2016 in UFC

2016 in UFC
2016 in UFC
Information
First date	January 2
Last date	December 30
Events
Total events	41 (1 cancelled)
UFC	13
UFC on Fox	5
UFC Fight Night	21 (1 cancelled)
TUF Finale events	2
Fights
Total fights	493
Title fights	22
Chronology

The year 2016 was the 24th year in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States.

First dateJanuary 2

Last dateDecember 30

Total events41 (1 cancelled)

UFC13

Quick facts Information, First date ...

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2016 UFC.COM Awards
No	Best Fighter	The Upsets	The Submissions	The Newcomers	The Knockouts	The Fights
1	Michael Bisping	Michael Bisping defeats Luke Rockhold 2 UFC 199	Ben Rothwell defeats Josh Barnett UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Bader	Mickey Gall	Lando Vannata defeats John Makdessi UFC 206	Cub Swanson defeats Choi Doo-ho UFC 206
2	Stipe Miocic	Eric Spicely defeats Thiago Santos UFC Fight Night: Cyborg vs. Länsberg	Miesha Tate defeats Holly Holm UFC 196	Cris Cyborg	Anthony Johnson defeats Glover Teixeira UFC 202	Conor McGregor defeats Nate Diaz 2 UFC 202
3	Conor McGregor	Miesha Tate defeats Holly Holm UFC 196	Brian Ortega defeats Diego Brandão UFC 195	Lando Vannata	Diego Rivas defeats Noad Lahat UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson	Robbie Lawler defeats Carlos Condit UFC 195
4	Dominick Cruz	Brandon Moreno defeats Louis Smolka UFC Fight Night: Lineker vs. Dodson	Chas Skelly defeats Maximo Blanco UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Johnson	Marlon Moraes	Yair Rodríguez defeats Andre Fili UFC 197	Steve Bossé defeats Sean O'Connell UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Thompson
5	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	Nate Diaz defeats Conor McGregor 1 UFC 196	Teemu Packalén defeats Thibault Gouti UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Bisping	Brandon Moreno	Stipe Miocic defeats Fabrício Werdum UFC 198	Tyron Woodley defeats Stephen Thompson 1 UFC 205
6	Tyron Woodley	Bryan Barberena defeats Warlley Alves UFC 198	Keita Nakamura defeats Kyle Noke UFC Fight Night: McDonald vs. Lineker	Marc Diakiese	Donald Cerrone defeats Matt Brown UFC 206	Joanna Jędrzejczyk defeats Cláudia Gadelha 2 The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale
7	Stephen Thompson	Bryan Barberena defeats Sage Northcutt UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Bader	Demian Maia defeats Matt Brown UFC 198	Justin Ledet	Michael Bisping defeats Luke Rockhold UFC 199	Polo Reyes defeats Dong Hyun Ma UFC 199
8	Gegard Mousasi	Bryan Caraway defeats Aljamain Sterling UFC Fight Night: Almeida vs. Garbrandt	Michael McDonald defeats Masanori Kanehara UFC 195	Josh Emmett	Tyron Woodley defeats Robbie Lawler UFC 201	Donald Cerrone defeats Matt Brown UFC 206
9	Donald Cerrone	Andrew Holbrook defeats Jake Matthews UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson	Eric Spicely defeats Thiago Santos UFC Fight Night: Cyborg vs. Länsberg	Andrew Sanchez	Dan Henderson defeats Héctor Lombard UFC 199	Tony Ferguson defeats Rafael dos Anjos The Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters Finale
10	Derrick Lewis	Valentina Shevchenko defeats Holly Holm UFC on Fox: Holm vs. Shevchenko	Francis Ngannou defeats Anthony Hamilton UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov	Mike Perry	Yoel Romero defeats Chris Weidman UFC 205	Robert Whittaker defeats Derek Brunson UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson
Ref	^[1]	^[2]	^[3]	^[4]	^[5]	^[6]

