Ever since Forrest Griffin and Stephan Bonnar went toe to toe at the Ultimate Fighter Finale in 2005, the UFC has been the mecca of MMA.
Since that fight, the popularity of the UFC has grown to heights that many fans wouldn’t have believed possible, and the stars of the UFC, ranging from Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes to Georges St-Pierre and Jon Jones, have become household names.
But while the popularity of the UFC has done nothing but grow over the years, other MMA promotions have struggled to find a niche and have basically been left being supported by hardcore fans, no matter how good the product they have brought to the table.
While there are literally millions of people who have watched the Griffin-Bonnar fight on numerous occasions, the vast majority of those same fans have never witnessed the greatness of Fedor Emelianenko or seen the insane action that organizations such as Pride, Strikeforce and WEC had in their prime.
The fights on this list highlight a few of the dozens of fights that are worth watching that weren’t held under the UFC banner, and hopefully will find a way to avoid fading into obscurity as the UFC grows bigger by the day.