Ranking All UFC Title Fights In 2024, Part Two

Although 2025 may be in full swing, the results of last year’s title bouts still leave a lingering feeling of excitement. From Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree Jr.’s all-time barnburner, to Jon Jones making his return against Stipe Miocic, 2024 was certainly a highlight time in UFC history. 

Harkening back to last June, we released an article ranking all UFC championship contests by that point in 2024. Now, we’re going to complete that list by judging which fights with UFC gold on the line for the remainder of that year wowed mixed martial arts fans the most.

11. Julianna Peña vs. Raquel Pennington UFC 307

Returning after more than a two year layoff, former 135-lb queen Julianna Peña came back to competition at UFC 307 to take on then reigning bantamweight champion Raquel Pennington. At one point in the past, both women fought on the 18th season of The Ultimate Fighter, with the two of them serving on Miesha Tate’s team. Peña would go on to win the competition, while Pennington came up just short of facing her teammate in the finale after losing to Jessica Rakoczy in the semifinals.

After taking home the TUF title, Peña began to live up to her potential as a true contender in her division by winning her first four UFC bouts in a row, including two unanimous decisions over Jessica Eye and Cat Zingano. However, she wasn’t quite able to break through the elite of her weight class for a long time, losing key encounters to Valentina Shevchenko, Germaine de Randamie.

Then, following a victory against Sara McMann, “The Venezuelan Vixen” finally received her first title shot versus Amanda Nunes at UFC UFC 269, pulling off the upset of the decade by finishing “The Lioness” in the second round. But, she did lose the subsequent runback, and was sidelined for two years after injuring her ribs in training.

Standing as arguably the most accomplished fighter in the women’s bantamweight class, Pennington has locked horns with some of the best female mixed martial artists of all time, such as Miesha Tate, Holly Holm and Amanda Nunes. Last year, at UFC 297, “Rocky” earned her second championship opportunity after embarking on a five-fight win streak, coming to blows with Mayra Bueno Silva for the vacant strap after Nunes retired.

Utilizing her superior grappling, Pennington easily dominated the Brazilian en route to unanimous decision to score the 135-lb belt.   

In a pairing more than ten years in the making, the two bantamweight veterans attempted over 300 strikes each across the 25-minute contest. Landing slightly more than her Washington-based foe, Pennington also managed to score two takedowns that amounted to a total control time of five minutes and forty seconds.

While the match was a slow burn in terms of excitement, seasoned fight fans finally got to see the Team Tate standouts duke it out after more than a decade of speculation. 

In one of the closest contests of the year, Peña just barely edged out the champion by split decision to become only the second two-time women’s bantamweight title holder. To this day, the result is still hotly-contested by fans and competitors alike, with the majority of MMA outlets scoring the fight for Pennington. 

10. Valentina Shevchenko vs. Alexa Grasso UFC 306

Throughout the history of the UFC’s women’s flyweight division, there perhaps has never been a more storied rivalry than the one that previous seven-time defending champion Valentina Shevchenko and Alexa Grasso had. Heading into UFC 285 back in March of 2023, Shevchenko was viewed as one of the top fighters in the promotion, having gone nearly six years without losing a bout and absolutely bulldozed the rest of the weight class the champion.

That was until Grasso surmounted a mind-boggling upset by tapping out the seemingly-invincible Kyrgyz in the fourth round to become the new 125-lb queen. 

Meeting up again that same year, both women fought once more at UFC Fight Night 227, the UFC’s first Noche event. In contrast to their first contest, their second one went all five rounds, with Grasso defending her strap with a split draw, leaving the door open to a much-anticipated third fight sometime in 2024.          

After a year of waiting, the trilogy match was finally booked for UFC 308 at the world-famous Sphere in Las Vegas. In the wake of two previously entertaining championship contests, pundits were eager to see if the 36-year old Shevchenko could still contend with the best of the division such as Grasso, who was herself only 31 at the time of the show. Laying all concerns to bed seemingly once and for all, “Bullet” put on a complete blowout performance against the champion, taking her down at will and controlling her practically the whole night.

Garnering 16 minutes of control time, Shevchenko utterly dominated Grasso, easily recapturing her title with a trio of 50-45 scorecards across the board, and appearing to put her rivalry with the Mexican to bed for good in the process.      

