UFC’s Most Outrageous Moments #1

Having been inaugurated in 1993, off the back of an idea to encourage different fighting styles to go against each other and see who reigns supreme, the UFC now stands to be the biggest mixed martial arts promotion in the world. However, since its launch it has had some pretty wild highlights - some good, some bad.

Starting from the UFC early days and Joe Son being (legally) punched in the privates, more times than the average man should experience in his lifetime, to Khabib Nurmagomedov trying to attack Conor McGregor’s jiu jitsu coach inside the ring - the Octagon has seen a lot of drama throughout its lifetime. Here, we take a look at some of the most outrageous moments to occur within the UFC and let’s start with the punching in the privates!

UFC 4 (1994): Joe Son Getting (Legally) Punched In The Groin 20+ Times

Joe Son was a South Korean-born American MMA fighter, as well as a kickboxer, actor and professional wrestler, but no-one could prepare you for what ended up happening to him in his professional MMA debut. Son faced Keith Hackney at one of the early UFC events, UFC 4, where this incredible attack took place. As you will see from the video above, Son, who would go on to star in the Austin Powers film trilogy, took an incredible number of punches to an area he should want to protect! The UFC has since changed its rule set so that is now an illegal move, but it wasn’t back in 1994.

It could be said that Son deserved everything he got, with him going on to be arrested for murder and multiple rape charges in the years that followed...

UFC 229 (2018): Khabib Nurmagomedov Attacks Conor McGregor's Coach

Conor McGregor and Khabib Nurmagomedov finally faced off in 2018, with the latter winning via fourth round submission to retain his title. However, this was barely a footnote in this story, with the main focus being on Nurmagomedov scaling the octagon to attack McGregor‘s jiu jitsu coach and his whole corner; causing a brawl to break out between the two teams.

McGregor's jiu jitsu coach, Dillon Danis, is a well-known troll and reportedly shouted insults at Nurmagomedov, which caused the Dagestani MMA legend to react the way he did. After Danis was attacked, McGregor got him from behind my two of Nurmagomedov's cornermen - Zubaira Tukhugov and Esed Emiragaev.

After an investigation in 2019, punishments were handed out to all involved, with Nurmagomedov suspended for nine months and fined $500,000 and McGregor suspended for six months and fined $50,000.

UFC 83 (2008): Nate Quarry Taunts Kalib Starnes

Perhaps one of the funniest moments to occur inside the octagon, which had to make our list. After Kalib Starnes most of this fight disengaging over and over again, the Canadian crowd turned on their hometown fighter. In response to this crowd turn, Nate Quarry started running laps to taunt his opponent and entertain the irritated fans. Not the most memorable fight, but certainly one of the funniest moments in UFC history.

UFC 148 (2012): Forrest Griffin Thought He Lost... But He Won!

Back in 2012, Forrest Griffin was facing light heavyweight champion, Tito Ortiz, for a third time, in what was meant to be the latter's final fight before retirement.

With a set-up like that, you can't blame Griffin for assuming that with the fight going to a decision, he would come out on the wrong side of it. His assumption saw him head straight to the dressing room, which forced UFC President, Dana White, to chase him and bring him back to the octagon.

Griffin was duly awarded the fight by a unanimous decision, and the weirdness continued as he took it upon himself to interview Ortiz after the fight himself.

By coincidence, this actually turned out to be Griffin's last fight, not Ortiz's - with the UFC legend going on to fight three more times after this defeat.

UFC 248 (2020): The Horrific Hematoma That Became a Meme

This was the horrific UFC injury that went around the world - becoming a meme that appeared everywhere! The injury was suffered by Joanna Jędrzejczyk in a five-bout title fight against Zhang Weili back in 2020.

Jędrzejczyk bravely fought through the whole five rounds as both fighters took plenty of punishment in a brutal fight. Despite Jędrzejczyk suffering the horrific hematoma injury, she only narrowly lost the fight, with Weili handed a split-decision victory.