2018 in UFC
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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.
2018 UFC.com awards
2018 by the numbers
The numbers below records the events, fights, techniques, champions and fighters held or performed for the year of 2018 in UFC.
| 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 | |||||
| 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 | |||||
| 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
| 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 | |
| Heavyweight | Stipe Miocic (c) | def. | Francis Ngannou | Decision (unanimous) (50-44, 50-44, 50-44) | 5 | 5:00 | UFC 220 | |
| Middleweight | Yoel Romero | def. | Luke Rockhold | KO (punches) | 3 | 1:48 | UFC 221 | |
| Women's Featherweight | Cris Cyborg (c) | def | Yana Kunitskaya | TKO (punches) | 1 | 3:25 | UFC 222 | |
| Women's Strawweight | Rose Namajunas (c) | def | Joanna Jędrzejczyk | Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) | 5 | 5:00 | UFC 223 | |
| Lightweight | Khabib Nurmagomedov | def | Al Iaquinta | Decision (unanimous) (50-44, 50-43, 50-43) | 5 | 5:00 | UFC 223 | |
| Women's Bantamweight | Amanda Nunes (c) | def. | Raquel Pennington | TKO (punches) | 5 | 2:36 | UFC 224 | |
| Welterweight | Colby Covington | def. | Rafael dos Anjos | Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 48-47, 48-47) | 5 | 5:00 | UFC 225 | |
| Heavyweight | Daniel Cormier | def. | Stipe Miocic (c) | KO (punches) | 1 | 4:33 | UFC 226 | |
| Flyweight | Henry Cejudo | def. | Demetrious Johnson (c) | Decision (split) (48-47, 47-48, 48-47) | 5 | 5:00 | UFC 227 | |
| Bantamweight | T.J. Dillashaw (c) | def. | Cody Garbrandt | TKO (knee and punches) | 1 | 4:17 | UFC 227 | |
| Welterweight | Tyron Woodley (c) | def. | Darren Till | Submission (D'Arce choke) | 2 | 4:19 | UFC 228 | |
| Lightweight | Khabib Nurmagomedov (c) | def. | Conor McGregor | Submission (neck crank) | 4 | 3:03 | UFC 229 | |
| Heavyweight | Daniel Cormier (c) | def. | Derrick Lewis | Submission (rear-naked choke) | 2 | 2:14 | UFC 230 | |
| Women's Flyweight | Valentina Shevchenko | def. | Joanna Jędrzejczyk | Decision (unanimous) (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) | 5 | 5:00 | UFC 231 | |
| Featherweight | Max Holloway (c) | def. | Brian Ortega | TKO (doctor stoppage) | 4 | 5:00 | UFC 231 | |
| Women's Featherweight | Amanda Nunes | def. | Cris Cyborg (c) | KO (punch) | 1 | 0:51 | UFC 232 | |
| Light Heavyweight | Jon Jones | def. | Alexander Gustafsson | TKO (punches) | 3 | 2:02 | UFC 232 |
The Ultimate Fighter
The following The Ultimate Fighter seasons are scheduled for broadcast in 2018:
| Season | Finale | Division | Winner | Runner-up | Ref |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TUF 27: Undefeated | July 6, 2018 | Lightweight | Mike Trizano | Joe Giannetti | |
| Featherweight | Brad Katona | Jay Cucciniello | |||
| TUF 28: Heavy Hitters | November 30, 2018 | Heavyweight | Juan Francisco Espino Dieppa | Justin Frazier | |
| Women's Featherweight | Macy Chiasson | Pannie Kianzad |
Debut UFC fighters
The following fighters fought their first UFC fight in 2018: