UFC 2023 Rewind! One Memorable (Or Forgotten) Moment From Every Single Card, Pt. 3

With 43 total Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) events throughout 2023 — on top of all of the other promotions such as Bellator MMA, Professional Fighter’s League (PFL), ONE Championship and Bareknuckle Fighting Championship (BKFC) — combat sports fans have probably forgotten about many of the wild moments that happened throughout the year.

From knockouts, post-fight interviews to funny in-cage spots, or maybe you’re a hardcore mixed martial arts (MMA) freak and remember everything.

Well, either way, we got you covered.

In part three of UFC 2023 “Rewind,” which runs from UFC Vegas 76 (June 1, 2023) through UFC 293 (Sept. 10, 2023), we look back at some of the most memorable moments from that specific event timeline, including an Octagon return that went horribly wrong, a UFC legend (and former champion) who called it a career, the start of the “Suga Show” and so much more.

PART ONE | PART TWO | PART THREE | PART FOUR

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UFC Vegas 76: Strickland vs. Magomedov

June 1, 2023
UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Full Results

Kevin Lee made his highly-anticipated UFC return against Rinat Fakhretdinov at UFC Vegas 76, but it did not go well … at all. He got put to sleep in 55 seconds via guillotine choke. Lee then re-retired a few days after the fight.

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Photo by Steve Marcus/Getty Images

UFC 290: Volkanovski vs. Rodriguez

July 8, 2023
Las Vegas, Nevada
Full Results

“International Fight Week” at UFC 290 was a very memorable event that featured the retirement of Robbie Lawler, Bo Nickal’s second UFC fight, Dricus Du Plessis stopping Robert Whittaker, and, of course, the two title fights.

However, the night’s second fight featured a brutal 17-second one-punch knockout by Jesus Aguilar:

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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

UFC Vegas 77: Holm vs. Bueno Silva

July 15, 2023
UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Full Results

One of the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) memes was born during UFC Vegas 77. In perhaps the last-ever women’s Featherweight fight in UFC, Chelsea Chandler did her best Forrest Gump impression, running away from Norma Dumont after getting hit and colliding with the fence.

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Photo by Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

UFC London: Aspinall vs. Tybura

June 22, 2023
London, England
Full Results

UFC’s second 2023 trip to London was great on paper, but turned out to be lackluster. In the co-main event, Julija Stoliarenko silenced the crowd by tapping out Molly McCann in less than two minutes. However, Stoliarenko did not earn a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus. She didn’t get the memo, apparently.

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Photo by Chris Gardner/Getty Images

UFC 291: Poirier vs. Gaethje 2

July 29, 2023
Salt Lake City, Utah
Full Results

Boy, oh boy, UFC 291 was AWESOME! Nine finishes in 11 fights, and they were all great, from Derrick Lewis’ flying knee to Justin Gaethje sparking Dustin Poirier to Bobby Green sleeping Tony Ferguson.

However, on the “Prelims” undercard, Roman Kopylov knocked out Claudio Riberio with a brutal head kick that sounded like a baseball bat.

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Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

UFC Nashville: Sandhagen vs. Font

Aug. 5, 2023
Nashville, Tenn.
Full results

Diego Lopes was featured in part two (check it out HERE) for his impressive UFC debut outing. Well, he makes it again for his second UFC fight. He tapped Gavin Tucker with a triangle armbar, becoming the first person to submit Tucker.

Photo by Al Powers/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

UFC Vegas 78: Luque vs. dos Anjos

Aug. 12, 2023
UFC Apex, Las Vegas
Full results

In the second fight of the night, Da’Mon Blackshear locked up the third twister submission in UFC history against Jose Johnson (see it here), banking a $50,000 “Performance of the Night” bonus. Blackshear turned around one week later and competed in Boston, Massachusetts.

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Photo by Barry Chin/The Boston Globe via Getty Images

UFC 292: Sterling vs. O’Malley

Aug. 19, 2023
Boston, Mass.
Full results

The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 31 finals took place at UFC 292, and after a forgettable season, they ended up being very fun. Brad Katona went to war with Cody Gibson to win “Fight of the Night” (both guys ended up being signed). However, after going winless (0-4) in UFC and being cut from the promotion, Kurt Holobaugh finally picked up his first UFC win, submitting Austin Hubbard.

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Photo by Suhaimi Abdullah/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

UFC Singapore: Holloway vs. Korean Zombie

Aug. 26, 2023
Kallang, Singapore
Full results

I wanted another opportunity to share Chan Sung Jung’s legendary final walkout, so here it is:

Thanks for the memories, Zombie.

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Photo by JULIEN DE ROSA/AFP via Getty Images

UFC Paris: Gane vs. Spivak

Sept. 2, 2023
Paris, France
Full Results

A controversial call was made by referee Loic Para at UFC Paris. In his Octagon debut, Yanis Ghemmouri faced off with William Gomis and was hit with a body kick that was very close to a low blow. Instead of pausing the action and letting Ghemmouri recover — or even think about what might have happened — he waived off the fight off and declared Gomis the winner via technical knockout.

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Photo by Mark Evans/Getty Images

UFC 293: Adesanya vs. Strickland

Sept. 10, 2023
Sydney, Australia
Full results

Ah, the event that Sean Strickland upset Israel Adesanya, winning UFC’s Middleweight championship. There were also multiple homophobic slurs said on the undercard by Charlie Radke and Manel Kape, but let’s forget about those.

On the “Prelims,” Chepe Mariscal continued his excellent 2023 by defeating Jack Jenkins via TKO after Jenkins dislocated his elbow.

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Stick around for part four (of four) later this afternoon on MMAmania.com. In the meantime, checkout UFC’s upcoming schedule of events click here.