5 times an undercard fight completely overshadowed a UFC main event
UFC 266 is set to go down in September, and the UFC has now confirmed the top three fights for the event – a featherweight title bout between Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega, a flyweight title bout between Valentina Shevchenko and Lauren Murphy, and a welterweight clash between Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler.
UFC 266 has two big title fights on tap, but it’s still likely the clash between Nick Diaz and Robbie Lawler will overshadow both.
However, if this happens it won’t be the first time that a major UFC main event has been overshadowed by a fight sitting underneath it on a card.
So with that in mind, here are five times that an undercard fight overshadowed the main event of a UFC event.
#5 Nate Diaz vs. Leon Edwards overshadowed Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori – UFC 263
Interestingly enough, the most recent example of an undercard fight overshadowing the main event came at UFC 263 just a handful of weeks ago.
UFC 263 was headlined by a middleweight title fight between Israel Adesanya and Marvin Vettori. It was an interesting contest, but certainly not one that was ever likely to pique the interest of casual fans.
However, the third bout on the main card – between welterweights Leon Edwards and Nate Diaz – had the whole fanbase, casuals and purists alike, absolutely buzzing.
Naturally, the main reason for that was the presence of Diaz. One of the UFC’s biggest-drawing superstars, ‘The Stockton Slugger’ had not fought for well over a year prior to UFC 263. So, fans were naturally clamoring for his comeback, particularly against a high-level contender like Edwards.
What’s more, the UFC clearly recognized that they had a drawing card in the form of this fight. They made it the first non-title undercard fight in the promotion’s history to be scheduled for five rounds, upping its importance and putting it on the same level as Adesanya vs. Vettori.
And in the end, the fans were quite right to give more attention to Diaz vs. Edwards than the main event. While Adesanya vs. Vettori turned out to be a straightforward win for ‘The Last Stylebender,’ Diaz vs. Edwards was a tremendous fight that almost saw Diaz pull out one of the greatest comebacks in UFC history.