This sentiment also carried over to the UFC’s Fight Night events. While some played out as truly memorable evenings with spectacular segments, quite a few seriously missed the mark in terms of entertainment value. With the new year slowly approaching on the horizon, let’s take a moment to reflect on those Saturday nights that left us reeling with excitement and disappointment.
Here are the top three best and worst UFC Fight Night cards of 2025:
Best UFC Fight Night Cards
3. UFC Fight Night: Bonfim vs. Brown
During one of the more recent UFC Fight Night shows, the UFC Apex played host to a rather unexpectedly intense and exciting main card starring welterweight contenders Gabriel Bonfim and Randy Brown. With five fights, the main festivities saw an even number of finishes, with all matches on the card ending via stoppage.
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Perhaps the most notable performance was none other than Ultimate Fighter winner Joseph Morales, who scored a quick victory over fellow TUF alumni Matt Schnell. The win moved Morales to 3-2 in the organization during his two separate stints in the UFC. Previously seen at UFC 319 nearly three months earlier, “Bopo” defied a monumental amount of odds to defeat Ultimate Fighter Season 33 tournament favorite Alibi Idiris, who was 10-0 at the time.
Other impressive performances included Uroš Medić scoring his second straight first-round knockout victory when he defeated veteran Muslim Salikhov in just over a minute. Christian Leroy Duncan also continued to shine in the spotlight after beating highly-acclaimed Brazilian striker Marco Tulio. Not only did he earn a Performance of the Night bonus for his efforts, he also gave ‘Matuto’ his first setback as a professional since 2018.
2. UFC Fight Night: Prates vs. Machado Garry
As spring began to clear the winter snow, the UFC brought the heat with a great night of action at the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Missouri. In the top fight of the night, South American finisher and Fighting Nerds product Carlos Prates looked to continue his climb to a title shot when he took on Irish star Ian Machado Garry. For the European, it was his first-ever main event booking in the UFC since joining the promotion in 2021. In Prates’ case, his headlining affair in the United States was not new territory for him, as “The Nightmare” had already defeated Neil Magny in the final stretch of UFC Vegas 100 last year.
Playing the early rounds with his masterful timing and placement of his punches, Machado Garry seemed to have taken complete control of the pace of the potentially 25-minute affair. However, as time began to fly by, the damage caused by Prates began to take its toll on the Irishman, with ‘The Future’ starting to become noticeably tired and wobbly in the fifth.
Machado Garry demonstrated his excellence as a complete fighter, using his wrestling to keep Prates on the ground after landing some heavy blows in the final stanza to earn a near-unanimous decision victory.
Elsewhere on the card, Chinese newcomer Zhang Mingyang sent perennial light-heavyweight contender Anthony Smith into retirement after a thrilling four-miniature knockout. David Onama also secured a ticket to the featherweight rankings by toppling Georgian star Giga Chikadze.
1.UFC Fight Night: Hill vs. Rountree Jr.
In their highly anticipated touchdown in Azerbaijan, the UFC prepared a special card packed with world-class talent for their first appearance in the country on UFC Fight Night. Former light heavyweight king Jamahal Hill took top spot for the occasion for his second fight of 2025 in a high-profile clash with Khalil Rountree Jr. While many expected the duo to produce fireworks, both men seemed hesitant to fire their weapons first, with the key moment of the tilt coming in a flashy knockdown of Rountree Jr.
While this evening’s main attraction left something to be desired, the rest of the card provided some serious action, including a stunner between lightweight contenders Nikolas Motta and Nazim Sadykhov. In what turned out to be not only the biggest fight of the event, but one of the best 155-pound fights of the year, the two delivered a back-and-forth shootout for the ages.
As they bled and shook each other over the course of their two-round war, it was Sadykhov who prevailed with a hellish right hook that put the Brazilian down for good. They received high praise from UFC officials and both received Fight of the Night honors, as well as Fight of the Year honors.
