In no particular order, because rankings articles this time of year are frankly old hat, here’s a look at the events that really mattered this past decade. The big shows, the monumental cards, the events that simply won’t be forgotten.

UFC 129: St. Pierre vs. Shields

Date: April 30, 2011
Location: Toronto, Canada

Georges St. Pierre had long been one of the top draws in the UFC heading into UFC 129 in April 2011. But to that point, he’d fought only in Quebec and the U.S. With MMA having been made legal in Ontario in 2010, however, the stage was set for the UFC to host what was its biggest show to date at Toronto’s SkyDome (Rogers Centre).

Strikeforce champion Jake Shieds, undefeated for over five years, was billed as a real threat to ‘Rush.’ He wasn’t, earning the title shot off a split decision win over Martin Kampmann that was razor thin. Fans were happy to buy into the narrative that Shields was GSP’s toughest test to date, however. If only to see the Canadian star successfully headline a stadium show with 55,000 appreciative Canadian fans in attendance. St. Pierre won a unanimous decision in the main event, giving fans exactly what they expected. The rest of the card? A thrilling co-feature between Jose Aldo and Mark Hominick (who can forget the alien-like bulge, a hematoma, growing off Hominick’s forehead by the end?), and the end of Randy Couture’s career, as he was crane-kicked into retirement by Lyoto Machida, made this one all the more memorable.

ONE Championship: A New Era

Date: March 31, 2019
Location: Tokyo, Japan

The rise of ONE Championship in Asia has been an interesting journey to say the least. The promotion has seemingly beat the UFC to the punch at every turn, beating it to China, making Japan a regular stop, and proving that the American outfit’s dominance is not yet global. While questions about transparency and financing remain, the reality is that ONE is the dominant player in Asia.

A New Era, held in March 2019, cemented that. Four title fights, the debuts of Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Alvarez, and the addition of grappling ace Garry Tonon made the Tokyo card a big one. Johnson did exactly what the all-time great was expected to do: win. Former UFC and Bellator champion Alvarez, however, suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of Timofey Nastyukhin, a finish that left Alvarez looking like something out of a horror flick.

Regardless of outcome, ONE proved they were part of the big leagues.

KSW 39: Colosseum

Date: May 27, 2017
Location: Warsaw, Poland

The popular narrative is that the UFC is the only promotion that really matters. The popular narrative is, of course, wrong. Throughout its history, the UFC has always had competition, sometimes strong, sometimes… not so much. The second half of the 2010s, however, brought about a surge in popularity for MMA. As the sport expanded across the globe, a number of players beat Dana White and company into certain territories. Perhaps the best example, Polish promotion KSW, who continue to expand in Europe to this day. A powerhouse in their home country, the promotion is known for elaborate production, a tendency to rely on heavyweight slugfests, and fantastic fan support.

Look no further than KSW 39, which saw 57,776 spectators turn out for a stadium show headlined by a champ vs. champ fight between Mamed Khalidov and Borys Mańkowski. Strongman Mariusz Pudzianowski featured in the co-main event, with a few other familiar names, like Sokoudjou and Norman Parke, decorating the card.

Stadium-level MMA? It doesn’t have to be the UFC.

UFC 200: Tate vs. Nunes

Date: July 9, 2016
Location: Las Vegas, NV

The UFC 200 card was something of a disaster in terms of how it came together, but it remains a monumental card for the company. While it paled in comparison to 2009’s UFC 100, the event was a milestone. Of course, it should have been bigger. Conor McGregor was expected to appear, but was yanked due to skipping out on press obligations. A dubious decision by the UFC, given what later transpired.

Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier was lined up as the new headliner — a fitting replacement given the pair’s rivalry. However, days out from the event, Jones failed a USADA drug test, and was pulled from the card. Women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate taking on Amanda Nunes was promoted to the top of the card in the end, alongside a surprise return by Brock Lesnar taking on popular heavyweight Mark Hunt.

The event remains most memorable for the scandals surrounding it, including another drug test failure, by Brock Lesnar, which saw his win over Hunt overturned to a No Contest (in turn leading to Hunt’s recently dismissed lawsuit against the UFC). Still, it was the coming out party for Amanda Nunes, and saw strong performances from the likes of Aldo, Gastelum, Dillashaw, Lauzon, and Mousasi. Oh, and Anderson Silva stepped up on basically zero notice to fight Daniel Cormier.

UFC 193: Rousey vs. Holm

Date: November 15, 2015
Location: Melbourne, Australia

Ronda Rousey set a lot of benchmarks during her time atop the MMA world. First in Strikeforce, then in the UFC. Yet the night she’s best remembered for, perhaps unfortunately, was the beginning of the end. 56,214 fans witnessed her dethroning, when Holly Holm separated Rousey from the 135lb title by way of head kick. That attendance number surpassed the previous promotional record set at UFC 129. The shock defeat of a woman seen as unstoppable stunned fans thoroughly enough that many forget Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Mark Hunt, and Robert Whittaker also had big nights themselves.

