would make a list of the worst in UFC history, but put together they certainly added up to make one of the dullest shows the promotion has ever put on.

#4 UFC 61: Bitter Rivals – 07/08/2006

A dull main event between Tim Sylvia and Andrei Arlovski helped to ruin UFC 61

UFC 61 was one of the most heavily hyped shows of 2006, and was largely built around a double main event of Tito Ortiz facing Ken Shamrock in a long-awaited rematch supported by a season of The Ultimate Fighter, and the third part of a trilogy between UFC Heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia and former champion Andrei Arlovski.

The show actually broke the UFC’s pay-per-view record at the time by drawing around 775,000 buys, but unfortunately, it turned into a damp squib. It didn’t begin badly at all – Joe Stevenson defeated Yves Edwards in a fantastic Lightweight tilt – but it simply went sliding downhill from there.

First, a bloated Frank Mir edged out a decision over Dan Christison in an all-time sloppy Heavyweight bout. Next, we saw Josh Burkman defeat Josh Neer in a thoroughly forgettable Welterweight fight. The show could’ve been saved had the two main events delivered, but unfortunately, they only made things worse.

The Ortiz/Shamrock fight turned into a disaster when referee Herb Dean stepped in prematurely as Ortiz dropped elbows on Shamrock from the guard; Ken immediately protested and the whole building seemed to agree, showering the cage with a chant of “bullsh*t”. In all honesty, they weren’t wrong.

As for Sylvia vs. Arlovski, everyone expected a wild brawl given the events of their first two fights – essentially a combined 3 or so minutes of craziness – but instead, both men looked tentative and treated the crowd to a tepid display of point-fighting that Sylvia edged to retain the title.

It was such a bad show – and the Ortiz/Shamrock result left such a bad taste – that the UFC decided to repay the faith of the fans by putting on an extra show headlined by a third Shamrock/Ortiz fight in October.

#3 UFC 149: Faber vs. Barao – 07/21/2012

UFC 149 felt cursed from the off due to so many injury changes

The debacle that was UFC 149 wasn’t completely the UFC’s fault. It was one of those unfortunate shows that just felt cursed from the off, with a total of 5 fights being either cancelled or changed due to injury.

The UFC’s first visit to Calgary lost its main event of Jose Aldo vs. Erik Koch, and fights like Thiago Silva vs. Shogun Rua and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cheick Kongo became Matt Riddle vs. Chris Clements and James Head vs. Brian Ebersole.

Sometimes shows with less name value turn out to be exciting, but that wasn’t the case here. Riddle vs. Clements was actually pretty good, but from there it felt like the entire show was on a downward spiral. Ebersole gassed early – probably due to taking the fight on such late notice – and his fight with Head descended into a yawner.

The big Heavyweight match between Cheick Kongo and prospect Shawn Jordan was even worse, a boring affair that saw the pair stuck in the clinch for what seemed like years. And then the big debut of former Bellator champ Hector Lombard also turned into a damp squib – he was outpointed by Tim Boetsch in another awful fight with little action.

By the time Renan Barao and Urijah Faber stepped into the Octagon to fight for the interim Bantamweight title, the fans in attendance had simply had enough, and booed the fight from the off as Barao used his leg kicks to pick Faber apart. The sight of him celebrating wildly while the fans showered the cage with boos was a sad sight indeed.

In the end, not only was the show considered the worst of 2012 by some distance – it’s also widely remembered as one of the worst shows in UFC history.

#2 UFC 119: Mir vs. Cro Cop – 09/25/2010

Frank Mir's fight with Mirko Cro Cop was unspeakably dull

On paper at least, UFC 119 didn’t look like a bad card at all. Main evented by one of those classic UFC vs. PRIDE dream matches – Frank Mir vs. Mirko Cro Cop – the undercard featured exciting-sounding stuff like Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens and Matt Serra vs. Chris Lytle.

Somehow though, in execution, the UFC’s first show from Indianapolis was simply diabolical. Stephens and Guillard didn’t fight at all in their usual style, instead of putting on a point-fighting display that saw Guillard edge out a dull decision. Serra vs. Lytle wasn’t bad, but it was painfully clear that Serra was past his best and Lytle simply couldn’t put him away.

The lone good fight on the show was Evan Dunham vs. Sean Sherk – an exciting battle at 155lbs that appeared to be a coming out party for rising star Dunham – except the judges decided to somehow score the fight for Sherk, leaving everyone with a foul taste in their mouths.

Ryan Bader took the co-main event slot alongside Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, and unsurprisingly, it was another fight that went the distance, with Bader just about doing enough with his wrestling and boxing to edge a dull decision over the PRIDE legend.

If the UFC were hoping Mir and Cro Cop would save the show, they were dead wrong. The two men fought at a glacial pace that resembled a sparring match at times, and questions were even asked when it appeared that the two men were chatting while in a clinch.

In the end, there was certainly no funny business going on – Mir knocked Cro Cop silly with a knee late in the third round – but even a tremendous finish couldn’t stop the fight being one of the worst of 2010 – and the show being remembered as an all-time terrible pay-per-view offering from the UFC.

#1 UFC 33: Victory In Vegas – 09/28/2001

The Tito Ortiz-headlined UFC 33 remains the benchmark for bad UFC shows

The UFC’s first ever show in Sin City – hence that goofy subtitle – UFC 33 was also the first show to return to pay-per-view broadcast following the infamous pre-Zuffa ‘Dark Ages’ of the promotion. Unfortunately, the 75,000 fans who ordered the show probably wished they hadn’t bothered.

Zuffa unsurprisingly tried to load the card, booking three title fights – Tito Ortiz vs. Vladimir Matyushenko for the Light-Heavyweight title, Jens Pulver vs. Dennis Hallman for the Lightweight title, and Dave Menne vs. Gil Castillo for the Middleweight title – but that turned out to be their biggest mistake.

Every fight went the distance – including three-round fights between Matt Serra and Yves Edwards and Chuck Liddell and Murilo Bustamante – meaning that by the time the Ortiz/Matyushenko fight was taking place, the broadcast ran over and was cut from pay-per-view, meaning many fans missed the conclusion of the main event – not that it was anything exciting, just another dull judges’ decision.

Due to this incident, it would be over 15 years until the UFC risked three title fights on a pay-per-view card again – they didn’t try it until 2016’s inaugural show in New York, the Conor McGregor-headlined UFC 205.

The worst fight on offer at UFC 33 was undoubtedly Pulver vs. Hallman – a fight largely considered the most inactive title fight in promotional history by longtime fans – but really, nothing set the world alight or was even slightly memorable.

Even years later, Dana White often refers to UFC 33 as the worst show the promotion has ever put on – in a post-fight press conference at the bad UFC 149 show he even quipped that he “felt like he was at UFC 33 again”. And who am I to argue with Dana White? UFC 33 remains the all-time worst show in UFC history.