2018 in UFC

2018 in UFC
2018 in UFC
Information
First date	January 14
Last date	December 29
Events
Total events	39
UFC	13
UFC on Fox	5
TUF Finale events	2
Fights
Total fights	473
Title fights	18
Chronology

The year 2018 was the 26th year in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States and founded in November 1993. This year, the UFC celebrated its 25th anniversary, and an anniversary event was held on November 10, 2018 in Denver, Colorado, the city where the historical UFC 1 was held.^[1]

First dateJanuary 14

Last dateDecember 29

Total events39

UFC13

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2018 UFC.COM Awards
No	Best Fighter	The Upsets	The Submissions	The Newcomers	The Knockouts	The Fights
1	Daniel Cormier	Alexander Hernandez defeats Beneil Dariush UFC 222	Ryan Hall defeats B.J. Penn UFC 232	Israel Adesanya	Yair Rodríguez defeats The Korean Zombie UFC Fight Night: The Korean Zombie vs. Rodríguez	Robert Whittaker defeats Yoel Romero 2 UFC 235
2	Amanda Nunes	Chris Gruetzemacher defeats Joe Lauzon UFC 223	Paul Craig defeats Magomed Ankalaev UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Volkov	Alexander Hernandez	Brian Ortega defeats Frankie Edgar UFC 222	Dustin Poirier defeats Justin Gaethje 1 UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje
3	Khabib Nurmagomedov	Jared Cannonier defeats David Branch UFC 230	Aljamain Sterling defeats Cody Stamann UFC 228 (Tie) Zabit Magomedsharipov defeats Brandon Davis UFC 228 (Tie)	Mackenzie Dern	Lyoto Machida defeats Vitor Belfort UFC 224	Yair Rodríguez defeats The Korean Zombie UFC Fight Night: The Korean Zombie vs. Rodríguez
4	Henry Cejudo	Henry Cejudo defeats Demetrious Johnson 2 UFC 227	Aleksei Oleinik defeats Júnior Albini UFC 224	Maycee Barber	Amanda Nunes defeats Cris Cyborg UFC 232	Max Holloway defeats Brian Ortega UFC 231
5	Valentina Shevchenko	Sergio Pettis defeats Joseph Benavidez UFC 225	Charles Oliveira defeats Christos Giagos UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Anders	Sodiq Yusuff (Tie) Petr Yan (Tie)	Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos defeats Sean Strickland UFC 224	Tony Ferguson defeats Anthony Pettis UFC 229
6	Anthony Smith	Corey Anderson defeats Glover Teixeira UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Smith	Adam Wieczorek defeats Arjan Bhullar UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje	Brad Katona	Yoel Romero defeats Luke Rockhold UFC 221	Ronaldo Souza defeats Chris Weidman UFC 230
7	Israel Adesanya	Khalil Rountree Jr. defeats Gökhan Saki UFC 226	Ilir Latifi defeats Ovince Saint Preux UFC on Fox: Emmett vs. Stephens	Zhang Weili	Jéssica Andrade defeats Karolina Kowalkiewicz UFC 228	Thiago Santos defeats Jimi Manuwa UFC 231
8	Ronaldo Souza	Brian Kelleher defeats Renan Barão UFC 222	Claudio Puelles defeats Felipe Silva UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Usman	Johnny Walker	Daniel Cormier defeats Stipe Miocic 1 UFC 226	Calvin Kattar defeats Shane Burgos UFC 220
9	Dustin Poirier	Nina Ansaroff defeats Cláudia Gadelha UFC 231	Darren Elkins defeats Michael Johnson UFC Fight Night: Stephens vs. Choi	Raoni Barcelos	Ismael Bonfim defeats Terrance McKinney UFC 283	Drew Dober defeats Frank Camacho UFC on Fox: Jacaré vs. Brunson 2
10	Corey Anderson (Tie) Thiago Santos (Tie) Kamaru Usman (Tie)	Cody Stamann defeats Bryan Caraway UFC 222	Donald Cerrone defeats Mike Perry UFC Fight Night: The Korean Zombie vs. Rodríguez	Sijara Eubanks	Derrick Lewis defeats Alexander Volkov UFC 229	Zabit Magomedsharipov defeats Kyle Bochniak UFC 223
Ref	^[2]	^[3]	^[4]	^[5]	^[6]	^[7]

