5 undercard fighters who stole the spotlight at a big UFC event
This weekend at UFC 300, three title fights will go down. However, with a stacked event overall, there's every chance that one of the undercard fighters will steal the spotlight.
If an undercard fighter steals the spotlight at UFC 300 this weekend, it won't be a surprise, as it's something that has happened on numerous occasions before.
So will Jiri Prochazka or Bo Nickal, for instance, be the fighters everyone is talking about on Sunday, instead of the headliners? Only time will tell.
Before that, here are five undercard fighters who stole the show at a big UFC event.
#5. Alex Pereira - UFC 276
Now a two-division champion, Alex Pereira is set to headline UFC 300 this weekend in what will be the biggest spotlight to ever fall upon him.
However, 'Poatan' is also no stranger to stealing the spotlight from headline stars as an undercard fighter. After all, that was basically how he earned his initial middleweight title shot at Israel Adesanya in 2022.
Pereira already had plenty of eyeballs on him coming into what was his third octagon bout thanks to his fearsome reputation from the world of kickboxing, where he'd beaten Adesanya twice.
At UFC 276, though, his fight with Sean Strickland was a secondary concern when compared to Adesanya's title defense against Jared Cannonier and Alexander Volkanovski's trilogy bout with Max Holloway.
One big left hook in the first round changed that, though. Most fans expected the fight to be a challenging one for 'Poatan', but he simply took advantage of Strickland hanging his hands and sparked him out in just over two minutes.
When Adesanya's win over Cannonier turned out to be largely pedestrian - despite a flashy Undertaker-inspired entrance - all that anyone was talking about after the event was Pereira and the potential for him to fight 'The Last Stylebender'.
Unsurprisingly, Dana White and the company decided to take advantage of the Brazilian's newly-found popularity, and of course, the rest is history.
#4. Diego Sanchez - UFC 166
Over a decade after the fact, UFC 166 remains one of the greatest events in the promotion's history from a fight quality perspective.
However, despite eight of the 13 fights on tap ending in highlight reel fashion, and stars like Cain Velasquez, Daniel Cormier, and Tony Ferguson shining brightly, the fighter everyone was talking about afterward was Diego Sanchez.
Bizarrely, 'The Nightmare' didn't even win his bout at the event. He fell to future lightweight title challenger Gilbert Melendez via unanimous decision.
So how did the inaugural TUF winner manage to steal the spotlight? Put simply, he was largely responsible for his bout with Melendez becoming an all-time classic brawl.
Sure, 'El Nino' also played his part in the violent shootout that saw both men swinging for the fences for fifteen minutes, but it was Sanchez who refused to back down even when his face was cut to shreds.
Instead, he wouldn't stop coming forward, literally roaring at Melendez at points and drawing him into a needlessly dirty brawl.
When 'The Nightmare' dropped the former StrikeForce champ with an uppercut in the latter stages of the third round, it looked like he'd pulled off an all-time upset. However, Melendez recovered, and it wasn't to be.
Despite the loss, though, Sanchez had firmly stolen the show. The bout reignited his fading octagon career, and while he never climbed back into title contention, his popularity was never higher than the days after this event.
#3. Conor McGregor - UFC Fight Night 26
It was clear from his octagon debut in April 2013 that Conor McGregor was destined for stardom.
He sniped Marcus Brimage in the first round of their featherweight bout and then cut the kind of post-fight promo that most fighters could only dream of.
However, it was when he stole the spotlight at a packed UFC Fight Night card a few months later that his star power shone through.
The event was not only the promotion's first on the new Fox Sports 1 television channel, but it was also their first event in Boston, Massachusetts in nearly three years.
Due to this, the card was stacked with big names like Shogun Rua, Chael Sonnen, Urijah Faber, Alistair Overeem, and Matt Brown. McGregor's fight with Max Holloway, meanwhile, was buried deep on the preliminary card.
When it came to the event, though, the Irishman received easily the biggest reaction of the night, even more so than hometown hero Joe Lauzon.
Even though his clash with Holloway wasn't all that exciting, the day after the event, McGregor was the name on everyone's lips.
'The Notorious' had to wait to recover from a knee injury sustained in the fight, but when he returned, it was as a headliner, and he never looked back until he became the biggest star in the UFC.
#2. Nate Diaz - UFC on Fox 17
When Nate Diaz returned from a year-long hiatus in late 2014 and was promptly defeated by Rafael dos Anjos in a one-sided bout that saw him miss weight, it looked for all intents and purposes like his UFC career was over.
When it was announced that he'd return almost exactly a year later to take on Michael Johnson, few fans batted an eyelid.
After all, his fight was part of an event that not only featured a lightweight title fight between dos Anjos and top contender Donald Cerrone but also had a heavyweight grudge match between superstars Alistair Overeem and Junior dos Santos on tap.
Remarkably, though, despite both dos Anjos and Overeem scoring huge, highlight-reel knockout finishes, it was Diaz who completely stole the final round of the clash.
The Stockton, California-based star claimed a surprisingly clear-cut decision, but that wasn't enough for him.
After the fight, he stole the spotlight even further by launching into a now-legendary, sweary rant on the microphone, calling out burgeoning superstar Conor McGregor for a fight few fans had even considered beforehand.
Suddenly, the idea of Diaz vs. McGregor was the only thing fans were talking about, rather than Overeem or dos Anjos.
Seeing the writing on the wall, the UFC managed to put the fight together in 2016 on two occasions and produced two of their biggest-selling pay-per-views in the process.
#1. Jorge Masvidal - UFC 239
While it wasn't as stacked a card as UFC 300 is set to be, 2019's UFC 239 was loaded with talent.
The event featured two title fights, but these weren't your ordinary title bouts. Instead, they featured two all-time greats Jon Jones and Amanda Nunes looking to defend their crowns against dangerous contenders Thiago Santos and Holly Holm.
Both champions ended up winning their fights, with 'The Lioness' producing one of the best knockouts of her career, switching Holm's lights off with a first-round head kick.
Despite this, the name on everyone's lips after the event wasn't either champion. Instead, it was Jorge Masvidal, who launched himself into the stratosphere with a record-setting knockout on the undercard.
Matched with former Bellator champ Ben Askren, 'Gamebred' had promised to deliver fireworks throughout the build to the fight, and he definitely delivered.
Before Askren even had the chance to get out of first gear, Masvidal sprinted across the octagon and nailed him with a flying knee that switched his lights out in an instant.
The whole fight took just five seconds, but had the referee been sharper, it would've been even less. Masvidal was able to land a couple of largely pointless follow-up strikes before he was pulled away.
The win not only stole the spotlight of the event entirely, but it turned 'Gamebred' from a semi-popular veteran into one of the promotion's biggest stars. In that sense, it was perhaps the best use of five seconds in UFC history.