2008 in UFC

The year 2008 was the 16th year in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. In 2008 the UFC held 20 events beginning with, UFC 80: Rapid Fire.

2008 in UFC
Information
First date	January 19, 2008
Last date	December 27, 2008
Events
Total events	20
UFC	13
UFC Fight Night	5
TUF Finale events	2
Fights
Total fights	201
Title fights	11
Chronology
2007 in UFC 2008 in UFC 2009 in UFC

2008 UFC.com awards

2008 UFC.COM Awards
No	Best Fighter	The Upsets	The Submissions	The Newcomers	The Knockouts	The Fights
1	Rashad Evans	Frank Mir defeats Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira 1 UFC 92	Dustin Hazelett defeats Josh Burkman The Ultimate Fighter 7 Finale	Brock Lesnar	Rashad Evans defeats Chuck Liddell UFC 88	Forrest Griffin defeats Quinton Jackson UFC 86
2	Thiago Alves	Junior dos Santos defeats Fabrício Werdum UFC 90	Frank Mir defeats Brock Lesnar UFC 81	Cain Velasquez	Junior dos Santos defeats Fabrício Werdum UFC 90	Kurt Pellegrino defeats Thiago Tavares UFC 88
3	Kenny Florian	Rashad Evans defeats Chuck Liddell UFC 88	Anderson Silva defeats Dan Henderson UFC 82	Amir Sadollah	Anthony Johnson defeats Kevin Burns The Ultimate Fighter 8 Finale	Matt Wiman defeats Thiago Tavares UFC 85
4	Anderson Silva	Kevin Burns defeats Roan Carneiro UFC 85	Kenny Florian defeats Joe Stevenson UFC 91	Shane Carwin	Thiago Alves defeats Karo Parisyan at UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon & Matt Hughes at UFC 85	Sean Sherk defeats Tyson Griffin UFC 90
5	Frank Mir	Forrest Griffin defeats Quinton Jackson UFC 86	Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira defeats Tim Sylvia UFC Fight Night: Lauzon vs. Stephens	Junior dos Santos	Quinton Jackson defeats Wanderlei Silva UFC 92	Demian Maia defeats Jason MacDonald UFC 87
6	Georges St-Pierre	Jorge Rivera defeats Jorge Gurgel UFC 80	Cole Miller defeats Brian Foster UFC 86	Efraín Escudero	James Irvin defeats Houston Alexander UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon	Georges St-Pierre defeats Jon Fitch UFC 87
7	Brock Lesnar	Heath Herring defeats Cheick Kongo UFC 82	Nate Diaz defeats Kurt Pellegrino UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon	The Miller Brothers Jim Miller and Dan Miller	Wanderlei Silva defeats Keith Jardine UFC 84	Nate Diaz defeats Kurt Pellegrino UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon
8	B.J. Penn	Brock Lesnar defeats Randy Couture UFC 91	Demian Maia defeats Jason MacDonald UFC 87	Tim Boetsch	Josh Koscheck defeats Yoshiyuki Yoshida UFC: Fight for the Troops	Nate Diaz defeats Josh Neer UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Neer
9	Nate Diaz	Pete Sell defeats Josh Burkman UFC 90	Kevin Burns defeats Roan Carneiro UFC 185	Kevin Burns	Rory Markham defeats Brodie Farber UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Irvin	Goran Reljić defeats Wilson Gouveia UFC 84
10	Michael Bisping	Jason Day defeats Alan Belcher UFC 83	Dustin Hazelett defeats Tamdan McCrory UFC 85	C. B. Dollaway	Jeremy Stephens defeats Rafael dos Anjos UFC 91	Paul Kelly defeats Paul Taylor UFC 180
Ref	[1]	[2]	[3]	[4]	[5]	[6]

Debut UFC fighters

The following fighters fought their first UFC fight in 2008:

• Andre Gusmao
• Antonio Mendes
• Brad Blackburn
• Brad Morris
• Brandon Wolff
• Brock Lesnar
• Brodie Farber
• Cain Velasquez
• C. B. Dollaway
• Chris Wilson
• Corey Hill
• Dale Hartt
• Dan Evensen
• Dan Hardy
• Dan Miller
• Dante Rivera
• Dave Kaplan
• David Baron
• David Bielkheden
• Dong Hyun Kim
• Efrain Escudero
• Eliot Marshall
• George Roop
• Goran Reljić
• James Giboo
• James Lee
• Jason Brilz
• Jason Day
• Jesse Taylor
• Jim Miller
• Joe Vedepo
• Johnny Rees
• Jon Jones
• Josh Hendricks
• Jules Bruchez
• Junior dos Santos
• Justin Buchholz
• Kevin Burns
• Krzysztof Soszynski
• Kyle Kingsbury
• Matt Brown
• Matt Horwich
• Matt Riddle
• Mike Massenzio
• Michael Patt
• Mike Wessel
• Mostapha al-Turk
• Nate Loughran
• Neil Wain
• Pat Barry
• Paul Kelly
• Per Eklund
• Phillipe Nover
• Rafael dos Anjos
• Reese Andy
• Rob Kimmons
• Rob Yundt
• Rolando Delgado
• Rory Markham
• Rousimar Palhares
• Ryan Bader
• Ryan Roberts
• Ryan Thomas
• Samy Schiavo
• Shane Carwin
• Shane Nelson
• Shane Primm
• Shannon Gugerty
• Steve Bruno
• Steve Cantwell
• Tim Boetsch
• Tim Credeur
• Tom Lawlor
• Vinny Magalhães
• Yoshiyuki Yoshida

