In July, the UFC awarded a fight of the night bonus for every event that the promotion put on.
For many fans, the defining bout of the month is likely to be the UFC 318 headliner where Max Holloway defeated Dustin Poirier to defend the BMF title.
The two men went back and forth in a fitting conclusion to their trilogy which also marked the end of the road for ‘The Diamond’ following an incredible career.
However, much to Holloway’s annoyance, they didn’t receive the fight of the night bonus and as the UFC recently revealed, they weren’t the promotion’s fight of the month either.
That award went to a somewhat surprising selection that had some fans puzzled after it was announced.
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Fans react to UFC naming Shara Magomedov’s win over Marc-Andre Barriault as the fight of the month
Following UFC 318, a lot of fans were surprised to see that Max Holloway’s win over Dustin Poirier nor the chaotic fight between Daniel Rodriguez and Kevin Holland earned the post-fight bonus.
Brendan Allen’s victory over Marvin Vettori earned both men the fight of the night bonus but even that matchup didn’t earn the fight of the month award.
Instead, the UFC went with a main card matchup from the promotion’s recent return to Abu Dhabi, where Shara Magomedov overcame some adversity to beat Marc-Andre Barriault.
Even when looking at that card in isolation, some made the case for why other fights on the card deserved it more, or argued that there should have been four performance of the night winners instead.
Fans expressed their reaction to this announcement from the UFC via the replies to the promotion’s post.
‘Says no one. Barriault looked like a complete failure of a fighter. UFC lost in the sauce, already forgot actual better fights that have occurred…. shame.’
‘Must be a slow month for UFC, boxing was lit.’
‘WEAK.’
‘Holland vs Rodriguez and Vettori vs Allen for me.’
‘Uhhhhhhhh no it’s not lmao??????’
‘Dustin and Max was better.’
‘Holland vs Rod is so much better than this s—.’
June’s fight of the month may be the consensus pick for the best fight of the year so far
In June, there was far less debate regarding which clash would be named as the UFC’s fight of the month.
Joshua Van and Brandon Royval produced what many fans believe is the best fight of the year so far when they threw the kitchen sink at each other at UFC 317 in Las Vegas.
While some fans argued for the UFC Baku matchup between Nazim Sadykhov and Nikolas Motta, there was only ever going to be one winner despite that also being a fight of the year contender.