2. Tito Ortiz vs. Vitor Belfort
Eric Jamison/AP/Press Association Images
Event: UFC 33 UFC 33 was supposed to be Zuffa's coming out party. They hadn't owned the UFC long. It was going to be a huge PPV. They had Tito Ortiz lined up to take on the Phenom, Vitor Belfort. UFC 33 was also the first MMA event sanctioned by the NSAC, using the unified rules of MMA. Lets be clear: this was in 2001, mere weeks after September 11th. The UFC was looking to cash in on some wounded American pride, and get themselves back onto a number of cable providers, who had dropped them due to political pressure, including John McCain's claim that the sport was "human cockfighting." Getting licensed in Nevada and bringing out the unified rules, then running a huge show - this was going to be a turning point. Except, as Dana White stated in the recent 20 Years of the UFC doc, the fights that night sucked. Why? Well, in part because Belfort wasn't there. Belfort suffered an arm injury while training. He was replaced by Vladimir Matyushenko, a steady fighter, but not a champion calibre guy. Ortiz would meet Belfort at UFC 51, but by then he had lost his belt, and it just wasn't the same.