Events
Number of Events	PPV	Continents	Countries	Cities	Fight Night Bonuses
39	13	5	11	35	156 Total $7,800,000
Longest Event	Shortest Event	Highest Income Live Gate	Lowest Income Live Gate	Highest Attendance	Lowest Attendance
The Ultimate Fighter 27 Finale 2:46:20	UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Medeiros 1:37:45	UFC 229 $17,200,000	The Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale $204,600	UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Oleinik 22,603	The Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale 2,020
Title Fights
Undisputed Title Fights	Title Changes	Champions Remained in Their Divisions	Number of Champions	Number of Interim Champions	Number of Title Defenses
16	3	6 BW – T.J. Dillashaw FW – Max Holloway WW – Tyron Woodley MW – Robert Whittaker WSW – Rose Namajunas WBW – Amanda Nunes	13	2	10
Champions
Division	Beginning of The Year	End of The Year	Division	Beginning of The Year	End of The Year
Heavyweight	Stipe Miocic	Daniel Cormier	Bantamweight	T.J. Dillashaw	T.J. Dillashaw
Light Heavyweight	Daniel Cormier	Jon Jones	Flyweight	Demetrious Johnson	Henry Cejudo
Middleweight	Robert Whittaker	Robert Whittaker	Women's Bantamweight	Amanda Nunes	Amanda Nunes
Welterweight	Tyron Woodley	Tyron Woodley	Women's Flyweight	Nicco Montaño	Valentina Shevchenko
Lightweight	Conor McGregor	Khabib Nurmagomedov	Women's Strawweight	Rose Namajunas	Rose Namajunas
Featherweight	Max Holloway	Max Holloway	Women's Featherweight	Cris Cyborg	Amanda Nunes
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 229 7	UFC 224 The Ultimate Fighter 28 Finale 5	UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Smith 10	474	87:21:11
Fighters
Number of Fighters	UFC Debutants	Releases / Retired	Fighters Suspended	Number of Fighters Missed weight
(At the end of Dec 31, 2018) 573	121	N/A	N/A	29
Champion feats^[8]
Stipe Miocic became the first heavyweight to defend his title three consecutive times. Henry Cejudo became the first Olympic gold medalist to win a UFC championship. Daniel Cormier became the first fighter to make a successful title defense in two different weight divisions
Fighter feats^[8]
Leon Edwards' knockout at 4:59 of the third round set a record for the latest knockout in a three-round UFC bout. Corey Anderson's 12 takedowns landed at UFC Fight Night 128 set a new record for the most landed in a UFC light heavyweight bout. Ricky Simon's submission victory at the 5:00 mark of round three set a new record for the latest finish in a UFC three-round bout. Lyoto Machida became the first fighter to have two knockout victories from a front kick to the head. Anthony Pettis' seven submission victories from the bottom position are the most in UFC/WEC/PRIDE/Strikeforce combined company history. Paulo Costa became the first middleweight to start his UFC career with four consecutive knockout victories. Charles Oliveira became the UFC's all‑time submission leader by securing his eleventh submission victory. Gian Villante became the first and only UFC fighter to have four consecutive split decision bouts. Donald Cerrone became the UFC's all‑time wins leader with his 21st victory, a mark later surpassed by Jim Miller, the current record holder. Max Holloway set a new UFC record at UFC 231 by landing 290 significant strikes, including 134 in Round 4 — a mark he later surpassed in January 2021. Edson Barboza became the first fighter to record knockout wins with five different techniques: head kick, body punch, body kick, leg kicks, and a flying knee.