Ultimately, however, UFC 193 will always be recalled as the end of the Rousey era.

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With 2019 coming to an end, it’s time to look back at the year that was. A lot of action went down in the MMA world, some good, some great. Plenty of compelling fights, but a handful really stood out. Below, we’ll give our take on who took home Fight of the Year honors for 2019.

Fight of the Year 2019

Heath Harshman: As always there are more than a few solid options for Fight of the Year in 2019. A heavyweight title rematch between Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier topped one of the best events of the year in exciting fashion. Yair Rodriguez and Jeremy Stephens were able to make amends from their first “fight,” and gave us a fun three-round bout shortly thereafter. But my fight of the year was UFC 236’s co-main event bout between Israel Adesanya and Kelvin Gastelum for the interim middleweight title. A crucial marker in the rise of Adesanya, the bout proved the now-champ had what it took to compete at the championship level in the UFC.

Jay Anderson: Justin Gaethje‘s finishing ability took him out of the running this year, as he didn’t bother to leave the first round in either of his bouts. Jon Jones vs. Thiago Santos was an interesting one, with Jones pushed harder, arguably, than ever before. There’s Usman vs. Covington, but that might be a case of Recency Bias. Same with Jourdain vs. Choi. Riddell vs. Mullarkey was a war, but a little too one-sided. So I’m going with Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum. That put to bed the whole “Izzy will struggle against wrestlers” concern, and paved the way for his win over Robert Whittaker.

Michael Lynch: The Vicente Luque vs. Mike Perry fight is Fight of the Year for me. Simply because of the sheer amount of violence.

Ryan Fortune: In the co-main event of a fantastic UFC 236 card, eventual middleweight champion Israel Adesanya fought for the interim middleweight title against Kelvin Gastelum. The fight was amazing, with many twists throughout and seemingly the fight was even heading into the final round. However, “The Last Stylebender” managed to prevail in the fifth round, dropping Gastelum multiple times in the final round to ensure the victory and capture the interim middleweight title.

Joe McDonagh: Adesanya vs. Gastelum. Period.

Josh Evanoff: Fight of the year has got to be Adesanya vs Gastelum. The two had so much heart and back and forth exchanges, that it made people forget that the title itself was kind of pointless going in. It was Adesanya’s coming out party and helped set the stage for the main event, which was also one of the best fights of the year in Poirer vs. Holloway.

Gabriel Gonzalez: Adesanya vs. Gastelum. Outside of the competitiveness, which several big fights had this year, was the number of dramatic moments in this epic. Gastelum out-striking Adesanya in several moments and Adesanya’s brilliant fifth round to close out the fight made this one a modern classic. Both men are poised for a big 2020 with the memory of this one in their back-pocket.

Dan Doherty: Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa. There may have been better fights this year, but this was magical. It was two action-figures throwing down. Everything we could have asked for. All of Yoel’s antics during the fight, the wild back-and-forth in the first round, Yoel’s comeback effort in the third. This fight was unbelievable.

Mike McClory: As always, Don Frye vs. Yoshihiro Takayama, but sadly the Cageside DeLorean is out of commission and we’re stuck in 2019. So Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum it is! A great back and forth fight that saw both men dropped, and some impressive exchanges, with a pace that saw constant output from both Adesanya and Gastelum. If you have a friend that is curious about what MMA is, show them this fight.

Keith Shillan: Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington at UFC 245. This was the toughest to decide. I almost went with Adesanya vs. Gastelum, but I think the backstory and feud between Usman and Covington gave it the win for me. You have got to love when two high level wrestlers ignore their background and decide to just stand in the pocket and exchange fisticuffs for nearly 25 minutes.

End result: Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum wins this decision, with Adesanya’s first title victory, against a gutsy Gastelum, being too good to ignore.

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Who choked in 2019? More importantly, who pulled off a fancy choke, or something even more impressive? This year, there was really one name that ran away with the Submission of the Year race: Arkansas native Bryce Mitchell. And for good reason. Twisters are rare enough in MMA, but even more so in the UFC.

Heath Harshman: My favorite submission of the year has a catch. While Ben Askren’s submission of Robbie Lawler might have been controversial, it eventually got us to his match up with Jorge Masvidal, and one of the greatest KOs in UFC history. Without the clumsy refereeing and questionable “limp arm” we wouldn’t have gotten the knee from hell. Therefore, Askren submitting Lawler is the best submission of the year.

