UFC 300: making history (Review post)



For my first review on this blog, I wanted to talk about what is likely the most memorable UFC event from the past year, that being UFC 300. This card was hyped up by the promotion to be the greatest event in their history and was a celebration of 30 years of the UFC. I and many other fans were somewhat let down initially when fights started being announced, especially when the entire card had been announced outside of the main events. Many of the planned main events fell through for this card, so the UFC instead moved the main event from the following pay per view to this card. As the card approached however, the sentiment began to shift once people realized their expectations were likely too high, and the card we were getting still had 3 title bouts and almost all ranked fighters competing. But at the end of that day, all the hype becomes irrelevant if the card does not deliver, and this card absolutely did.

The preliminary for this card were alone good enough to be a card by themselves, and more than lived up to the hype. With two former world champions opening, a great fight between two veterans, fan favorites such as Renato Moicano and Diego Lopes, and the debut of Kayla Harrison all led to an exciting set of prelims. even the other preliminary fights that I did not highlight were all fights of consequence and had highly ranked competitors. The featured prelim was a great fight between Jiri Prochazka and Alexsandar Rackic, with Jiri pulling of an incredible comeback finish. 

The weakest fight on the main card was by far the opener even though it featured top prospect Bo Nickal, as his opponent Cody Brundage was unranked and did not fit in with the quality of the rest of the event. The following fight was set to determine the number one contender for the lightweight championship, featuring former champion Charles Oliveira taking on Arman Tsarukyan. This fight was solid and had a few very intense moments where it looked as though the end was near for Arman who managed to pull out a win by decision. 

The next fight was for the BMF championship, a title most fans view as a marketing gimmick to add stakes to lackluster cards. The lightweight fight between Max Holloway who was moving up a division, even though he was already the number one contender in his division and number three ranked lightweight Justin Gaethje was also considered a fun, but pointless fight. I could write an entire post on this fight so I will only briefly summarize it. After a back-and-forth fight where Max Holloway got the better of most rounds, with ten seconds left in the final round both fighters decided to stand in the center of the octagon and trade strikes, and with one second left Max Holloway landed an overhand that completely knocked out Gaethje. It is one of the greatest finishes in the history of the sport and took this card to an entirely different level. 

The co-main events between Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan for the strawweight championship flies under the radar because of how incredible the last fight was, but it was an entertaining fight that was much closer than people expected going in. Finally, the main event pitting Alex Pereira against Jamahl Hill for the light heavyweight championship saw the fan favorite Pereira get a dominant knockout in the first round and defend his championship. Once this pay per view went off the air, I and many other fans realized that we likely just saw one of the best cards in the UFC's history. We had doubts about this card living up to expectations, but it not only lived up to them, but it also absolutely surpassed them. now in 2025 I can easily say it was the best card of 2024, and maybe my favorite event of all time.

Rating: 95/100

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