Top 10 fights since UFC 100

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There is no dearth of great fights to choose from when putting together a list of the finest bouts since UFC 100.

In this list, only UFC bouts are included and only those held after (and not including) UFC 100 were considered.

With that, here are my picks for the UFC’s 10 best fights since UFC 100 on July 11, 2009:

10. Andrei Arlovski TKO1 Travis Browne, May 23, 2015, UFC 187 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas – There is not much more entertaining in combat sports than watching two talented heavyweights tear into each other.

And for the four minutes, 41 seconds this bout lasted, that’s what both Arlovski and Browne did. They landed fearsome bombs, connecting to the head and body, from the opening seconds of the bout.

At first, Arlovski was in control as Browne was reeling around the cage. At one point, Browne was covering against the cage and Arlovski was on the attack. And then, boom, Browne landed a counter right and Arlovski was down.

But Arlovski survived and ended the fight with a vicious uppercut in the final 30 seconds of the round that forces referee Mark Smith to stop it.

The only complaint with this fight?

It wasn’t longer.

9. Robbie Lawler W5 Carlos Condit, Jan. 2, 2016, UFC 195 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas – The bout was for Lawler’s welterweight title. It was not only close, dramatic and filled with back-and-forth action, but it was also contested at a very high skill level.

As the fifth round began, the crowd was on its feet and roaring. It was obvious the title hung in the balance and Lawler and Condit fought like it.

They threw an incredible amount of strikes at each other, and by the slimmest of margins, Lawler pulled out the split decision. It was insanely entertaining.

8. Gilbert Melendez W5 Diego Sanchez, Oct. 19, 2013, UFC 166 at Toyota Center in Houston – As he often does, Sanchez raced out of his corner at the bell to get after Melendez. That signified the start of an intense, action-packed brawl that featured all elements of MMA.

Sanchez tried to brawl and throw haymakers, while Melendez set up his shots and threw straighter punches. He dropped Sanchez near the end of the first, but couldn’t finish him.

Melendez caught Sanchez with a big knee in the second that drew oohs and aahs from the crowd, and which also opened a big cut above Sanchez’s eye.

The pace was high in the third, but the noise was incredible when Sanchez knocked Melendez down and took his back. Melendez fought it off and survived until the finish, where he won a well-deserved unanimous decision.

7. Wanderlei Silva KO2 Brian Stann, March 2, 2013, UFC on Fuel TV 8 at Saitama Super Arena in Tokyo – This was a typical Silva fight, which is to say he stalked forward relentlessly, throwing every punch with as much force as he could muster.

Stann landed a good early combination and seemed to be in command, but Silva quickly dropped him seconds later. Stann hurt Silva several times in the fight, particularly with a left hook that wobbled the Brazilian.

Stann, though, was fighting Silva’s fight and he paid for it in the second. After Stann landed a combination, Silva landed a right hand to the face followed by a left hook to the side of the head.

It dropped Stann and Silva quickly finished what would turn out to be his final UFC win.

6. Frankie Edgar split draw Gray Maynard, Jan. 1, 2011, UFC 125 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas – This bout was for Edgar’s lightweight title, and is best remembered for Edgar’s incredible resiliency.

Maynard dropped Edgar three times in the first round and bloodied Edgar’s face. It seemed that Edgar would be blown off the map.

Edgar, though, remarkably recovered. And despite a high pace, he controlled most of the rest of the fight.

Maynard had his moments, but it was a defining night for Edgar. Though it was a split draw – one judge scored it for Edgar, another had it for Maynard and a third scored it a draw – this was the night that firmly established Edgar’s reputation as one of the toughest men in the sport.

5. Jon Jones W5 Alexander Gustafsson, Sept. 21, 2013, UFC 165 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto – Gustafsson entered the bout as a heavy underdog with many questioning why he’d gotten a title shot. At the end of the first round, everyone understood.

Gustafsson cut Jones with a right hand and took him down in the first round that he won handily. It was the first time Jones had been taken down in the UFC.

It was a pitched battle throughout, as neither man backed down. Jones put on a big rally in the fourth and fifth rounds, almost willing himself to victory.

Jones landed a spinning elbow late in Round 4 that nearly finished the bout, then controlled the fifth round. When the verdict was announced, Jones had taken a unanimous decision. But he was so spent he was taken by a stretcher back to the locker room.

4. Anderson Silva SUB5 Chael Sonnen, Aug. 7, 2010, UFC 117 at Oracle Arena in Oakland, Calif. – The story of this fight is simple: Takedown by Sonnen. Ground and pound by Sonnen. Repeat.

This was Silva at the height of his powers, believed to be the greatest fighter in history, being pummeled by a man no one believed to be anywhere near in his class.

But then, in the second half of the final round, Sonnen made a mistake. He postured up as he was pounding Silva, and Silva quickly moved into a triangle choke.

Within seconds, Sonnen had tapped and Silva had retained the belt in unexpected fashion. There was better back-and-forth action in other fights, but this one gets so high for the drama of a great champion rallying from the brink of defeat with a brilliant submission as the clock wound down.

3. Dan Henderson W5 Mauricio Rua, Nov. 19, 2011, UFC 139 at HP Pavilion in San Jose, Calif. – UFC president Dana White was so smitten by the bout that he called it “Our Ali-Frazier III,” in reference to the classic heavyweight boxing match between Muhammad Ali and Joe Frazier.

Henderson delivered a brutal beating to Rua over the first three rounds, turning the Brazilian’s eyes into slits and swelling up his face.

Rua, though, roared back and dominated the final two rounds. He had Henderson in trouble several times, but Rua, the great finisher, couldn’t pull it off.

It went to the judges and Henderson took a unanimous decision that ranks among the best fights in the sport’s history.

2. Mark Hunt majority draw Antonio Silva, Dec. 7, 2013, UFC Fight Night 33 at Brisbane Entertainment Center in Brisbane, Australia – This fight was perhaps the most back-and-forth bout in UFC history. Each man hurt the other numerous times and was on the verge of a finish, only to have the momentum change.

Silva dropped Hunt in the first, which was an accomplishment in and of itself since Hunt has an iron chin. But this fight was all offense.

They tore into each other for all 25 minutes. In the final round, both were so tired they could barely stand, but they were still throwing massive haymakers.

1. Robbie Lawler TKO 5 Rory MacDonald, July 11, 2015, UFC 189 at MGM Grand in Las Vegas – It was back-and-forth action. It was high skill. It was courage and grit and tenacity and will and desire and heart.

It was everything you’d want a fight to be. MacDonald’s face was barely recognizable when it was over, so much punishment he’d taken.

After a relatively even first four rounds, Lawler, the welterweight champion, came out hard in the fifth. He landed three hard jabs that clearly hurt a badly fatigued MacDonald.

He then landed a straight left that dropped MacDonald, who was exhausted. Referee John McCarthy jumped in to stop it a minute into the fifth.