9. Belal Muhammad vs. Leon Edwards UFC 304

With two title defenses under his belt, Leon Edwards looked to be on his way toward further greatness at 170-lb after accruing a 13-fight unbeaten streak stretching all the way back to 2015. In his third outing as champion, he stepped up to retain his welterweight strap at UFC 304 in his adoptive home country of England against a previous opponent in Belal Muhammad. Back in 2021, after two years away from the cage, “Rocky” faced Muhammad in the main event of UFC on ESPN+ 45. Looking to be on his way toward a possible finish in the second round, the fight would unfortunately be waived off as a no- contest after Edwards unintentionally poke the American in the eye, rendering Muhammad unable to fight. 

Although his return to the Octagon was marred with controversy, the Englander managed to end the year on a positive note by defeating fan-favorite Nate Diaz in a five round main card bout at UFC 263. He then followed this up with knocking out former five-time defending champion Kamaru Usman, and then defending his belt against the Nigerian in a rematch and then later Colby Covington at UFC 296.

Much like his European adversary, Muhammad also moved on from the disastrous eye poke he suffered to overwhelming success. Starting with a unanimous decision over Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu ace Demian Maia at UFC 263, “Remember the Name” won his next four bouts in a row. This included handing the world-beating Sean Brady his first ever loss at UFC 280 by knocking out the surging contender in the second round to award himself a title shot at his nemesis Edwards for a second time.

While both men were riding considerable win streaks at the time of their tilt, Edwards was still seen as a clear favorite to turn away the Chicago native due to his recent performances as champion, coupled with his elite-level kickboxing. Flipping the script in dramatic fashion, however, Muhammad put on the fight of his career by steamrolling Edwards everywhere the contest went.

Showcasing a new degree of boxing prowess, the American silenced the doubters by outlanding the champion with over 100 more strikes, as well as controlling Edwards at will on the ground. In the end, Muhammad took home the easy unanimous decision to become the new UFC Welterweight Champion. 

8. Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic UFC 309

Originally slated to throw down at UFC 295 in his first title defense opposite Stipe Miocic, current heavyweight king Jon Jones was forced to pull out of the event due to tearing a pectoral muscle in training. This led to the consensus greatest fighter of all time being sidelined for more than a year while he recovered.

For the seemingly best 265-lb competitor ever, Miocic, the contest would have been his first UFC appearance in more than two years since suffering a brutal second round knockout to Francis Ngannou back in 2021. By the time his bout with Jones rolled around last November, the Ohio slugger was well into his 40’s and hadn’t entered the cage in almost four years.

Making his long-awaited return to competition since winning the strap more than a year ago, “Bones” finally faced off with Miocic in what many called a legacy fight for the former light heavyweight champion. What resulted was a dominant, one-sided beatdown from Jones, with the younger, less-damaged fighter easily avoiding all of the aging Miocic’s strikes.

Well known for his iron chin, Jones targeted the body of the previous heavyweight apex, eventually finding his mark with a spinning back kick that put Miocic down in the third round. Pouncing on his wounded prey, Jones pummeled his opponent with punches and elbows before the referee called off the fight, earning Jones the TKO victory.

Not only did Jones take down another staple of the heavyweight division, he also added to his own impressive resume by becoming the first athlete in UFC history to compile 12 title defenses. Although his future in the sport is uncertain after his win at UFC 309, Jones’ legacy as an all-time great is more than cemented.

7. Merab Dvalishvili vs. Sean O’Malley UFC 306

It was a long, hard-fought road for the Georgia-born wrestling specialist Merab Dvalishvili to reach his first UFC title shot. Since losing to Ricky Simón in 2018, the Serra-Longo Fight Team product had rattled off ten wins in a row, taking out stalwart competition like Marlon Moraes, José Aldo, Petr Yan and Henry Cejudo. This streak of excellence culminated in Dvalishvili earning a fight against then bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley at the company’s second ever Noche event.

The 135-lb standard was also in the midst of a lengthy stay in the win column. Following a first round TKO defeat to Marlon Vera in 2020, “Suga” had gone unbeaten in his next contests. One of those triumphs included getting his revenge over Vera in his first title defense after seizing said belt from Dvalishvili’s teammate Aljamain Sterling.

Before the fight began, predictors hypothesized that the championship would be decided by either O’Malley getting an early knockout with his masterful boxing, or Dvalishvili would smother the champion by out wrestling him and draining his gas tank. The latter turned out to be the case, as “The Machine” relentlessly took O’Malley down at will and sapped his energy with ground-and-pound. While there was a point in the fifth round where the champion landed a big kick to the challenger’s mid section, Dvalishvili merely toughed it out and continued to take O’Malley down.