Events
Number of Events	PPV	Continents	Countries	Cities	Fight Night Bonuses
41	13	4	10	31	164 Total $8,200,000
Longest Event	Shortest Event	Highest Income Live Gate	Lowest Income Live Gate	Highest Attendance	Lowest Attendance
UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Thompson 2:58:00	UFC 203 1:28:10	UFC 205 $17,700,000	The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale $188,602	UFC 198 45,207	The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale 2,044
Title Fights
Undisputed Title Fights	Title Changes	Champions Remained in Their Divisions	Number of Champions	Number of Interim Champions	Number of Title Defenses
19	4	3 FLW – Demetrious Johnson LHW – Daniel Cormier WSW – Joanna Jędrzejczyk	11	2	10
Champions
Division	Beginning of The Year	End of The Year	Division	Beginning of The Year	End of The Year
Heavyweight	Fabrício Werdum	Stipe Miocic	Bantamweight	T.J. Dillashaw	Cody Garbrandt
Light Heavyweight	Daniel Cormier	Daniel Cormier	Flyweight	Demetrious Johnson	Demetrious Johnson
Middleweight	Luke Rockhold	Michael Bisping	Women's Bantamweight	Holly Holm	Amanda Nunes
Welterweight	Robbie Lawler	Tyron Woodley	Women's Strawweight	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	Joanna Jędrzejczyk]
Lightweight	Rafael dos Anjos	Conor McGregor
Featherweight	Conor McGregor	José Aldo
Fights
Most Knockouts at A Single Event	Most submissions at A Single Event	Most Decisions at A Single Event	Total Number of Fights	Total Number of Cage Time
UFC 199 8	UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Alvarez 6	UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Bisping 10	493	91:31:14
Fighters
Number of Fighters	UFC Debutants	Releases / Retired	Fighters Suspended	Number of Fighters Missed weight
(At the end of Dec 31, 2016) 550	116	N/A	N/A	22
Champion feats^[7]
Michael Bisping became the first British champion. Eddie Alvarez became the first fighter to win a UFC and Bellator championship. Conor McGregor became the first simultaneous two-division champion holding both the featherweight and lightweight titles.
Fighter feats^[7]
Noad Lahat became the first fighter in UFC/WEC/Strikeforce/PRIDE combined history to lose via a flying knee on two separate occasions. At UFC Fight Night 85, Neil Magny set a new record with 100 significant ground strikes, a mark later surpassed by Punahele Soriano in June 2024. At UFC Fight Night 86, Junior dos Santos set a single‑fight record with 92 significant body strikes, a mark later surpassed by Max Holloway in January 2021. At age 45, Dan Henderson became the oldest fighter in UFC history to earn a knockout victory. At UFC Fight Night 94, Chas Skelly recorded a 19‑second submission, setting a new mark for the fastest submission in UFC/WEC featherweight history. By missing weight for the fifth time, John Lineker set the record for the most weight‑misses in UFC history. Conor McGregor became the first fighter in UFC history to earn Post‑Fight bonuses in eight consecutive bouts.

ISO	Fighter	Division
	Abdul Razak Alhassan	Welterweight
	Adam Milstead	Heavyweight
	Albert Morales	Bantamweight
	Alberto Uda	Middleweight
	Alessandro Ricci	Lightweight
	Alessio Di Chirico	Middleweight
	Alex Morono	Welterweight
	Alex Nicholson	Middleweight
	Alexander Volkanovski	Lightweight
	Alexa Grasso	Women's Strawweight
	Amanda Cooper	Women's Strawweight
	Andrew Sanchez	Middleweight
	Anna Elmose	Women's Strawweight
	Ashley Yoder	Women's Strawweight
	Augusto Mendes	Bantamweight
	Belal Muhammad	Welterweight
	Bojan Veličković	Welterweight
	Brandon Moreno	Flyweight
	Brett Johns	Bantamweight
	Brian Camozzi	Welterweight
	Cris Cyborg	Women's Featherweight
	CM Punk	Welterweight
	Charlie Ward	Middleweight
	Chase Sherman	Heavyweight
	Chris Avila	Featherweight
	Christian Colombo	Heavyweight
	Claudio Puelles	Lightweight
	Cody East	Heavyweight
	Cory Hendricks	Light Heavyweight
	Cristina Stanciu	Women's Strawweight
	Curtis Blaydes	Heavyweight
	Cyril Asker	Heavyweight
	Damian Grabowski	Heavyweight
	Damir Hadžović	Lightweight
	Danielle Taylor	Women's Strawweight
	Darrell Horcher	Lightweight

