The Ultimate Fighting Championship, considered to be the premier setting for the elite MMA fighters all across the world, has lasted more than 20 years as an organization.
UFC Champions (End of 2014)
Heavyweight: Cain Velasquez Interim Heavyweight: Fabricio Werdum Light Heavyweight: Jon Jones Middleweight: Chris Weidman Welterweight: Robbie Lawler Lightweight: Anthony Pettis Featherweight: Jose Aldo Bantamweight: T.J. Dillashaw Flyweight: Demetrious Johnson Women's Bantamweight: Ronda Rousey Women's Strawweight: Carla Esparza
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Current UFC Champions and # of 2015 title defenses
Heavyweight: Fabricio Werdum (0)
Light Heavyweight: Daniel Cormier (1; def. Alexander Gustafsson)
UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones extends his number of title defenses to 8 after his unanimous decision victory over Daniel Cormier.
Jon Jones tests positive to cocaine metabolites in a pre-fight drug test. Jones was admitted to a drug treatment facility, but left after one day in rehabilitation.
Former UFC Middleweight champion and longest ever reigning champion Anderson Silva returns to the Octagon since December 2013 in an unanimous decision victory over Nick Diaz at UFC 183.
Anderson Silva tests positive for 2 banned substances in a pre-fight drug test and Nick Diaz tests positive for marijuana metabolites in a post-fight drug test for UFC 183.
Former Bellator Middleweight champion Hector Lombard tests positive for anabolic steroids in a post-fight drug test.
UFC introduces a new drug-testing policy in which all fighters on the UFC roster is subject to random-drug testing throughout the year, in and out of competition.
Mirko Filipovic returns to the UFC for the first time since October 2011 and defeats Gabriel Gonzaga in a rematch from 2007 via TKO.
UFC Flyweight Champion Demetrious Johnson records the latest ever stoppage in UFC history with 4 minutes and 59 seconds into the 5th round via submission in his title defense against Kyoji Horiguchi.
Jon Jones is stripped of his title after being involved in a hit-and-run accident where Jones fled the scene of the accident after injuring a pregnant victim with marijuana found in the vehicle. He has been indefinitely suspended by the UFC and await legal charges to be filed.
Anthony Johnson and Daniel Cormier will fight for the vacated UFC Light Heavyweight championship title at UFC 187. The winner will be the first UFC Light Heavyweight champion since Jon Jones defeated Mauricio Rua in March 2011.
Urijah Faber suffers his first ever non-title loss after a unanimous decision defeat against Frankie Edgar in a 5-round main event in Manila, The Philippines.
Daniel Cormier becomes the first UFC Light Heavyweight champion since Jon Jones was stripped of his title after holding the title for 1501 days.
Former Strikeforce Lightweight Champion and UFC Lightweight contender Gilbert Melendez tests positive for testosterone metabolites after his UFC 188 bout loss to Eddie Alvarez. Melendez will be suspended for one year.
Conor McGregor defeats Chad Mendes at UFC 189 for the interim UFC Featherweight championship to become the first ever Irish titleholder in UFC history.
Former UFC Light Heavyweight champion Jon Jones is reinstated into the UFC, after being indefinitely suspended for charges on hit-and-run and injuring a pregnant driver.
Holly Holm defeats Ronda Rousey, ending her undefeated and championship streak, via KO.
The UFC hosts their first event in South Korea on November 28th, featuring Benson Henderson vs Jorge Masvidal as the main event.
The UFC hosts 3 consecutive UFC events on the weekend of December 12th, featuring UFC Fight Night: Namajunas vs Van Zant, The Ultimate Fighter Season 22: Finale, and UFC 194 on.
Luke Rockhold defeats Chris Weidman to become the UFC Middleweight Champion and ends Weidman's undefeated record via TKO.
Conor McGregor defeats Jose Aldo and unifies the UFC Featherweight title, becoming the first man to defeat Jose Aldo in 10 years and the second ever UFC Featherweight Champion.
If I'm missing anything with any significant news of 2015, let me know!
Though there are discussion pages and forums on these websites as well, I recommend that you also discuss topics on TeamLiquid as well. These websites can feature the bottom-of-the-barrel MMA fans who have virtually no discussion-worthy input such as "screw gsp boring canadian" or "i trane ufc, i could beat any fighter in the ufc". There will always be points/notes of discussion, such as post-UFC event discussions, MMA news, and any MMA related events we might partake in ourselves.
Please do not ask in the thread for illegal streaming services to watch Pay-Per-View events.
OP note: If you are new to MMA in either practicing it as a sport or keeping up with the UFC and have any questions, feel free to post in the thread your questions or shoot me a PM!
Main Card (Pay-Per-View) Light Heavyweight: Jon Jones (c) vs Daniel Cormier Lightweight: Donald Cerrone vs David Franco Myles Jury Middleweight: Brad Tavares vs Nate Marquardt Flyweight: Kyoji Horiguchi vs Louis Gaudinot Welterweight: Hector Lombard vs Josh Burkman
Preliminary Card (Fox Sports 1) Lightweight: Danny Castillo vs Paul Felder Bantamweight: Marcus Brimage vs Cody Garbrandt Heavyweight: Shawn Jordan vs Jared Cannonier Lightweight: Evan Dunham vs Rodrigo Damm
Preliminary Card (UFC Fight Pass) Welterweight: Omari Akhmedov vs Mats Nilsson Women's Bantamweight: Alexis Dufresne vs Marion Reneau
Poll: Who will win the main event?
