UFC 300 lives up to the hype of “the greatest fight card ever assembled” with jaw-dropping KO’s and gritty performances
Max Holloway delivered one of the most electrifying KO’s in UFC history as the final bell rang in the 5th round
(Image via @UFC on X)
On Saturday night in a sold out T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas (20,067) ,the UFC held what was billed as “the greatest fight card ever assembled” for the milestone UFC 300, with 12 current or former champions on the card, 11 fighters who have headlined a UFC pay-per-view event and 3 title fights. The event lived up to the lofty expectations, turning it into an historic night for combat sports. CEO Dana White promised 300k bonuses rather than the typical 50k for Fight of the Night, Performance of the Night, etc. leading to an all-time record $1.2 million paid in performance bonuses. The UFC also had it’s third highest gate at $16.5M, and reports are coming in of over a million PPV buys.
In the Octagon, the fighters did not disappoint, highlighted by Max Holloway’s buzzer beater KO in the “BMF” Title fight that made the audience collectively lose their minds. The “BMF” (Baddest MF) Belt was originally seen as a gimmick, but the fight lived up to the belt’s name as Gaethje and Holloway went to war for five rounds, ending with both men agreeing to stand in the middle of the Octagon and trade shots, which led to a jaw-dropping KO at the final bell that many are already calling one of the best knockouts in UFC history. Holloway walked away with a record 600k in performance bonuses, while his opponent Justin Gaethje also received a 300k Fight Of The Night Bonus. In the Main Event, Pereira vs Hill for the Light Heavyweight Belt, Alex “Poatan” Pereira continued his rise to superstardom with his trademark left hook landing home again in the first round for a brutal TKO. Walking out to tribal music and known for his menacing stoic demeanor, Pereira has had one of the fastest rises to stardom we have seen in MMA, debuting in the UFC in 2021 and already winning both the middleweight and light heavyweight belt. The legend of “Poatan” (which translates to “Stone Hands”) was taken to another level at UFC300. Elsewhere on the card, Jiri Prochazka took home a 300k performance of the night bonus for his TKO win vs Aleksander Rakic, walking through devastating leg kicks to finish Rakic in the 2nd round. World Champion and Olympic Gold Medalist Judoka Kayla Harrison made her much anticipated debut in the UFC in Las Vegas, with a dominant win over Boxing and UFC legend Holly Holm. In the Co-Main event, Weili Zhang retained the strawweight title against fellow Chinese fighter Yan Xiaonan, making history as the first all Chinese UFC Title fight, showing another avenue of growth for the sport.
Overall, UFC300 will go down as one of the most historic nights in combat sports history, and it encapsulates the growth of the sport and how mainstream it has become. The event used throwback graphics and montages of iconic moments throughout the broadcast to show how far it’s come and what has led to UFC300, from the early days of the Royce Gracie showing the world the effectiveness of Brazilian Jiu- Jitsu to the Conor Mcgregor title run, the event was not just a night full of great fights, it was a night to celebrate Mixed Martial Arts. What’s next for the UFC? CEO Dana White announced the return of the biggest star in UFC history for UFC303, with Conor Mcgregor set to face Michael Chandler on June 29th, and he also announced UFC302 will be headlined by the Lightweight Championship, between Islam Makhachev and Dustin Poirier.