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Andreas Hale, ESPN
When it ends in 2024, the Ultimate Fighting Championship will have been in existence for 31 years and has hosted a total of 716 events. But only a fight card — barring a miracle at Saturday’s UFC Fight Night in Tampa, Florida — can be called “perfect.”
On November 8, 2014, Luke Rockhold kicked Michael Bisping with his left foot to the side of the head, chasing The Ultimate Fighter Season 3 champion to the canvas and He was forced to strangle him with a guillotine in front of 9,904 people. It was a flawless day, the only time in UFC history where a referee could ask for work. 11 games, 11 finishes.
The concept of perfection here is subjective, but fans will often complain about a game that goes to the referee’s scorecard. A fight that ends in a decision could mean the jury is still out on who actually wins. Or, more importantly, there just isn’t enough action in the 15 or 25 minute combat event.
Does a fight end in submission or knockout? Provide action-filled clarity to all parties involved.
There were four submissions and seven knockouts on this fight night card from 10 years ago. Five fights ended in the first round, five ended in the second round, and only one came close, ending 18 seconds into the third round. With a total fight time of 1 hour, 1 minute and 1 second, and an average fight length of 5 minutes and 48 seconds, it remains the shortest UFC card with at least 11 fights.
The bout begins at 11 a.m. local time and is headlined by the first-ever meeting between Rockhold and Bisping, which also features future 185-pound champion Robert Whittaker. The only fighter in the fight still on the UFC roster was making his middleweight debut against Clint Hurst.
Interestingly, the commentary team of John Gooden and Dan Hardy never mentioned completion percentage during the broadcast. Perhaps neither wanted to jinx it. If the MMA gods want to deliver a perfect night, they don’t need to be prodded by the UFC’s first-year play-by-play commentator and a former title challenger who just transitioned to color Narrator.
“That incident in Sydney was very rare,” Gooden said. “No one wants to reveal to the universe that we could have a night full of closure and be ‘the one’ to curse it.”
“It’s just one of those days where you harness the energy,” said Hardy, now a Bellator commentator and PFL’s director of Eurofighter operations. “Then when you get the job done, you look back and think, ‘Man, our completion rate was 100%. ‘” It was crazy and we were very, very lucky to get the call that day.
“Smiley” Sam Alvey noticed the finish early, knocking out Dylan Andrews in the first round in his fifth fight of the day. Alvey, who suffered a poor decision loss to Tom Watson in his UFC debut less than two months ago, wants to prove to the promotion that it didn’t make a mistake in signing him. At the end of every game, Alvey wants to make a statement when it’s his turn to play.
“I was so excited to see people that I knew or just met backstage,” Alvey told ESPN. “I was glued to the screen during the warm-up.”
Seeing a high completion rate immediately also motivated Alvey to pursue his own completion rate. Not just for his pride, but for his pocket.
“You know there’s four shows that night with $50,000 in prize money, and you only watch four of them and they end with a nice TKO or submission,” Alvey said. “Mine has to be better, and that really gets you excited.”
While Alvey didn’t receive a performance bonus for the night (Rockhold, Whitaker, Hurst and Louis Smolka would receive those bonuses), the Team Quest fighter remembers this as one of the highlights of his 15-year MMA career One of the most unique elimination matches in .
“I knocked him out with my butt,” Alvey recalled.
As Andrews attempted a takedown, Alvey fell on top of his opponent. The rest is basic. “As soon as we hit the ground, I knew he was out. I felt him let go and I dropped him as fast as I could and hit him hard until the referee noticed he was out.”
Hardy remembers the preliminary card ending with Jake Matthews submitting Wagner Rocha in the second round, with the production truck reminding him and Gooden that every fight so far has not been over. The reality then was that every fight on the entire card could end in a knockout or submission. Still, even with two heavyweights starting the main card, whose combined 28 MMA wins have come via knockout or submission, Hardy was careful not to mention that the card has been perfect so far.
“One thing I’ve learned from commentating is that if there’s a heavyweight fight on the card and you’re expecting a knockout, you no way Hardy said.
Fortunately, after a slow performance in the first round caused concern, Soa Palerei defeated Walter Harris in the second round and maintained a perfect night. Whittaker then landed a knee slam on Hester to secure a stoppage in the second round, and Al Iaquinta pounded Ross Pearson with a right hand to end the co-main event.
Only Rockhold and Bisping are left to solidify perfection.
Going into the fight, Rockhold promised to beat Bisping within one round. Rockhold is known as a prolific finisher and is a huge betting favorite heading into this fight. Still, there are concerns that things won’t go as expected.
“The main event is going to bring a lot of excitement,” Hardy said. “But we tempered our expectations because Rockhold has always promised to win in the first round and Bisping is known for his durability. But he gets the job done.”
Rockhold was unable to deliver on the promise of a first-round finish, but he secured the victory by defeating Bisping with a guillotine in the second round.
“That’s in the past,” Rockhold said when asked about the pre-fight banter. “I have a lot of respect for Michael; he’s a warrior and he gives everything he’s got.”
Ten years have passed since this historic event, and this feat has yet to be replicated. 11 of 13 fights at UFC 224 in 2018 ended by knockout or submission, while 11 of 14 fights at UFC 281 in 2022 ended. But the excitement of a perfect night for both men was marred by an early heat decision.
So why doesn’t that perfect night happen again?
“The talent in MMA is definitely increasing across the board and the competitive fights are more intense,” Hardy said. “I think we’re seeing fewer and fewer cards now where you feel like you can predict the winner of the fight. “
But as we move into 2025, will we see another perfect card?
“With such thoughtful pairings and so much at stake for each athlete, we simply won’t see a 100 percent completion rate at the highest level,” Gooden said.
UFC events now feature a higher number of fights, averaging 12 to 14 per card, which reduces the likelihood of finishing them all. However, as the promotion continues to add more fighters with ever-evolving skills, Hardy believes another perfect night is inevitable.
“I think we’re going to have one or two more cards in the next 10 years that have a 100 percent completion rate,” Hardy said. “My judgment is purely based on the amateur level and the early prospects that are going through. The level of skill, speed and athleticism that we’re going to see in the next decade of this sport is going to be beyond anything else.” We’re here now. Saw it.
“With mixed martial arts, there are many ways to lose and I think in the next 10 years there will be more fighters with finishing ability than we have now.”