Jon "Bones" Jones (13)
57%
Daniel "DC" Cormier (10)
43%
23 total votes
Your vote: Who will win the main event?
(Vote): Jon "Bones" Jones (Vote): Daniel "DC" Cormier
(Vote): Tarec Saffiedine vs Hyun Gyu Lim (Vote): Abel Trujillo vs Jamie Varner (Vote): Johny Hendricks vs Robbie Lawler I (Vote): Matt Brown vs Erick Silva (Vote): Renan Barao vs T.J. Dillashaw (Vote): Chris Weidman vs Lyoto Machida (Vote): Kyung Ho Kang vs Michinori Tanaka (Vote): Jose Aldo vs Chad Mendes II (Vote): Junior dos Santos vs Stipe Miocic (Vote): Other
Awesome job with the 2015 thread! (saw one typo in the OP, T.J Dillashaq)
Just want to follow up on the last thing that was said in the 2014 thread. I'm actually pretty happy about UFC's new deal with TSN/RDS and especially Fight Network. They said the Fight Network will be broadcasting all fight night events around the world, so it'll be pretty sick if that includes all the fight pass only cards as well.
If you're a fight fan in Canada, the Fight Network is just so awesome. (not really sure how many places can get it outside of Canada) They have shows to keep you up to date with all the current events in the fight world, as well as some pretty decent breakdowns after every UFC event. They show events (some live) from all different MMA/combat sport organizations like Cage Warriors, DEEP, GLORY, OneFC plus some boxing and even old ADCC grappling matches. There are some pro-wresting and some really dumb "MMA in an obstacle course" stuff that I ignore, but all in all, awesome channel for hardcore fight fans.
I appreciate Sportsnet broadcasting all those fight night events in the past, but I have to say, every time I see those dudes at Sportsnet with a facefull of makeup talking about my sport in their mainstream sportscaster tone, it just makes me feel a little off...
I believe Sportsnet, or TSN, is the equivalent to ESPN here in the States? I agree that it sounds really odd when the announcers talk about the UFC. Especially when it's talked about in between talks of Lebron in the NBA and the NFL.
Edit: Also, you dunno T.J. Dillashaq? He's a big fan of Shaq O'Neal.
On December 30 2014 06:59 SynC[gm] wrote: I believe Sportsnet, or TSN, is the equivalent to ESPN here in the States?
imagine if ESPN had a rival in the US that was just as big as them. and, imagine if ESPN and this other sports network fought on every level for every sports property in the US. that is the situation between TSN and SportsNet.
the 2 largest media companies in Canada are Bell and Rogers.
Bell owns TSN. Rogers owns Sportsnet.
if you are having trouble sleeping at night. Just read this post about the intricacies of media-giant-competition in Canada. No sleeping pills required.
On December 31 2014 11:21 SynC[gm] wrote: Ahh crap, can't actually edit a thread title without a mod editing it for you. I'll ask right away.
Also, be sure to vote what you thought what the fight of the year for 2015!
with this being the XMas holidays and all.. i'm going through every damn one of these fights and watching them all. and then voting.
thanks for compiling this list. i can now watch 10 great fights in a row
On December 30 2014 05:29 Ultraliskhero wrote: Just want to follow up on the last thing that was said in the 2014 thread. I'm actually pretty happy about UFC's new deal with TSN/RDS and especially Fight Network. They said the Fight Network will be broadcasting all fight night events around the world, so it'll be pretty sick if that includes all the fight pass only cards as well. ... .... I appreciate Sportsnet broadcasting all those fight night events in the past, but I have to say, every time I see those dudes at Sportsnet with a facefull of makeup talking about my sport in their mainstream sportscaster tone, it just makes me feel a little off...
upon further reflection i have this to say. Since the day Sportsnet signed that $5.2 Billion deal with the NHL their UFC coverage has been getting worse. Prior to the NHL deal i was happy with Sportsnet's coverage. They basically do not have the manpower/bandwidth to do a good job on both the NHL and UFC when they are dedicating so many resources to the NHL.
IMO, The switch away from Sportsnet and on to TSN is good for UFC fans in Canada.
Hope you all have a great time celebrating or relaxing on New Year's Eve, and going into the New Year, lets hope for some sweet, injury-free, and awesome moments in MMA all-around for 2015 :D
Bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw seems to be getting closer to fighting Renan Barao, but is still open for the possibility of fighting Urijah Faber, per Dana White... Source can be found here
[Dillashaw and Faber] are definitely open to it," White said. "When you have a team full of guys that are in the same weight, you're eventually going to have to fight each other, and they're all cool with that
Also, Dillashaw doesn't seem to rate McGregor very highly, saying he doesn't think McGregor deserves a title shot even with a win over Siver.
I think Frankie Edgar would destroy Conor McGregor. Chad Mendes would destroy Conor McGregor. We haven’t seen Conor McGregor fight a wrestler or a top name.
“He’s really good, he’s confident, he has great stand-up, and he’s tricky, but I just don’t feel like he’s deserving yet.
Unfortunately, still no news of anything related to Demetrious Johnson or the heavyweight contenders scenario.
Went looking for the UFC thread to express my Hype for tonight and found the old one locked and was like "What in the world could some idiot do to get this thread closed."
Was pleasantly surprised to find out this was the reason
I have a feeling this is going to be one of the better cards of the year. It will be interesting to see what Silva can do after his injury but I don't think there will be a fight with 2 people that dislike each other as much as these guys this year. I wouldn't be surprised to see either one of them take a cheap shot if the other tries to touch gloves.