By the time the scorecards were read, Dvalishvili ended up getting his hand raised by unanimous decision to become the new bantamweight king, becoming the first fighter from Georgia to secure a UFC title.

6. Alex Pereira vs. Jiří Procházka UFC 303

After making his first title defense in the main event of the blockbuster show UFC 300 back in April, light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira was summoned on short notice to headline his second UFC card in just over two months at UFC 303. Originally, the show was meant to be capped off by the return of Conor McGregor, however, the Irishman pulled out of his slated bout with Michael Chandler after injuring his toe in training.

Scrambling to find a new pairing to end the night with, Pereira accepted a late spot on the lineup, where he locked horns with old foe Jiří Procházka.

Upon arriving into the UFC in 2020, Procházka made himself into a fan-favorite with a trio of back-to-back finishes of Volkan Oezdemir, Dominick Reyes, and then 205-lb champion Glover Teixeira, becoming a promotional title holder in just three fights. Then, tragedy struck as Procházka, after being pegged to battle Teixeira in a rematch, damaged his shoulder badly in training and then willingly vacated the title to let the division keep moving.

He then came back at UFC 295 a year later to win back his strap, facing off with Pereira in the main event. Though many were thrilled to see the Czech back in action, his comeback bout ended in just two rounds when the Brazilian floored him with a left hook and then stopped him with elbows.

Claiming a win at UFC 300 himself over Aleksandar Rakić, Procházka got his second chance at Pereira at UFC 303. Sadly, the runback did not play out any better for “BJP,” with Procházka almost being finished in the first round after a counter hook before the horn sounded to end the round. Then, in round number two, Pereira demonstrated his world-class kickboxing ability by delivering a stunning switch kick to his challenger’s face, sending Procházka crashing to the canvas and then completed the stoppage with ground strikes.

In one of the shortest championship contest turnarounds in recent memory, Pereira had defended his 205-lb belt a second time in just two months.

5. Alexandre Pantoja vs. Kai Asakura UFC 310

For the longest time, the UFC flyweight class had been at the center of the only tetralogy in promotional history between Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno. For almost three years, these two men metaphorically and literally wrestled for the 125-lb title, with one taking the title from the other, only for the other man to win it back. It had been pretty chaotic at the top of the mountain in the division, until Alexandre Pantoja defeated Moreno in 2023 to become the first static flyweight champion in a long time. 

In 2024, “The Cannibal” had the honor of headlining two different UFC events, one against Steve Erceg in May, and then highly-touted debutant Kai Asakura in December. Coming over from Japanese MMA promotion Rizin, Asakura had been the company’s bantamweight champion before vacating his strap to jump ship to the UFC. Before he even stepped into the Octagon for the first time, Asakura glowed in confidence, with him stating that he could finish Pantoja in just a single move. 

Although he was not shy about his abilities to beat the champion, Asakura was utterly outmatched by Pantoja. Throughout the two round contest, the incumbent pelted his challenger with hard shots to the face. Then, in round two, he managed to get onto the Japanese’s back and choked him out to notch his third title defense, ending one of the biggest hype trains the UFC has seen in quite some time. 

4. Tom Aspinall vs. Curtis Blaydes 2 UFC 304

On a warm summer day in England back in 2022, Tom Aspinall went toe-to-toe with perennial heavyweight contender Curtis Blaydes in his second straight UFC main event. Being widely viewed as the next big thing at 265-lb, Aspinall was expected to crush Blaydes on his seemingly short stretch to the title. He also had not lost in over six years and had ended all of his Octagon appearances by stoppage. 15 seconds into the bout, though, the Englishman blew out his knee on Blaydes thigh after attempting a leg kick, causing the fight to immediately be stopped, with the American taking the win.

Out for almost exactly a year, Aspinall returned in force in 2023 by winning his next contests over Marcin Tybura and Sergei Pavlovich, capturing the interim heavyweight belt against the latter in a short notice scrap at UFC 295.

While the majority of the MMA fan base wanted to see undisputed champion Jon Jones unite the titles versus Aspinall, he, and company president Dana White, insisted on battling Stipe Miocic instead. This decision led Aspinall to fight Blaydes for a second time in his home country of England at UFC 304.

Much like in their first encounter, the bout was over very quickly, but, this time, it was Aspinall who emerged victorious. Need exactly one minute, the English striker leveled “Razor” with a colossal power jab before sealing the match with vicious ground-and-pound, earning his first title defense. 

