3 of the biggest surprise outcomes in MMA

It could be said that the biggest surprise outcome in history of MMA fighting is that the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) survived its early days when the first UFC Pay-Per-View was created as a forum for all martial arts experts to test their courage against one another to find out which style was superior. With no rules and regulations, these no-holds-barred fights led to some stating the UFC was a form of “human cockfighting.”

Betting has been a big part of MMA and there are in-depth MMA betting statistics on the internet, whether you want to bet on the underdogs or the favorites in.  Check out bookmakers reviews to find detailed breakdowns of MMA fights including round by round finishes, card position, weight class and the odds for every fight. If you are lucky enough to have a hunch about a surprise outcome in an MMA fight – like the three below – and get it right, you could win big!

“The King” 11-second submission win, Bellator 225, August 2019

Starting a fight with a show of respect was a decision one MMA fighter was surely to regret. When Eduard Muravitskiy met Aviv Gozali, an 18-year-old Israeli fighter at Bellator 225 on 24 August 2019. Muravitskiy did what many fighters to at the start, go to tap gloves after the opening bell as a sign of good sportsmanship, and then start the fight. However, when Muravitskiy gestured his glove towards Gozali for a tap, Gozali did not honor the gesture and instead dove at Muravitskiy’s legs in an Imanari Roll and looked for the submission, taking down Muravitskiy with a heel hook. Within 11 seconds the fight was over and Gozali had improved his professional score with a record-breaking submission win in only his third professional MMA fight. Muravitskiy left the cage hopping on one foot, clearly hurt from the submission.

Rose Namajunas and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, UFC 217, November 2017

In the women’s strawweight title fight at UFC 217 inside Madison Square Garden in New York City, Joanna Jedrzejczyk was well on her way to winning her sixth title when Rose Namajunas, an underdog priced at nearly 6/1 to beat Jedrzejczyk, surprised everyone by winning in the first round to claim her strawweight belt on 4 November 2017.

While the result was a huge shock, it was the manner of Namajunas’ victory which was an even bigger surprise. Namajunas opened the fight on her toes. Both women landed hits, but seemingly out of nowhere, a punch from Namajunas made Jedrzejczyk hit the mat, though she got up seemingly undeterred, just in time for Namajunas to plant a left hook that floored Jedrzejczyk again and a few more punches there ended the bout.

Michael Bisping and Luke Rockhold, UFC 199, June 2016

Michael Bisping had just 17 days to prepare for his middleweight title shot against Luke Rockhold at UFC 199 at The Forum in Inglewood, California. He had agreed to step in for injured ex-champ Chris Weidman. The men’s first fight the year before had led to Bisping losing and with such short notice for the fight, it was no surprise that Bisping was a 5/1 underdog at the opening bell.

Yet Englishman Bisping, who had never before won the belt, dropped Rockhold with two perfect left hooks at the 3:36 mark of the first round. With Rockhold unconscious, follow-up punches sealed Bisping’s knockout victory to see him finally crowned champion after 10 years with the promotion. What is surprising is that Rockhold was knocked out in a similar way by Jan Blachowicz at UFC 239.