No Title, No Problem

Shogun Rua and Dan Henderson show off
their battered up faces following UFC 139.

On Saturday, August 17th the UFC is kicking off the newest sports channel Fox Sports 1.  This is one of the most anticipated events of the year despite it being headlined by a very random fight.  Shogun Rua and Chael Sonnen headline one of the best cards of the year?  I am here to tell you that you do not need a title fight to put on a great show.  Here is a rewind of 10 of my favorite events, in chronological order, that do not have a title fight on the card.  Shogun has headlined 2 of my 10 top, so hopefully the trend of him being exciting continues.

1. UFC 95-Headlined by a lightweight title eliminator between Joe Stevenson and Diego Sanchez, UFC 95 had all the elements of a great card.  With exception to the first and last fight of the night, every single fight was finished and finished quick.  Two submissions and six knockouts made this an exceptional show.  Also, the Stevenson/Sanchez headliner that ended in the nights 2nd decision won fight of the night.  Anyone who missed the prelims but bought the PPV still managed to see every fight on the card.  Oh and watching someone who is awful at striking manage to somehow knock out Josh Koscheck is always hilarious to watch!
2. UFC 102-If a main event doesn't have a title on the line, it is good to at least have former champions fight. When Randy Couture and Big Nog squared off, it was a battle of the UFC's best heavyweight of all time vs Pride's legendary star.  Only a fight between Randy and Fedor would have been more epic of a fight.  Undefeated Demian Maia was knocked out in 20 seconds by Marquardt, and Todd Duffee also scored a KO in under 10 seconds.  I love to hate Leben as much as I love to hate Koscheck, and this fight had a great moment just like 95 did.  Leben was actually choked unconscious with an arm triangle choke in the third round by Jake Rosholt.  This event was quietly one of my favorite UFC events.
3. UFC 115-Chuck Liddell retired from the fight business after this event.  At least he went out in style.  He and Rich Franklin put on one of the best rounds of fighting I can remember.  It was a back and forth round of two elite strikers that was incredibly entertaining.  Rich Franklin caught chuck with a sick KO with seconds left in the round.  Oh yeah and Carlos Condit and Rory MacDonald won FOTN over them due to Condit's incredible comeback win.  It was also good to see Cro Cop get a win too.  UFC 115 is a classic despite the lack of a title on the line.
4. UFC 139-Obviously this one is on the list.  Shogun vs Henderson may be the best mixed martial arts fight of all time.  It was a 5 round main event for a title shot at Jon Jones.  That fight alone makes this event worthy to be on this list.  Throw in Wanderlei Silva's incredible come from behind KO of Cung Le and another top contender fight between Bowles and Faber and this event was sick.  Unfortunately both Faber and Henderson sustained injuries that prevented them from ever getting the title shots they earned at 139.
5. UFC 141-Lesnar vs Overeem, enough said.  Oh maybe not enough said, Jon Fitch got knocked out in 12 seconds.  Diaz and Cerrone put on a FOTN performance that was tremendously exciting.  Gustafsson and Hettes also proved to be future stars in the UFC.  Did I mention Fitch got knocked out?  I love Fitch but I could watch that video all day.  Great fights.
6. UFC on Fox 3-Nick Diaz was scheduled to go 5 rounds in the main event against Jim Miller with a title shot on the line.  He secured one of the nastiest submissions I have ever seen in this fight.  Lavar Johnson showed off his raw power.  Alan Belcher and Rousimar Palhares also put on a show while Hendricks had a great yet controversial showing against Koscheck.  The more Koscheck losses, the more I love watching.
7. UFC on FX Johnson vs McCall-The main event was a tournament semi final for the inaugural flyweight tournament.  Two great KOs and the rise of Erick Silva accompanied DJ's championship run.  This is probably the worst of the top 10 but it was still a great card.
8. UFC on Fox 4-This is probably my favorite out of all 10 of these events.  The triumphant return of Mike Swick kicked things off.  Lauzon and Varner had a battle for the ages ending in one of the craziest submissions I have ever seen.  Then Machida, Bader, Vera, and Shogun all went at it for a light heavyweight title shot.  That resulted in a spectacular KO and a main event war.  All 4 fights ended with a finish and this is a great event to get a non MMA fan to fall in love with the sport.
9. UFC 153-This event was supposed to be headlined by Jose Aldo and Erik Koch.  Koch fell out due to injury then Edgar stepped in.  Aldo eventually got injured and the featherweight title fight fell off altogether.  Big Nog and Anderson Silva stepped in to save the day.  Silva put on a spectacular show as always, Big Nog submitted a guy that didn't believe in jiu jitsu, and Jon Fitch won fight of the night. Glover Teixeira and Demian Maia also put on a show of their own.  This card fell apart completely but it was put right back together and was incredibly entertaining.
10. UFC Silva vs Stann-The first couple fights on this card were mediocre but the co-main and main event were good enough for this to make the list.  Spectacular back and forth matches between Hunt and Struve as well as Wanderlei Silva and Brian Stann made this card epic.  Stann retired shortly after the event and Wanderlei is still on the shelf waiting for his next fight.  Hunt one upped this performance against Junior dos Santos at UFC 160 in the co-main event as well.  Hunt, Struve, Stann, and Silva are four of my favorite fighters which made this fight card so exciting for me.

Honorable mention to Nogueira vs Werdum for setting the UFC submission record and being quite entertaining.  UFC on Fox Sports 1, Sonnen vs Shogun should be right up there with all of these events.  It is a can't miss event on a new network that should prove to be a UFC fans new favorite channel.  More to come about Sonnen vs Shogun later this week.