(1) Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor 1, UFC 196/March vs. (2) Cub Swanson vs. Doo Ho Choi, UFC 206/December
For me, Swanson/Choi is a timeless fight. Could've happened any year in the last decade. Always great. Not just a brawl, either. Loads of effective technique. But it sort of was a one night stand. What pushes McGregor/Diaz above it is the fact that it's a fight that could only have happened in 2016. It came out of nowhere. Two fighters from different weight classes fighting in yet another weight class. Intense animosity. Enormous public interest. A top fighter taking a flyer on a fight just to settle a grudge. Two distinct, interesting, polarizing personalities. And the fight itself was high drama. I watched it in a bar full of dudebros, all McGregor fans naturally, who collectively went from 100 to 0 over the course of two rounds, just like their guy. With the Swanson/Choi fight you feel like it is settled. They could rematch in the future but there are no stakes. The McGregor/Diaz fight felt like a turning point for the UFC and it led to the biggest rematch in MMA history. And we still might not be done with that feud, either.
