UFC in 2021: Top five championship bouts of the year

Kamaru Usman (left) reacts after his victory over Gilbert Burns in UFC 258. (Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC)

Bengaluru, December 20: The Ultimate Fighting Championship closed 2021 with a record-breaking finish as Heavyweight KO artist Derrick Lewis stopped Chris Daukaus in the main event of the ultimate card of the year, which witnessed a total of 20 title bouts.

While the final event of the UFC in 2021 did not feature a championship bout, the promotion held 44 events across the year with the Apex Facility in Las Vegas playing the primary hosts and Fight Island in Abu Dhabi also hosting two series of events.

Apart from two, every other UFC Fight Night event in 2021 took place at the Apex Facility in Las Vegas sans crowds due to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, the fans were welcomed back into the arena from April only in special events.

In the 20 title fights, 11 were defences, six times the champion dropped the belt and three times the bouts were contested for the vacant or interim titles. The year 2021 was dominated by the Nigerian Nightmare Kamaru Usman, who made three successful title defences.

Now with the year coming to a close, myKhel takes a look at the top five title fights of 2021 in UFC:

UFC 269: Nunes vs Pena for Women’s Bantamweight Title

Double champion Amanda Nunes, the GOAT, defended her featherweight title successfully earlier in the year in May against Megan Anderson. But she had to end the year with heartbreak as she dropped the bantamweight gold to Julianna Pena, who submitted the champion in the second round after she took down the champ and locked in a rear-naked choke to win the belt.

UFC 263: Figueiredo vs Moreno for Flyweight Title

Deiveson Figueiredo had a wonderful 2020 and escaped the first of the duology with a draw, but the champion dropped his belt to Brandon Moreno in a rematch. "The Assassin Baby" Moreno choked out the champion in the third round at 2:26 to secure the title via submission. The pair will now do it all over again in the trilogy in 2022.

UFC 266: Volkanovski vs Ortega for Featherweight Title

The Ultimate Fighter coaches Alexander Volkanovski and Brian Ortega delivered a five-round thriller with the champion ending the night on a high. However, it wasn't straightforward for the champ as he had to escape a few submission attempts before pouring in damaging blows to beat Brian Ortega via unanimous decision (49-46, 50-45, 50-44).

UFC 267: Yan vs Sandhagen for Interim Bantamweight Title

After an illegal knee ended his bantamweight title reign earlier in the year in March, Petr Yan got a shot at the interim belt in October and the former champ delivered a five-round thriller against Cory Sandhagen. Following the (49-46, 49-46, 49-46) decision win, the interim champ will now aim to get back the title that he dropped to Aljamain Sterling.

UFC 258: Usman vs Burns for Welterweight Title

The Nigerian Nightmare defended his title not once, but three times in the year 2021. Usman's first bout of the year stood out as he finished Gilbert Burns in the first minute of the third round. Usman landed a right hand to floor Burns and then slammed with punches on the ground until referee called a stop to the contest.

Usman followed his first defence with yet another stoppage. This time Jorge Masvidal was on the wrong end of a second round KO in UFC 261. He ended with the third defence via unanimous decision against Colby Covington in rematch for the title in UFC 268.