5 best UFC pay-per-views of 2022
Despite the lack of a couple of major stars, 2022 has been another excellent year for the UFC, who have produced some truly great events over the past 12 months.
2022 has seen some of the best UFC pay-per-views in recent memory, with classic title bouts, unbelievable finishes and plenty of controversy, too.
So with 12 events to choose from, which of 2022’s pay-per-view shows were the most memorable? In truth, it’s difficult to whittle it down.
Here are the five best UFC pay-per-views of 2022.
#5. UFC 279: Nate Diaz vs. Tony Ferguson
There’s no disputing the fact that UFC 279 was easily the most controversial pay-per-view event of 2022. The show was initially supposed to be headlined by a welterweight clash between Khamzat Chimaev and Nate Diaz, a fight that looked like an example of the promotion sacrificing a legend to create a new star.
However, when Chimaev spectacularly missed weight – coming in at 178.5lbs, way over the welterweight limit – the entire card was switched around at the last minute.
Diaz was instead matched with Tony Ferguson, whose original opponent Li Jingliang then fought Daniel Rodriguez. Rodriguez’s original opponent Kevin Holland, meanwhile, faced Chimaev.
The event could’ve turned out to be disastrous with so many last-gasp changes, but in the end, it delivered some truly amazing action. Of the five bouts that featured on the main card, only one – Li vs. Rodriguez – went the distance.
Diaz vs. Ferguson turned out to be a far better match than Diaz vs. Chimaev would’ve been, as the two veterans went toe-to-toe and hold-for-hold for four rounds before Diaz ended things with a guillotine choke.
NATE DIAZ DOES ONE MORE TIME!!!!!!! #UFC279 🤯🤯🤯🤯🤯 https://t.co/ta75j4ueC3
Elsewhere, Chimaev whitewashed Holland, needing just over two minutes to dispatch him with a D’Arce choke, while Irene Aldana and Johnny Walker also picked up highlight reel finishes. Aldana’s in particular was unique, as she stopped Macy Chiasson with an upkick to the body.
Overall, the event will probably be remembered more for the controversy that surrounded it than anything else, but it was definitely one of 2022’s best in terms of the action it produced, too.
#4. UFC 273: Alexander Volkanovski vs. Korean Zombie
April’s UFC 273, which took place in Jacksonville, Florida, was actually a slow starter of sorts. The preliminary card didn’t really deliver anything memorable, neither did the main card’s first two bouts, both of which went the distance.
However, the event earns a spot here because of the top three bouts on the card, all of which had major significance and delivered some tremendous action.
Firstly, Khamzat Chimaev went to war with Gilbert Burns in his first real elite-level test. ‘Borz’ came through, but it wasn’t without a real fight, as the two welterweights exchanged bombs for three rounds with both men being hurt on multiple occasions.
Put simply, the bout was one of the very best fights of 2022.
last night!This was WAR 💥
@KChimaev and @GilbertDurinho brought the 🔥 last night! https://t.co/LMklFEpYCX
Next, Aljamain Sterling proved his worth as bantamweight champion by edging out former titleholder Petr Yan in a rematch of their controversial first meeting. Despite taking plenty of damage, ‘The Funk Master’ did enough to win the bout, in particular dominating Yan on the ground.
Finally, Alexander Volkanovski produced the most dominant defense of his featherweight title to date, methodically destroying ‘The Korean Zombie’ before finishing him with strikes in the fourth round.
Essentially, this was a three-fight card, but those three fights were so awesome that it warrants a place on this list.
#3. UFC 275: Glover Teixeira vs. Jiri Prochazka
The octagon visited Singapore in June for UFC 275, and the fans in attendance were not only treated to one of the best title bouts in recent memory, but they also witnessed some serious violence elsewhere, too.
Obviously, the most memorable thing about this event was the gutter-war headliner between light-heavyweight champion Glover Teixeira and top contender Jiri Prochazka. The fight seemed a difficult one to pick going in, and sure enough, it was a remarkably close bout in execution.
Both Teixeira and ‘Denisa’ took an insane amount of damage, with both suffering some huge shots on the feet and on the ground, and Prochazka in particular being left battered and bloody.