Jay Anderson: We know Bryce Michell’s favorite 90s movie, because it’s the same as his favorite submission: Twister. It’s hard not to award this one to the young featherweight; after all, he pulled off the move successfully at UFC on ESPN 7 for only the second time in the promotion’s history.

Michael Lynch: The Ovince St. Preux submission over Michał Oleksiejczuk stands out as Submission of the Year. It should be named the OSP choke at this point, he’s pulled it off four times in the UFC.

Ryan Fortune: Arkansas’ Bryce Mitchell managed to pull off a fantastic submission in December, when he submitted fellow prospect Matt Sayles via Twister in the very first round. The Twister was the second in UFC history (the first was Chan Sung Jung vs. Leonard Garcia back in 2011) and enabled Mitchell to extend his UFC record to three wins and zero losses. Maybe after that fine submission, Reebok will finally give Mitchell his desired camo shorts.

Joe McDonagh: Bryce Mitchell’s twister. A submission you almost never see. Bryce Mitchell is one of the most promising and entertaining prospects on the UFC roster and people need to realize this.

Josh Evanoff: Bryce Mitchell’s twister is the submission of the year. The twister is such a hard submission to pull off in general, especially against high level competition, but he did. Get that man his camo shorts already.

Gabriel Gonzalez: Bryce Mitchell’s Twister. A late entry but the fact that it has only ever been done once before in the UFC made this one my pick. The degree of difficulty on the submission made this one a contender on most lists, but Bryce Mitchell capitalizing on it to campaign for camouflage print Reebok shorts is clever icing on the cake.

Dan Doherty: Bryce Mitchell vs. Matt Sayles. I try to avoid picking things that happened too recently, but he hit a twister. Come on.

Mike McClory: Bryce Mitchel vs. Matt Sayles. Twister. That’s all that needs to be said. Oh and just the second one ever to be done in the UFC octagon. Well done Bryce Mitchel, you animal.

Keith Shillan: Bryce Mitchell’s sub of Matt Sayles at UFC Washington D.C, which was only the second twister in UFC history.

End result: Eight out of ten writers choose Bryce Mitchell doing the twist(er) as the Submission of the Year for 2019.

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A lot of good events, a lot of solid fight cards — but what show truly stood out in 2019? From Honolulu to Tel Aviv, Moscow to Vancouver, there were MMA events all over the map this year. Some stood out more than others, some built contenders and solidified legacies. Below is our pick for Event of the Year, which turned out to be a three-horse race.

Event of the Year

Heath Harshman: UFC 236 was great, given the importance of the top two fights on the card. Featuring Israel Adesanya, Kelvin Gastelum, Dustin Poirier, and Max Holloway, the April PPV was tough to beat. Then, Nate Diaz came back. The return of Nate, and his impressive victory, along with Stipe-DC 2, the brawl between Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa, and a host of other impressive performances and fun match-ups makes UFC 241 the event of the year. There was tons of hype, and it managed to live up to it.

Jay Anderson: UFC 239, UFC 244, UFC 245 — a lot of great cards. Bellator going to Japan is worth a mention as well. But what do we look for in a great event? Story lines? Great fights? Relevance to a divisional title picture? Less tangible factors? The DC card had plenty of finishes, and saw the emergence of Jair Rozenstruik as a heavyweight contender. It featured just the second twister submission in UFC history. One of the latest finishes in a main event. Two draws, when one is a rarity. 239, 244, and 245 were great but I’m going to go with UFC DC.

Michael Lynch: The best event of the year was UFC on ESPN 7 (DC). Everyone loves finishes, and this card had nine finishes plus two very close fights.

Ryan Fortune: UFC 244. My event of the year was headlined by the “BMF” title fight between fan favorites Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz. The winner of the “BMF” title (Masvidal) was presented with the belt by actor and former WWE wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Also on the card at Madison Square Garden was the middleweight debut of Darren Till, the return of Stephen Thompson and heavyweight brawler Derrick Lewis. Highlights of the event included Kevin Lee’s monster knockout over Gregor Gillespie, Corey Anderson’s one-sided destruction of Johnny Walker, Edmen Shabazyan’s first-round starching of Brad Tavares and the third UFC knockout win for Jairzinho Rosenstruik against former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski. A historic event which provided plenty of action in New York City.

Joe McDonagh: UFC 245. Amanda Nunes does what she does. A dethroning of one of the great champions on the roster. And a main event between two people filled with pure hatred of each other, and that was only three fights on the wholly great card.

Josh Evanoff: UFC 244 literally had a custom WWE-esque championship on the line in the main event, the current United States President in attendance, and the Rock playing the role of Dana White. It was such an absurd backdrop to an amazing nights of fights, including Corey Anderson making a statement with a KO of Johnny Walker, Kevin Lee’s comeback KO, and Jorge Masvidal dominating in the main event.