ISO	Fighter	Division
	Darren Stewart	Light Heavyweight
	David Teymur	Lightweight
	Damien Brown	Lightweight
	Devin Clark	Light Heavyweight
	Dmitry Smolyakov	Heavyweight
	Elvis Mutapčić	Middleweight
	Emil Weber Meek	Welterweight
	Eric Spicely	Middleweight
	Filip Pejić	Bantamweight
	Felipe Olivieri	Lightweight
	Felipe Silva	Lightweight
	Gadzhimurad Antigulov	Light Heavyweight
	Gerald Meerschaert	Middleweight
	Gregor Gillespie	Lightweight
	Hector Sandoval	Flyweight
	Henrique da Silva	Light Heavyweight
	Ion Cuțelaba	Light Heavyweight
	Irene Aldana	Women's Bantamweight
	J.C. Cottrell	Lightweight
	Jack Hermansson	Middleweight
	Jarjis Danho	Heavyweight
	Jason Gonzalez	Lightweight
	Jason Novelli	Lightweight
	Jenel Lausa	Flyweight
	Jeremy Kennedy	Featherweight
	Jessin Ayari	Welterweight
	Jim Wallhead	Welterweight
	Joe Gigliotti	Middleweight
	Joey Gomez	Bantamweight
	Joachim Christensen	Light Heavyweight
	Jonathan Meunier	Welterweight
	Jordan Rinaldi	Lightweight
	Josh Emmett	Lightweight
	Josh Stansbury	Light Heavyweight
	Justin Ledet	Heavyweight
	Katlyn Chookagian	Women's Bantamweight

ISO	Fighter	Division
	Kelly Faszholz	Women's Bantamweight
	Ketlen Vieira	Women's Bantamweight
	Khalil Rountree Jr.	Light Heavyweight
	Kyle Bochniak	Featherweight
	Lando Vannata	Lightweight
	Leonardo Guimarães	Middleweight
	Lina Länsberg	Women's Bantamweight
	Luan Chagas	Welterweight
	Luke Sanders	Bantamweight
	Marc Diakiese	Lightweight
	Mark Godbeer	Heavyweight
	Marcin Tybura	Heavyweight
	Martin Bravo	Featherweight
	Martin Svensson	Featherweight
	Marvin Vettori	Middleweight
	Matt Schnell	Flyweight
	Matthew Lopez	Bantamweight
	Max Griffin	Welterweight
	Mehdi Baghdad	Lightweight
	Mickey Gall	Welterweight
	Michael McBride	Lightweight
	Mike Jackson	Welterweight
	Mike Perry	Welterweight
	Niko Price	Welterweight
	Paul Craig	Light Heavyweight
	Randy Brown	Welterweight
	Ricky Glenn	Featherweight
	Ryan Janes	Middleweight
	Sabah Homasi	Welterweight
	Saparbek Safarov	Light Heavyweight
	Shane Burgos	Featherweight
	Tatiana Suarez	Women's Strawweight
	Thibault Gouti	Lightweight
	Tyson Pedro	Light Heavyweight
	Veronica Macedo	Women's Bantamweight
	Viviane Pereira	Women's Strawweight
	Will Brooks	Lightweight
	Zak Ottow	Welterweight

2016 in UFC

2016 UFC.com awards

2016 by the numbers

Debut UFC fighters

The Ultimate Fighter

Title fights

Events list

See also

References

External links

Related Articles

Season	Finale	Division	Winner	Runner-up
TUF 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia	July 8, 2016	Light Heavyweight	Andrew Sanchez	Khalil Rountree Jr.
TUF 23: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia	July 8, 2016	Women's Strawweight	Tatiana Suarez	Amanda Cooper
TUF: Latin America 3	November 5, 2016	Lightweight	Martín Bravo	Claudio Puelles
TUF 24: Tournament of Champions	December 3, 2016	Flyweight	Tim Elliott	Hiromasa Ogikubo