Title fights in 2018
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Event	Notes
Light Heavyweight	Daniel Cormier (c)	def.	Volkan Oezdemir	TKO (punches)	2	2:00	UFC 220	^[a]
Heavyweight	Stipe Miocic (c)	def.	Francis Ngannou	Decision (unanimous) (50-44, 50-44, 50-44)	5	5:00	UFC 220	^[b]
Middleweight	Yoel Romero	def.	Luke Rockhold	KO (punches)	3	1:48	UFC 221	^[c]
Women's Featherweight	Cris Cyborg (c)	def	Yana Kunitskaya	TKO (punches)	1	3:25	UFC 222	^[d]
Women's Strawweight	Rose Namajunas (c)	def	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)	5	5:00	UFC 223	^[e]
Lightweight	Khabib Nurmagomedov	def	Al Iaquinta	Decision (unanimous) (50-44, 50-43, 50-43)	5	5:00	UFC 223	^[f]
Women's Bantamweight	Amanda Nunes (c)	def.	Raquel Pennington	TKO (punches)	5	2:36	UFC 224	^[g]
Welterweight	Colby Covington	def.	Rafael dos Anjos	Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 48-47, 48-47)	5	5:00	UFC 225	^[h]
Heavyweight	Daniel Cormier	def.	Stipe Miocic (c)	KO (punches)	1	4:33	UFC 226	^[i]
Flyweight	Henry Cejudo	def.	Demetrious Johnson (c)	Decision (split) (48-47, 47-48, 48-47)	5	5:00	UFC 227	^[j]
Bantamweight	T.J. Dillashaw (c)	def.	Cody Garbrandt	TKO (knee and punches)	1	4:17	UFC 227	^[k]
Welterweight	Tyron Woodley (c)	def.	Darren Till	Submission (D'Arce choke)	2	4:19	UFC 228	^[l]
Lightweight	Khabib Nurmagomedov (c)	def.	Conor McGregor	Submission (neck crank)	4	3:03	UFC 229	^[m]
Heavyweight	Daniel Cormier (c)	def.	Derrick Lewis	Submission (rear-naked choke)	2	2:14	UFC 230	^[n]
Women's Flyweight	Valentina Shevchenko	def.	Joanna Jędrzejczyk	Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 49-46, 49-46)	5	5:00	UFC 231	^[o]
Featherweight	Max Holloway (c)	def.	Brian Ortega	TKO (doctor stoppage)	4	5:00	UFC 231	^[p]
Women's Featherweight	Amanda Nunes	def.	Cris Cyborg (c)	KO (punch)	1	0:51	UFC 232	^[q]
Light Heavyweight	Jon Jones	def.	Alexander Gustafsson	TKO (punches)	3	2:02	UFC 232	^[r]

Season	Finale	Division	Winner	Runner-up	Ref
TUF 27: Undefeated	July 6, 2018	Lightweight	Mike Trizano	Joe Giannetti	^[9]
TUF 27: Undefeated	July 6, 2018	Featherweight	Brad Katona	Jay Cucciniello	^[9]
TUF 28: Heavy Hitters	November 30, 2018	Heavyweight	Juan Francisco Espino Dieppa	Justin Frazier	^[10]
TUF 28: Heavy Hitters	November 30, 2018	Women's Featherweight	Macy Chiasson	Pannie Kianzad	^[11]

