The place UFC 268 ranks among the many 5 UFC PPV occasions to go down from Madison Sq. Backyard in New York

The fifth UFC NYC PPV is within the books with the completion of UFC 268 on Saturday evening. All 5 occasions have been held in Madison Sq. Backyard, with the venue taking part in host to a few of the high moments in UFC historical past.

UFC 268 is now part of that legacy, delivering some iconic fights from high to backside. The motion was so livid by the evening that the occasion truly set a brand new file for vital strikes landed on a UFC card, topping the previous file by greater than 150 strikes. 

The motion from UFC 268 obtained us questioning the place the occasion ranks among the many 5 occasions held in MSG. Did it lock down the No. 1 spot? Let’s have a look.

1. UFC 268

Recency bias might be at play right here, however UFC 268 is now the best card within the historical past of the UFC’s journeys to Madison Sq. Backyard. A little bit of a sluggish begin on the early prelims was rapidly washed away when Chris Barnett spun his giant body 360 levels to knock Gian Villante out with a wheel kick. That kicked off a run of six consecutive knockouts, together with the debut of kickboxing celebrity Alex Pereira.

The place UFC 268 goes to a different stage is with the implausible brawl between Justin Gaethje and Michael Chandler. These two males placed on a surprising present that goes on the shortlist of the very best fights in UFC history. The truth is, the battle was so good that the next bout felt considerably flat regardless of Shane Burgos and Billy Quarantillo touchdown a file variety of vital strikes for a three-round featherweight battle. The truth is, Burgos, Quarantillo, Gaethje and Chandler landed a mixed 576 vital strikes. Add in a pair of aggressive, compelling title fights and you’ve got the most effective NYC UFC in historical past.

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2. UFC 205

UFC 205 was the promotion’s first occasion held in New York Metropolis after the legalization of blended martial arts within the state, a novelty issue that might make the occasion a giant deal it doesn’t matter what. The cardboard featured three championship fights, together with Conor McGregor’s bid to grow to be the primary UFC fighter to ever maintain championships in two weight lessons concurrently. McGregor, then the featherweight champion, beat Eddie Alvarez in dominant trend to win the light-weight championship and grow to be the “champ champ.” The 2 different title fights on the cardboard featured an incredible bout between welterweight champion Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson that went to a draw and Joanna Jedrzejczyk dominating Karolina Kowalkiewicz to retain the ladies’s strawweight title.

The occasion featured eight fighters who had been both former, present or future world championships. The depth of the cardboard shines by when you think about that Khabib Nurmagomedov was on the prelims, nonetheless working his means towards a title shot. Even the early prelims featured huge names, together with a battle between Jim Miller and Thiago Alves. UFC 205 has a case as top-of-the-line card UFC has ever put collectively anyplace.

3. UFC 217

The UFC’s second journey to MSG once more introduced a card with three title fights. This time, all three titles modified palms, a primary in UFC historical past. In the primary occasion, Georges St-Pierre returned to motion for the primary time in additional than 4 years as he moved up in weight to battle 185-pound champion Michael Bisping. St-Pierre received the championship through third-round rear-naked choke after a bloody and thrilling bout. Jedrzejczyk’s lengthy reign as strawweight champion got here to an finish when Rose Namajunas scored a surprising first-round TKO. Within the different title battle on the cardboard, TJ Dillashaw scored a TKO of Cody Garbrandt to win the bantamweight championship in a slugfest.

UFC 217 had a deep card, although not fairly as deep on the prelims as UFC 205, particularly given the good thing about hindsight on issues like Nurmagomedov’s ascent. The preliminary card headliner was James Vick vs. Joseph Duffy. Apart from Curtis Blaydes and Walt Harris, the prelims had been missing in anybody who components into the highest finish of the present UFC image.

4. UFC 244

UFC 244 drew large quantities of consideration for the bout between Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz over the “BMF championship” that was created only for that battle. There have been no “actual” title fights scheduled for the occasion, marking the primary time a UFC card in New York Metropolis had been set with out one. Nonetheless, Masvidal vs. Diaz was an enormous draw that even introduced out Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson to place the BMF belt round Masvidal’s waist following a whole and whole domination of Diaz.

There was loads of motion on the cardboard. Corey Anderson’s knockout of Johnny Walker and Kevin Lee’s brutal head kick stoppage of Gregor Gillespie each stood out as highlights, even when Lee has misplaced each fights since and Anderson was knocked out by Jan Blachowicz and despatched to Bellator. Stephen Thompson was as soon as once more in motion in MSG, profitable a thriller in opposition to Vicente Luque that earned Battle of the Evening. Nonetheless, with out the title fights or depth of 205 and 217, UFC 244 sits beneath these occasions.

5. UFC 230

UFC 230 is the outlier for UFC playing cards held in Madison Sq. Backyard. Two-division champion Daniel Cormier headlined the occasion, defending his heavyweight championship in opposition to Derrick Lewis in a battle that Cormier simply dominated for the second-round submission. The cardboard was cobbled collectively a bit, with Valentina Shevchenko and Sijara Eubanks for the vacant ladies’s flyweight championship set as the unique most important occasion. Each ladies had been pulled from different bouts to take part in the primary occasion just for Shevchenko to be moved again to her initially deliberate battle with Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 231 as soon as Cormier vs. Lewis was locked up for the primary occasion.

Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa was pushed from the cardboard, as was Dustin Poirier vs. Nate Diaz and Luke Rockhold vs. Chris Weidman. Weidman would keep on the cardboard, dealing with Jacare Souza, however the lack of these top-tier fights led to a card nicely beneath what the UFC had delivered to New York Metropolis beforehand. Future middleweight champion Israel Adesanya did make an look on the cardboard with a formidable first-round TKO of Derek Brunson, however UFC 230 stays the bottom-tier occasion of UFC in NYC historical past.