Title fights in 2016
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Event	Notes
Welterweight	Robbie Lawler (c)	def.	Carlos Condit	Decision (split) (47-48, 48-47, 48-47)	5	5:00	UFC 195	^[a]
Bantamweight	Dominick Cruz	def.	T.J. Dillashaw (c)	Decision (split) (48-47, 46-49, 49-46)	5	5:00	UFC Fight Night 81	^[b]
Women's Bantamweight	Miesha Tate	def	Holly Holm (c)	Submission (rear-naked choke)	5	3:30	UFC 196	^[c]
Flyweight	Demetrious Johnson (c)	def	Henry Cejudo	TKO (knees and punches)	1	2:49	UFC 197	^[d]
Light Heavyweight	Jon Jones	def	Ovince Saint Preux	Decision (unanimous) (50-44, 50-45, 50-45)	5	5:00	UFC 197	^[e]
Heavyweight	Stipe Miocic	def.	Fabrício Werdum (c)	KO (punch)	1	2:47	UFC 198	^[f]
Bantamweight	Dominick Cruz (c)	def.	Urijah Faber	Decision (unanimous) (50-45, 50-45, 49-46)	5	5:00	UFC 199	^[g]
Middleweight	Michael Bisping	def.	Luke Rockhold (c)	KO (punches)	1	3:36	UFC 199	^[h]
Lightweight	Eddie Alvarez	def.	Rafael dos Anjos (c)	TKO (punches)	1	3:49	UFC Fight Night 90	^[i]
Women's Strawweight	Joanna Jędrzejczyk (c)	def.	Cláudia Gadelha	Decision (unanimous) (48-46, 48-45, 48-46)	5	5:00	The Ultimate Fighter 23 Finale	^[j]
Featherweight	José Aldo	def.	Frankie Edgar	Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 49-46, 48-47)	5	5:00	UFC 200	^[k]
Women's Bantamweight	Amanda Nunes	def.	Miesha Tate (c)	Submission (rear-naked choke)	1	3:16	UFC 200	^[l]
Welterweight	Tyron Woodley	def.	Robbie Lawler (c)	KO (punches)	1	2:12	UFC 201	^[m]
Heavyweight	Stipe Miocic (c)	def.	Alistair Overeem	KO (punches)	1	4:27	UFC 203	^[n]
Middleweight	Michael Bisping (c)	def.	Dan Henderson	Decision (unanimous) (48-47, 48-47, 49-46)	5	5:00	UFC 204	^[o]
Women's Strawweight	Joanna Jędrzejczyk (c)	def.	Karolina Kowalkiewicz	Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)	5	5:00	UFC 205	^[p]
Welterweight	Tyron Woodley (c)	vs.	Stephen Thompson	Draw (majority) (48-47, 47-47, 47-47)	5	5:00	UFC 205	^[q]
Lightweight	Conor McGregor	def.	Eddie Alvarez (c)	TKO (punches)	2	3:04	UFC 205	^[r]
Flyweight	Demetrious Johnson (c)	def.	Tim Elliott	Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 49-46, 49-45)	5	5:00	The Ultimate Fighter 24 Finale	^[s]
Featherweight	Max Holloway	def.	Anthony Pettis	TKO (body kick and punches)	3	4:50	UFC 206	^[t]
Bantamweight	Cody Garbrandt	def.	Dominick Cruz (c)	Decision (unanimous) (48-46, 48-47, 48-46)	5	5:00	UFC 207	^[u]
Women's Bantamweight	Amanda Nunes (c)	def.	Ronda Rousey	TKO (punches)	1	0:48	UFC 207	^[v]

