Top 5 UFC Moments of 2024 so far

The king of rio returns

Jose Aldo had retired from MMA back in September 2022 when he lost by unanimous decision to Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 278.

Afterwards, Aldo would go on to have two Boxing matches in the space of three months in 2023, earning a majority draw against former UFC fighter, Jeremy Stephens, and an unanimous decision win against Brazilian boxer, Esteban Gabriel Espindola.

On March 16th, it was announced that the Manaus-born fighter would make his return to the UFC and would face #12 Bantamweight contender, Jonathan Martinez, in the Co-Main Event of UFC 301.

The King of Rio would go the distance for three rounds with Martinez and come out victorious in front of his home country, winning by unanimous decision.

This would put him into the Bantamweight rankings at #9 since he was a ranked opponent before he retired. Aldo currently sits at #8 in the rankings due to the aftermath of other fights.

The former UFC Featherweight Champion never ruled out that UFC 301 would be his last fight, especially since he is now a contender in the Bantamweight division and could have the chance to have one more title shot.

First Georgian UFC Champion

Ilia Topuria only had six fights before he got the opportunity to fight for the UFC Featherweight Championship. In his last fight at UFC Jacksonville, he showed utter dominance against Josh Emmett, defeating him by unanimous decision.

The undefeated Georgian fighter had been eyeing up a title shot since his victory and after Alexander Volkanovski had successfully defended his title against Yair Rodriguez at UFC 290, both men would face off outside the Octagon with the Australian promising that Topuria would be next.

Volkanovski at the time would be the longest reigning champion since before COVID-19, defending his UFC Featherweight title five times. In his last fight, The Great had fought Islam Makhachev for the UFC Lightweight title on 11 days' notice, but would lose by first-round knockout at UFC 294.

El Matador would become the headliner alongside Volkanovski at UFC 298 as the two fighters were set to face each other for the 145-pound belt. 

It wouldn't take too long for the fight to end as after both men made it to the first round, it would be the Australian that would fall in the second round as Topuria landed a powerful right hook, knocking down Volkanovski before a couple more punches on the ground would finish the job.

Topuria would become the first-ever Georgian to win a UFC title and it only took him seven fights to become the King of the Featherweights. There are still questions whether the Halle Westfalen-born fighter will face Volkanovski in a rematch or defend his title against former champion, Max Holloway.

islam makhachev submits dustin poirier 

It was hard to tell who would be the next challenger for Makhachev as many Lightweight fights would occur at the same time. However, after a redeeming knockout win at UFC 299, Poirier would step up to have one last shot for the undisputed Lightweight title.

The Dagestan fighter defended the Lightweight Championship twice in 2023, both were against Alexander Volkanovski as the first bout would end by unanimous decision at UFC 284, and the second bout would end by first-round knockout at UFC 294.

The Diamond had two Lightweight title fights in the past, but he would lose them both by third-round submission with a Rear-Naked Choke. The first title loss happened against Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 242 and the second happened against Charles Oliveira at UFC 269.

The anticipating Lightweight title fight would be announced by Dana White, during the UFC 300 post-fight press conference, as UFC 302 would be hosted in Newark, with a lost of New Jersey fans desperate to witness a possible five-round battle.

With a loud crowd in the Prudential Center, the main event would be full of excitement as Poirier could have the chance to finally claim UFC Gold. Sadly, that would not be the case, as Makhachev submitted Poirier with a D'Arce Choke in the fifth round to remain as the King of the Lightweights while earning the joint most title wins in UFC Lightweight history.

With a heart-breaking title loss, it may have been Poirier's final fight in the UFC as he did mention that he would not have anything to fight for if he lost at UFC 302.

alex pereira knocks out jiri prochazka

UFC 303 had a lot of panics for the Main Card after multiple fights would be cancelled due to injury or undisclosed reasons, including the original Main Event between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler. Luckily, on two weeks' notice, Pereira and Prochazka would step in to fight for the 205-pound title in an interesting rematch.

Their first bout ended with Poatan winning the vacant UFC Light Heavyweight title, but the stoppage would be a bit controversial as fans, critics, and Prochazka himself believed the fight was stopped too early.

Pereira had last fought at UFC 300 in the Main Event against Jamahal Hill, earning an emphatic knockout win to close out such an iconic event.

BJP also last fought at UFC 300 in the featured Prelim when he defeated the #5 Light Heavyweight contender, Aleksandr Rakic, by second-round TKO which would give him a chance of vengeance in his UFC career.

With a very intense stare-down before the Light Heavyweight battle would begin, Pereira would knockdown Prochazka with his signature left-hook in the last second of the first round, leaving the Czech Republican to be vulnerable going into the second round.

After a major moment in the fight, it would not last much longer as Pereira would land a vicious head kick which would send Prochazka down to the ground and have the bout finish in uncontroversial fashion.

It would arguably be the Brazilian's greatest win of his fighting career as he now has the possible choice of defending his Light Heavyweight title once again, or facing a Heavyweight Champion to have the chance to become a three-division champion in the UFC.

Max Holloway's crazy ufc 300 KO

The BMF title is an illustrious possession of the UFC as it brings out the most entertaining fighters to go face-to-face, as fans are prepared to witness a war every time the belt is on the line.

In this case, Justin Gaethje would claim the title as the BMF of the UFC and would be more than happy to defend it against another entertaining warrior, Max Holloway, at the UFC's 300th PPV event.

Holloway had his last fight at UFC Singapore where he would face The Korean Zombie, winning by knockout in the third round with a wild right hand as the South Korean would retire after his loss.

Gaethje won the vacant BMF belt in his last fight when he fought Dustin Poirier in their second meeting in the UFC, winning by knockout in the second round after an impressive head kick.

Many believed that this fight would be the best one to watch at UFC 300 as two strikers were prepared to go the full distance for five rounds.

This crazy back-and-forth action would go on until the last second of the fifth round as Holloway and Gaethje would constantly swing punches at each other for the last 10 seconds of the fight.

The Hawaiin would land a huge and brutal right-hand punch which would send Gaethje crashing down head first, leaving the fans in shock and amazement as the T-Mobile Arena had never sounded so loud before.

It would be considered one of the greatest knockouts in UFC history as Holloway would win the BMF title in stunning fashion. before calling out Ilia Topuria to fight for the UFC Featherweight title.