Month	Day	Fighter	Division	Event
January	14	Matt Frevola	Lightweight	UFC Fight Night 124
	20	Brandon Davis	Featherweight	UFC 220
		Dan Ige	Featherweight
		Julio Arce	Featherweight
		Matt Bessette	Featherweight
	27	Austin Arnett	Featherweight	UFC on Fox 27
	27	Cory Sandhagen	Bantamweight	UFC on Fox 27
February	3	Maia Stevenson	Women's Strawweight	UFC Fight Night 125
		Polyana Viana	Women's Strawweight
		Priscila Cachoeira	Women's Flyweight
	11	Israel Adesanya	Middleweight	UFC 221
	18	Curtis Millender	Welterweight	UFC Fight Night 126
		Geoff Neal	Welterweight
		Steven Peterson	Featherweight
		Tim Williams	Middleweight
	24	Manny Bermudez	Bantamweight	UFC on Fox 28
	24	Marcin Prachnio	Light Heavyweight	UFC on Fox 28
March	3	Alexander Hernandez	Lightweight	UFC 222
		Mackenzie Dern	Women's Strawweight
		Yana Kunitskaya	Women's Featherweight
	17	Charles Byrd	Middleweight	UFC Fight Night 127
		Hakeem Dawodu	Featherweight
		John Phillips	Middleweight
		Dmitriy Sosnovskiy	Heavyweight
		Magomed Ankalaev	Light Heavyweight
April	7	Mike Rodriguez	Light Heavyweight	UFC 223
	14	Dan Moret	Lightweight	UFC on Fox 29
	14	Lauren Mueller	Women's Flyweight	UFC on Fox 29
	21	Ricky Simón	Bantamweight	UFC Fight Night 128
	21	Ricky Rainey	Welterweight	UFC Fight Night 128
May	19	Andrea Lee	Women's Flyweight	UFC Fight Night 129
	27	Carlo Pedersoli Jr.	Welterweight	UFC Fight Night 130
		Craig White	Welterweight
		Molly McCann	Women's Flyweight
		Ricky Rainey	Welterweight
June	1	Chance Rencountre	Welterweight	UFC Fight Night 131
		Jose Torres	Flyweight
		Nathaniel Wood	Bantamweight
		Sijara Eubanks	Women's Flyweight
	9	Megan Anderson	Women's Featherweight	UFC 225
	9	Mike Jackson	Welterweight	UFC 225
	23	Hector Aldana	Welterweight	UFC Fight Night 132
	23	Petr Yan	Bantamweight	UFC Fight Night 132
July	6	Allan Zuñiga	Lightweight	TUF 27 Finale
		Brad Katona	Bantamweight
		Bryce Mitchell	Featherweight
		Jay Cucciniello	Featherweight
		Joe Giannetti	Lightweight
		John Gunther	Lightweight
		Luis Peña	Lightweight
		Richie Smullen	Lightweight
		Michael Trizano	Lightweight
		Tyler Diamond	Featherweight
	14	Blagoy Ivanov	Heavyweight	UFC Fight Night 133
		Elias Garcia	Flyweight
		Jennifer Maia	Women's Flyweight
		Raoni Barcelos	Bantamweight