3. Dricus Du Plessis vs. Israel Adesanya UFC 305

Just barely snatching the middleweight championship by split decision from Sean Strickland at UFC 297, Dricus Du Plessis endeavored to start his reign on a fantastic note by conquering former champion Israel Adesanya at UFC 305. Having gone undefeated in the UFC since joining the promotion in 2018, the South African had laid waste to some of the best 185-lb competitors in the world in Brad Tavares, Derek Brunson, Robert Whittaker and Strickland. 

After losing his belt to the aforementioned Strickland at UFC 293, Adesanya opted to take some time off from the sport to let his body and mind recover following a long and very active tenure as the middleweight king.

Despite falling to Strickland in overwhelmingly convincing fashion, “The Last Stylebender” was allowed to fight Du Plessis for the championship. This attracted criticism from the MMA community, with many feeling like Adesanya had not earned the title shot, even though the two had cut a somewhat enjoyable promo together after “Stillknocks” beat Whittaker.

In the months leading up the contest, both men trash talked each other relentlessly, though it was Du Plessis who seemed to have the upper hand after making his challenger cry in the pre-fight press conference.

From the get-go, Du Plessis hounded the previous champion throughout the main event, stalking Adesanya as he tried to land wide, powerful shots while mixing in takedowns. He even nearly ended the contest in the first round by almost locking in a rear naked choke, but the challenger was able to fight out of it. Toward the later rounds, though, Adesanya started to work his way into the lead by targeting the body of the champion with kicks and punches, which appeared to sap the cardio of Du Plessis.

It seemed like the previous 185-lb king was nearing a possible return to the top, until Du Plessis rocked Adesanya with a hook to the temple before dragging him to the ground and submitting him with a painful-looking face crank. 

2. Alex Pereira vs Khalil Rountree Jr. UFC 307

In his first two appearances as the light heavyweight champion, Alex Pereira had looked to be almost untouchable, recording two knockouts in two months over Jamahal Hill and Jiří Procházka. At UFC 307, “Poatan” then collided with one of the hardest hitting competitors in the UFC’s 205-lb division in Muay Thai specialist Khalil Rountree Jr.

Embarking on a spectacular win streak since falling short to Marcin Prachino in 2021, Rountree Jr. picked off his next five opponents, with only one of the matches going to the score cards. Along this warpath to the title, “The War Horse” had trampled notable competitors such as Karl Roberson, Chris Daukaus (who was coming down from heavyweight) and former championship contender Anthony Smith.

Other than a split decision victory against Jan Blachowicz in his 205-lb debut, Pereira had made easy work of all of his opposition in the weight class. In his tilt with Rountree Jr., however, the Brazilian encountered his first true taste of adversity, with the challenger landing several hard blows on the champion.

He even rocked Pereira badly at two different points in the fight, once with a head kick, and another with a hook that nearly dropped the incumbent to his knees.

But, by the time the fourth round rolled around, the damage had begun to take its toll on Rountree Jr., who noticeably had begun to tire, prompting Pereira to go in for the kill with a right uppercut that ended the bloody battle.  

1. Ilia Topuria vs. Max Holloway UFC 308

In one of the biggest upsets in UFC featherweight history, Ilia Topuria had finished previous five-time defending champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 298 in the second round with a monster right hook. Almost immediately following the event’s end, many speculated that a rematch later in the year would serve as the Spaniard’s first title defense. That was until UFC 300, where 145-lb luminary Max Holloway catapulted himself into title contention and MMA legend by knocking out Justin Gaethje in glorious fashion to the roar of the entire combat sports world. 

In the months leading up to the bout, pundits pointed out that if Holloway could avoid “El Matador”’s power shots, then he could overwhelm Topuria with his volume, but if he took too many punches, then even he could be at risk of getting stopped. Throughout his time as professional mixed martial artist, Holloway had grown a reputation for his nigh uncrackable chin, having never been dropped or knocked out in his career.

Although he had shared the Octagon with power-punchers like Conor McGregor, Gaethje and Dustin Poirier, not once did the Hawaiian ever touch the canvas due to a strike.

At the very beginning of the fight, Topuria tried to get Holloway to engage in a fire fight in the center of the Octagon by copying his opponent’s signature gesture, with Holloway responding by waving imaginary cloth similar to a bullfighter. In a technical display of striking, both fighters tried to work their way around the others defenses, though neither could land a solid blow.

Then, in round three, Topuria accomplished one of the biggest feats of his career by rocking Holloway with a left hook. Left stumbling and hurt, “Blessed” could only watch as the champion nailed him with another devastating hook that dropped him before succumbing to further ground-and-pound, making Topuria the first man to ever knockout Holloway.