The 10 greatest UFC fights of the last decade (2010-2019)

2018: Yair Rodriguez vs Chan Sung Jung – UFC Fight Night 139

Yair Rodriguez finished Chan Sung Jung with one second to go in a true classic.

The UFC’s 25th anniversary show, UFC Fight Night 139 needed a big main event to really push it into classic territory, and UFC fans were definitely given that in the form of the wild brawl between Yair Rodriguez and Chan Sung Jung – the best fight of 2018.

Both men came in with a reputation for putting on incredibly exciting fights, and they didn’t disappoint, exchanging strikes from the opening minute of the fight right until the final minute of the fifth round. Early on it appeared that ‘The Korean Zombie’ had the edge, landing the sharper punches by using his jab to set them up, but Rodriguez was never really out of the fight, and he kept on throwing strikes back.

By the end of the fight both men appeared to be close to exhaustion, but neither would back down – and as the clock ticked down with seconds to go, the fight looked like it belonged to the Korean. But as he waded forward for a final time, ‘El Pantera’ dropped his head and threw an upwards back elbow – without looking at his target – that landed cleanly and knocked ‘The Korean Zombie’ senseless.

The finish came at 4:59 of the final round – literally with one second to go, Rodriguez had pulled a victory from the jaws of defeat. But again, this was the kind of fight where there was no true loser, as the level of action meant that both fighters walked away with their reputations enhanced in the eyes of the fans.