#	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
385	UFC 207: Nunes vs. Rousey	December 30, 2016	T-Mobile Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	18,533^[8]
384	UFC on Fox: VanZant vs. Waterson	December 17, 2016	Golden 1 Center	Sacramento, California, U.S.	13,136^[9]
383	UFC 206: Holloway vs. Pettis	December 10, 2016	Air Canada Centre	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	18,057^[10]
382	UFC Fight Night: Lewis vs. Abdurakhimov	December 9, 2016	Times Union Center	Albany, New York, U.S	6,216^[11]
381	The Ultimate Fighter: Tournament of Champions Finale	December 3, 2016	Palms Casino Resort	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	2,044^[12]
380	UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Brunson	November 27, 2016	Rod Laver Arena	Melbourne, Victoria, Australia	13,721^[13]
379	UFC Fight Night: Bader vs. Nogueira 2	November 19, 2016	Ginásio do Ibirapuera	São Paulo, Brazil	9,028^[14]
378	UFC Fight Night: Mousasi vs. Hall 2	November 19, 2016	SSE Arena	Belfast, Northern Ireland, U.K.	7,222^[15]
377	UFC 205: Alvarez vs. McGregor	November 12, 2016	Madison Square Garden	New York, New York, U.S.	20,427^[16]
376	The Ultimate Fighter Latin America 3 Finale: dos Anjos vs. Ferguson	November 5, 2016	Arena Ciudad de México	Mexico City, Mexico	11,460^[17]
–	UFC Fight Night: Lamas vs. Penn	October 15, 2016	Mall of Asia Arena	Pasay, Philippines	Cancelled^[18]
375	UFC 204: Bisping vs. Henderson 2	October 8, 2016	Manchester Arena	Manchester, England, U.K.	16,000^[19]
374	UFC Fight Night: Lineker vs. Dodson	October 1, 2016	Moda Center	Portland, Oregon, U.S.	6,240^[20]
373	UFC Fight Night: Cyborg vs. Lansberg	September 24, 2016	Ginásio Nilson Nelson	Brasília, Brazil	8,410^[21]
372	UFC Fight Night: Poirier vs. Johnson	September 17, 2016	State Farm Arena	Hidalgo, Texas, U.S.	5,624^[22]
371	UFC 203: Miocic vs. Overeem	September 10, 2016	Quicken Loans Arena	Cleveland, Ohio, U.S.	18,875^[23]
370	UFC Fight Night: Arlovski vs. Barnett	September 3, 2016	Barclaycard Arena	Hamburg, Germany	11,763^[24]
369	UFC on Fox: Maia vs. Condit	August 27, 2016	Rogers Arena	Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada	10,533^[25]
368	UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 2	August 20, 2016	T-Mobile Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	15,539^[26]
367	UFC Fight Night: Rodríguez vs. Caceres	August 6, 2016	Vivint Smart Home Arena	Salt Lake City, Utah, U.S.	6,689^[27]
366	UFC 201: Lawler vs. Woodley	July 30, 2016	Philips Arena	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.	10,240^[28]
365	UFC on Fox: Holm vs. Shevchenko	July 23, 2016	United Center	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.	10,287^[29]
364	UFC Fight Night: McDonald vs. Lineker	July 13, 2016	Denny Sanford Premier Center	Sioux Falls, South Dakota, U.S.	5,671^[30]
363	UFC 200: Tate vs. Nunes	Jul 9, 2016	T-Mobile Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	18,202^[31]
362	The Ultimate Fighter: Team Joanna vs. Team Cláudia Finale	Jul 8, 2016	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	8,115^[32]
361	UFC Fight Night: dos Anjos vs. Alvarez	Jul 7, 2016	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	7,760^[33]
360	UFC Fight Night: MacDonald vs. Thompson	June 18, 2016	TD Place Arena	Ottawa, Ontario, Canada	10,490^[34]
359	UFC 199: Rockhold vs Bisping 2	June 4, 2016	The Forum	Inglewood, California, U.S	15,587^[35]
358	UFC Fight Night: Almeida vs. Garbrandt	May 29, 2016	Mandalay Bay Events Center	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	5,193^[36]
357	UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic	May 14, 2016	Arena da Baixada	Curitiba, Brazil	45,207^[37]
356	UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs. Arlovski	May 8, 2016	Rotterdam Ahoy	Rotterdam, Netherlands	10,421^[38]
355	UFC 197: Jones vs. Saint Preux	April 23, 2016	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S	11,352^[39]
354	UFC on Fox: Teixeira vs. Evans	April 16, 2016	Amalie Arena	Tampa, Florida, U.S.	11,273^[40]
353	UFC Fight Night: Rothwell vs. dos Santos	April 10, 2016	Arena Zagreb	Zagreb, Croatia	13,177^[41]
352	UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Mir	March 20, 2016	Brisbane Entertainment Centre	Brisbane, Queensland, Australia	9,552^[42]
351	UFC 196: McGregor vs. Diaz	March 5, 2016	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	14,898^[43]
350	UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Bisping	Feb 27, 2016	The O₂ Arena	London, England, U.K.	16,734^[44]
349	UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Cowboy	Feb 21, 2016	Consol Energy Center	Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, U.S.	7,330^[45]
348	UFC Fight Night: Hendricks vs. Thompson	Feb 6, 2016	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	7,422^[46]
347	UFC on Fox: Johnson vs. Bader	Jan 30, 2016	Prudential Center	Newark, New Jersey, U.S.	10,555^[47]
346	UFC Fight Night: Dillashaw vs. Cruz	Jan 17, 2016	TD Garden	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	12,022^[48]
345	UFC 195: Lawler vs. Condit	Jan 2, 2016	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	10,300^[49]