Worst UFC Fight Night Cards
3. UFC Fight Night: Adesanya vs. Imavov
For the first time since July 2018, former middleweight king Israel Adesanya would fight on a UFC Fight Night card and not at his usual pay-per-view home. In the third event of the year, “The Last Stylebender” crossed paths with French star Nassourdine Imavov at the ANB Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
While many were hoping for a triumphant return to form from the once dominant titleholder, what happened was nothing short of tragic after Adesanya was quickly dispatched by “The Sniper” with a stunning overhand that flattened the Nigeria native. While Imavov’s performance was rightly hailed as one of the biggest upsets of 2025, it still felt very disheartening to see an icon of the sport fall even lower after being at the head of the pack at 185 pounds for so long.
Other main card favorites also didn’t fare well on that edition of UFC Fight Night, with fan-favorite Dagestan juggernaut Shara Magomedov falling to former Bellator attraction Michael Page. The Russian looked like a shadow of his former self and had absolutely no answer to the Englishman’s tricky striking play, which saw him record his first defeat as a professional.
Finally, a once-supposed potentially exciting boxing match between heavyweight bruisers Sergei Pavlovich and Jairzinho Rozenstruik fully lived up to expectations. Throughout the three-round fight, both men failed to accomplish anything significant when it came to punches, with Pavlovich using his mostly invisible wrestling ability to take the African down at several points.
After what turned out to be a snooze-fest of a fight, the Russian finally got his hand raised to end a two-fight losing skid dating back to December 2023.
2.UFC Fight Night: Burns vs. Morales
What was shaping up to be an incredible night of matches at the UFC Apex became a forgettable romp of a UFC Fight Night after a one-way showdown between one-time welterweight challenger Gilbert Burns and the rising Michael Morales. Initially, the card was intended to host some notable matchups such as Serghei Spivac and Shamil Gaziev, Johnny Walker and Azamat Murzakanov, and also Paul Craig and Rodolfo Bellato. The first two were moved to entirely different shows, while Craig and Bellato’s side were axed at the event itself after the Brazilian’s sudden case of herpes left him unable to compete.
Returning to the headliner, it would soon become clear that Burns was no longer part of the top candidate conversations after a disappointing knockout defeat to Ecuadorian Morales. Lasting all but three minutes, the younger man defeated the aging Durinho with a barrage of punches, ending a fight that felt more like a showcase for the talented 26-year-old slugger.
With only three other bouts on the schedule, this UFC Fight Night struggled to gain any kind of traction with fans and pundits alike. It didn’t help that all that other content went to the scorecards after what felt like more one-sided takedowns of all winners.
1. UFC Fight Night: Klein vs. Gamrot
From the start, UFC on ESPN 68 had the potential to go down as a mostly memorable show. Originally intended to end the festivities, top women’s flyweight names Erin Blanchfield and Maycee Barber would submit their separate bids for a possible number one contender later in 2025, during the May 31 UFC Fight Night. Unfortunately, Barber would be pulled from the card after issues with her weight cut caused her to have a seizure on the day of the event.
Already announced as the penultimate fight of the evening, lightweights Mateusz Gamrot and Ľudovít Klein were suddenly established as the headlining pair. Despite the encounter technically being a high-profile scrap for UFC Fight Night, it ultimately played out as a three-rounder and not five rounds, resulting in Gamrot pulling off a convincing performance over Klein for an easy decision victory.
The rest of the matches didn’t necessarily stir the martial arts community either. Opening the card, the once fierce Zachary Reese recorded a mediocre unanimous victory in his encounter with Duško Todorović. Also, a women’s featherweight affair between Ketlen Vieira and Macy Chiasson soured the atmosphere of the evening somewhat after the Brazilian defeated the Ultimate Fighter champion. The win itself wasn’t anything to write home about, but it still felt wrong after Vieira requested that the pair’s original matchup be moved up a weight class at 135 pounds after she had trouble making the bantamweight.
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