		Said Nurmagomedov	Bantamweight
	22	Abu Azaitar	Middleweight	UFC Fight Night 134
		Darko Stošić	Light Heavyweight
		David Zawada	Welterweight
		Khalid Taha	Bantamweight
		Liu Pingyuan	Bantamweight
		Nad Narimani	Featherweight
		Stefan Sekulić	Welterweight
August	4	Kevin Holland	Middleweight	UFC 227
		Matt Sayles	Featherweight
		Montel Jackson	Bantamweight
		Zhang Weili	Women's Strawweight
September	15	Adam Yandiev	Middleweight	UFC Fight Night 136
		Alexey Kunchenko	Welterweight
		Jin Soo Son	Bantamweight
		Khalid Murtazaliev	Middleweight
	22	Andre Ewell	Bantamweight	UFC Fight Night 137
		Augusto Sakai	Heavyweight
		Christos Giagos	Lightweight
		Livia Renata Souza	Women's Strawweight
		Luigi Vendramini	Lightweight
		Mayra Bueno Silva	Women's Bantamweight
		Mike Rodríguez	Light Heavyweight
		Ryan Spann	Light Heavyweight
October	6	Jalin Turner	Lightweight	UFC 229
	27	Chris Fishgold	Featherweight	UFC Fight Night 138
		Don Madge	Lightweight
		Jonathan Martinez	Bantamweight
		Te'Jovan Edwards	Lightweight
November	10	Bobby Moffett	Featherweight	UFC Fight Night 139
		Devonte Smith	Lightweight
		Hannah Cifers	Women's Strawweight
		Maycee Barber	Women's Flyweight
		Thiago Moisés	Lightweight
	17	Anderson dos Santos	Bantamweight	UFC Fight Night 140
		Ian Heinisch	Middleweight
		Jesus Pinedo	Featherweight
		Johnny Walker	Light Heavyweight
		Laureano Staropoli	Welterweight
	30	Antonina Shevchenko	Women's Flyweight	TUF 28 Finale
		Chris Gutiérrez	Bantamweight
		Edmen Shahbazyan	Middleweight
		Juan Espino	Heavyweight
		Julija Stoliarenko	Women's Bantamweight
		Justin Frazier	Heavyweight
		Kevin Aguilar	Featherweight
		Leah Letson	Women's Featherweight
		Macy Chiasson	Women's Bantamweight
		Maurice Greene	Heavyweight
		Michel Batista	Heavyweight
		Pannie Kianzad	Women's Bantamweight
		Roosevelt Roberts	Lightweight
December	2	Alex Gorgees	Lightweight	UFC Fight Night 142
		Damir Ismagulov	Lightweight
		Jimmy Crute	Light Heavyweight
		Kai Kara-France	Flyweight
		Sodiq Yusuff	Featherweight
		Suman Mokhtarian	Featherweight
	8	Kyle Nelson	Featherweight	UFC 231
	15	Dwight Grant	Welterweight	UFC on Fox 31
		Jordan Griffin	Featherweight
		Juan Adams	Heavyweight
	29	Bevon Lewis	Middleweight	UFC 232