Gabriel Gonzalez: UFC 239. Just look at everything on this card: Masvidal’s knockout of Ben Askren, Jan Blachowicz’s knockout of Luke Rockhold, Amanda Nunes further establishing her dominance over Holly Holm, and a near upset of pound-for-pound number one Jon Jones all occurred in the span of a single PPV broadcast for one of the more memorable Fourth of July cards in UFC history.

Dan Doherty: We were spoiled this year with great events that lived up to expectations. One that stands out to me was UFC 239. Two title fights and a grudge match between Masvidal and Askren. We had the KO of the Year, Amanda Nunes cementing her legacy as the GOAT, and Jon Jones being truly tested for the first time in a while, maybe ever. Not to mention a great KO by Jan Blachowicz among other finishes on the card.

Mike McClory: UFC 239. From top to bottom this card had it all. Well, minus a Twister submission. But what it lacked in Twisters it made up for in KO’s with Yadong Song’s crushing right hand opening things up against Alejandro Perez on the prelims. Jan Błachowicz popped Luke Rockhold’s head back like a Rock ’em Sock ’em robot. Jorge Masvidal’s 5-second flying knee KO of Ben Askren followed and oh yeah, Amanda Nunes KO’d Holly Holm with an impressive head kick followed by punches. A very entertaining card with some great match-ups.

Keith Shillan: UFC 236. Both the main event (Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway) and co-main event (Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum) are fight of the year candidates.

End result: UFC DC and UFC 244 both took a couple of votes, but it was UFC 239 that takes home the prize.

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There’s little that MMA fans love more than a knockout, and 2019 had its fair share of stunners. One stood out head and shoulders above the rest, however. The winner of this year’s Knockout of the Year should come as no surprise to MMA fans.

Knockout of the Year

Heath Harshman: There’s only one correct answer to this, and it’s Jorge Masvidal putting an end to the Ben Askren hype-train. For the sake of the round table, I’m going to highlight Niko Price’s upkick KO of James Vick. Price should be everyone’s favorite fighter, and his collection of POTN bonuses is a major reason why. Whether he’s knocking out guys from his back, or getting knocked out, Price puts on a show each and every fight. His knockout of Vick is one that will be replayed for years.

Jay Anderson: You almost want to dismiss Jorge Masvidal’s flying knee knockout of Ben Askren as a fluke, until you realize that he worked on it in training. Hard to argue against it.

Michael Lynch: The Jorge Masvidal flying knee KO of Ben Askren. It earns Knockout of the Year because it was the fastest KO in the history of the UFC.

Ryan Fortune: In a heated battle on the UFC 239 main card, MMA veteran Jorge Masvidal faced previously undefeated and former Bellator champion Ben Askren in a match-up between two top welterweight contenders. The fight went down in history, as Masvidal earned his second knockout of the year, this time knocking out Ben Askren in just five seconds with a brutal flying knee that ended Askren’s unbeaten streak in what was the fastest UFC knockout of all time. This would propel “Gamebred” into one of the biggest stars within the sport, while “Funky” would retire later in the year after losing to Demian Maia.

Joe McDonagh: Jorge Masvidal’s knockout of Ben Askren. This was magical. A resurrection of Masvidal’s title hopes. All the sh*t Askren talked was answered.

Josh Evanoff: Knockout of the year is going to Niko Price’s upkick KO of James Vick. It’s the type of highlight that you’ll rarely see, it’s also Price’s second knockout off of his back. The man is truly an enigma.

Gabriel Gonzalez: Masvidal vs Askren. There was never really any competition. This KO was the one that was most circulated, most referenced across the sport, and took Masvidal from contender to a breakout PPV star in his sixth year in the UFC. There were plenty of big highlights by several stars to choose from, but the impact on the entire conversation in the sport just put this one head and shoulders above the rest.

Dan Doherty: Jorge Masvidal vs. Ben Askren. It would be rude to choose anything else. I do want to give some love to Aleksander Rakic’s head kick against Jimi Manuwa, Valentina Shevchenko’s head kick against Jessica Eye, and Corey Anderson absolutely running through Johnny Walker for the emotion behind it. But Masvidal did the unthinkable.

Mike McClory: It’s a close call between Douglas Lima‘s KO of an undefeated Michael “Venom” Page at Bellator 221 and Jorge Masvidal’s five second KO flying Knee on the then undefeated Ben Askren. I’m a flying knee man so I’m giving the edge to Masvidal.

Keith Shillan: Jorge Masvidal’s knockout of Ben Askren at UFC 239. Is there really an argument for any other? A 5-second flying knee to end all the trash talk, which turned Jorge Masvidal into a huge star and set a UFC record.

End result: It’s a landslide. Honorable mention to Niko Price, but Jorge Masvidal’s flying knee was by far the most spectacular knockout of 2019.

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