10 Days That Changed UFC Forever

There are big nights, and then there's UFC 205: a monumental night that changed the UFC forever, for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, UFC 205, held on 12 November 2016 was the night the UFC crowned its first simultaneous dual-weight champion. When Conor McGregor, then featherweight champion, knocked out Eddie Alvarez, the promotion's lightweight king, it was a historic moment. It was the peak of McGregor-mania. Forget everything that came after: the boxing match against Mayweather, the lack of any title defenses, the stripping of his 145lb belt. Strip away all that, and it was still the culmination of arguably the biggest storyline in MMA history.

It also signaled that the UFC was willing to make champ vs. champ fights happen, something it had only done once previously (Penn vs. GSP). Two years later in 2018, two such fights are a possibility: Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic, and Cris Cyborg vs. Amanda Nunes.

Beyond that, UFC 205 also marked the UFC's debut in New York City. For years, New York had been one of the last holdouts, refusing to sanction mixed martial arts in the state. That was largely thanks to the efforts of the Speaker of the New York Assembly, Sheldon Silver. However, when Silver, a staunch opponent of MMA, was arrested in 2015 on bribery charges, it paved the way for MMA's legalization in the state - and for the UFC's coming out party in the Big Apple.