2018 in UFC

2018 UFC.com awards

2018 by the numbers

Title fights

The Ultimate Fighter

Debut UFC fighters

Events list

See also

References

External links

Related Articles

#	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance	Ref.
463	UFC 232: Jones vs. Gustafsson 2	December 29, 2018	The Forum	Inglewood, California, U.S.	15,862	^[12]
462	UFC on Fox: Lee vs. Iaquinta 2	December 15, 2018	Fiserv Forum	Milwaukee, Wisconsin, U.S.	9,010	^[13]
461	UFC 231: Holloway vs. Ortega	December 8, 2018	Scotiabank Arena	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	19,039	^[14]
460	UFC Fight Night: dos Santos vs. Tuivasa	December 2, 2018	Adelaide Entertainment Centre	Adelaide, South Australia, Australia	8,652	^[15]
459	The Ultimate Fighter: Heavy Hitters Finale	November 30, 2018	Pearl Theatre	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	2,020	^[16]
458	UFC Fight Night: Blaydes vs. Ngannou 2	November 25, 2018	Cadillac Arena	Beijing, China	10,302	^[17]
457	UFC Fight Night: Magny vs. Ponzinibbio	November 17, 2018	Estadio Luna Park	Buenos Aires, Argentina	10,245	^[18]
456	UFC Fight Night: Korean Zombie vs. Rodríguez	November 10, 2018	Pepsi Center	Denver, Colorado, U.S.	11,426	^[19]
455	UFC 230: Cormier vs. Lewis	November 3, 2018	Madison Square Garden	New York City, New York, U.S.	17,011	^[20]
454	UFC Fight Night: Volkan vs. Smith	October 27, 2018	Avenir Centre	Moncton, New Brunswick	6,282	^[21]
453	UFC 229: Khabib vs. McGregor	October 6, 2018	T-Mobile Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	20,034	^[22]
452	UFC Fight Night: Santos vs. Anders	September 22, 2018	Ginásio do Ibirapuera	São Paulo, Brazil	9,485	^[23]
451	UFC Fight Night: Hunt vs. Oliynyk	September 15, 2018	Olimpiyskiy Arena	Moscow, Russia	22,603	^[24]
450	UFC 228: Woodley vs. Till	September 8, 2018	American Airlines Arena	Dallas, Texas, U.S	14,073	^[25]
449	UFC Fight Night: Gaethje vs. Vick	August 25, 2018	Pinnacle Bank Arena	Lincoln, Nebraska, U.S.	6,409	^[26]
448	UFC 227: Dillashaw vs. Garbrandt 2	August 4, 2018	Staples Center	Los Angeles, California, U.S.	17,794	^[27]
447	UFC on Fox: Alvarez vs. Poirier 2	July 28, 2018	Scotiabank Saddledome	Calgary, Alberta, Canada	10,603	^[28]
446	UFC Fight Night: Shogun vs. Smith	July 22, 2018	Barclaycard Arena	Hamburg, Germany	7,798	^[29]
445	UFC Fight Night: dos Santos vs. Ivanov	July 14, 2018	CenturyLink Arena	Boise, Idaho U.S.	5,648	^[30]
444	UFC 226: Miocic vs. Cormier	July 7, 2018	T-Mobile Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	17,464	^[31]
443	The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated Finale	July 6, 2018	Pearl Theater	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	2,123	^[32]
442	UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Edwards	June 23, 2018	Singapore Indoor Stadium	Kallang, Singapore	6,419	^[33]
441	UFC 225: Whittaker vs. Romero 2	June 9, 2018	United Center	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.	18,117	^[34]
440	UFC Fight Night: Rivera vs. Moraes	June 1, 2018	Adirondack Bank Center	Utica, New York, U.S.	5,063	^[35]
439	UFC Fight Night: Thompson vs. Till	May 27, 2018	Echo Arena	Liverpool, England, U.K.	8,520	^[36]
438	UFC Fight Night: Maia vs. Usman	May 19, 2018	Movistar Arena	Santiago, Chile	11,082	^[37]
437	UFC 224: Nunes vs. Pennington	May 12, 2018	Jeunesse Arena	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	10,696	^[38]
436	UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs. Lee	April 21, 2018	Boardwalk Hall	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.	9,541	^[39]
435	UFC on Fox: Poirier vs. Gaethje	April 14, 2018	Gila River Arena	Glendale, Arizona, U.S.	11,382	^[40]
434	UFC 223: Khabib vs. Iaquinta	April 7, 2018	Barclays Center	Brooklyn, New York, U.S.	17,026	^[41]
433	UFC Fight Night: Werdum vs. Volkov	March 17, 2018	The O₂ Arena	London, England, U.K.	16,274	^[42]
432	UFC 222: Cyborg vs. Kunitskaya	March 3, 2018	T-Mobile Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	12,041	^[43]
431	UFC on Fox: Emmett vs. Stephens	February 24, 2018	Amway Center	Orlando, Florida, U.S.	10,124	^[44]
430	UFC Fight Night: Cowboy vs. Medeiros	February 18, 2018	Frank Erwin Center	Austin, Texas, U.S.	10,502	^[45]
429	UFC 221: Romero vs. Rockhold	February 11, 2018	Perth Arena	Perth, Western Australia, Australia	12,437	^[46]
428	UFC Fight Night: Machida vs. Anders	February 3, 2018	Arena Guilherme Paraense	Belém, Brazil	10,144	^[47]
427	UFC on Fox: Jacaré vs. Brunson 2	January 27, 2018	Spectrum Center	Charlotte, North Carolina, U.S.	10,249	^[48]
426	UFC 220: Miocic vs. Ngannou	January 20, 2018	TD Garden	Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.	16,015	^[49]
425	UFC Fight Night: Stephens vs. Choi	January 14, 2018	Scottrade Center	St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.	10,052	^[50]