Remarkably, though, it was the Czech native who ended up pulling out the win, submitting an exhausted Teixeira with a rear-naked choke with just under 30 seconds to go in the final round.
#UFC275PROCHAZKA SUBMITS TEIXEIRA TO WIN THE LIGHT HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE 🏆 #UFC275 https://t.co/YwrwkxBuoh
The rest of the card was also excellent. The co-headliner saw flyweight queen Valentina Shevchenko narrowly avoid an upset by edging Taila Santos in a razor-close title fight, but it was former strawweight champ Zhang Weili who made the most noise.
She knocked out another former titleholder, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, with a brutal spinning backfist to end their long-awaited rematch. Jedrzejczyk would retire from MMA altogether afterwards.
Add in the two brutal finishes from Australians Jake Matthews and Jack Della Maddalena, who knocked out Andre Fialho and Ramazam Emeev respectively, and this was an all-time classic event.
#2. UFC 277: Julianna Pena vs. Amanda Nunes 2
The summer’s biggest pay-per-view was undoubtedly UFC 277, which took place on the final weekend of July.
The long-awaited main event – a rematch between bantamweight champ Julianna Pena and legendary former titleholder Amanda Nunes – went the distance, and in truth, it was a little too one-sided to be considered a classic.
However, the rest of the event was truly phenomenal, featuring four finishes on the main card alone. The most memorable of those fights was definitely the interim flyweight title fight between Brandon Moreno and Kai Kara-France, a bout that saw Moreno stun everyone by stopping the striker with a third round body kick.
#UFC277HE DID IT!!! @THEASSASSINBABY IS YOUR INTERIM FLYWEIGHT CHAMPION!!!!! 👑 #UFC277 https://t.co/r09TD4acId
Elsewhere, Sergei Pavlovich picked up a semi-controversial TKO stoppage of Derrick Lewis, and Alexandre Pantoja confirmed his status as perhaps the promotion’s most overlooked fighter by finishing Alex Perez with a neck crank.
Magomed Ankalaev, meanwhile, cemented himself as a threat to the light-heavyweight throne by stopping former title challenger Anthony Smith in the second round.
Add in some fun preliminary fights – most notably Drew Dober’s wild TKO of Rafael Alves – and this was an incredibly strong event overall with some truly excellent fights on tap.
#1. UFC 281: Israel Adesanya vs. Alex Pereira
New York City’s famous Madison Square Garden was the venue for November’s UFC 281, and the event more than lived up to the standards of the promotion’s previous visits there. Put simply, this event was up there with the all-time great shows.
The card featured 14 fights in total, and remarkably, eleven of them ended before the final buzzer, including all five of the main card bouts.
The headliner saw a crazy middleweight title fight between champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Alex Pereira, a man who’d defeated ‘The Last Stylebender’ twice before in kickboxing. It looked like Adesanya would finally take his revenge – until the fifth round, when ‘Poatan’ suddenly turned up the heat, and stunned everyone by knocking him out with a flurry of punches.
ALEX PEREIRA KNOCKS OUT ISRAEL ADESANYA! 😱
🇧🇷🏆 @AlexPereiraUFC HAS DONE IT AGAIN. UNBELIEVABLE. #UFC281 https://t.co/N8H8eDUgF2
That wasn’t the only title change on the show, though, as Weili Zhang choked out Carla Esparza to reclaim the strawweight title she lost in 2021 in a shockingly one-sided fight.
Elsewhere, Dustin Poirier’s long-awaited war with Michael Chandler lived up to all the hype, and saw the two lightweights go back and forth before ‘The Diamond’ managed to submit the former Bellator champion in the third round.
The main card was capped off by two nasty knockouts, with Chris Gutierrez’s flying knee stoppage of Frankie Edgar incredibly not being enough to earn him a $50k bonus. In truth, a number of fighters – from Ryan Spann and Erin Blanchfield to Carlos Ulberg – could well have won a bonus on this show.
Essentially, this event was excellent from top-to-bottom, and stands out as the best UFC pay-per-view of 2022.