The Ultimate Fighter

Season	Finale	Division	Winner	Runner-up
TUF 7: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest	Jun 21, 2008	Middleweight	Amir Sadollah	C.B. Dollaway
TUF 8: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir	Dec 13, 2008	Light Heavyweight	Ryan Bader	Vinicius Magalhães
		Lightweight	Efrain Escudero	Phillipe Nover

Title fights

Title fights in 2008
Weight class				Method	Round	Time	Event	Notes
Lightweight	B.J. Penn	def.	Joe Stevenson	Submission (rear-naked choke)	2	4:02	UFC 80: Rapid Fire	[a]
Heavyweight	Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira	def.	Tim Sylvia	Submission (guillotine choke)	3	1:28	UFC 81: Breaking Point	[b]
Middleweight	Anderson Silva (UFC Champion)	def.	Dan Henderson (Pride Champion)	Submission (rear-naked choke)	2	4:52	UFC 82: Pride of a Champion	[c]
Welterweight	Georges St-Pierre (ic)	def.	Matt Serra (c)	TKO (knees)	2	4:45	UFC 83: Serra vs St-Pierre 2	[d]
Lightweight	B.J. Penn (c)	def.	Sean Sherk	TKO (flying knee and punches)	3	5:00	UFC 84: Ill Will	[e]
Light Heavyweight	Forrest Griffin	def.	Quinton Jackson (c)	Decision (unanimous) (48–46, 48–46, 49–46)	5	5:00	UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin	[f]
Welterweight	Georges St-Pierre (c)	def.	Jon Fitch	Decision (unanimous) (50–44, 50–43, 50–44)	5	5:00	UFC 87: Seek and Destroy	[g]
Middleweight	Anderson Silva (c)	def.	Patrick Côté	TKO (knee injury)	3	0:39	UFC 90: Silva vs. Côté	[h]
Heavyweight	Brock Lesnar	def.	Randy Couture (c)	TKO (punches)	2	3:07	UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar	[i]
Heavyweight	Frank Mir	def.	Antônio Nogueira (ic)	TKO (punches)	2	1:54	UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008	[j]
Light Heavyweight	Rashad Evans	def.	Forrest Griffin (c)	KO (punches)	3	2:46	UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008	[k]

1. For the vacant UFC Lightweight Championship. Penn become the second fighter in UFC history to win belt with two weight classes.
2. For the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship.
3. Unification of the UFC Middleweight & Pride Welterweight Championship belts^[7]
4. Unification of the UFC Welterweight & UFC Interim Welterweight championships.
5. For the UFC Lightweight Championship.
6. For the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship
7. For the UFC Welterweight Championship
8. For the UFC Middleweight Championship.
9. For the UFC Heavyweight Championship.
10. For the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship.
11. For the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship. Both winners of The Ultimate Fighter competed in a title fight against each other.

Events list

Main article: List of UFC events

#	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
122	UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008	Dec 27, 2008	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	14,166[8]
121	The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir Finale	Dec 13, 2008	Palms Casino Resort	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	1,853[9]
120	UFC: Fight for the Troops	Dec 10, 2008	Crown Coliseum	Fayetteville, North Carolina, U.S.	8,500[10]
119	UFC 91: Couture vs. Lesnar	Nov 15, 2008	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	14,272[11]
118	UFC 90: Silva vs. Côté	Oct 25, 2008	Allstate Arena	Rosemont, Illinois, U.S.	15,359[12]
117	UFC 89: Bisping vs. Leben	Oct 18, 2008	National Indoor Arena	Birmingham, England, U.K.	9,515[13]
116	UFC Fight Night: Diaz vs. Neer	Sep 17, 2008	Omaha Civic Auditorium	Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.	9,103[14]
115	UFC 88: Breakthrough	Sep 6, 2008	Philips Arena	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.	14,736[15]
114	UFC 87: Seek and Destroy	Aug 9, 2008	Target Center	Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.	15,087[16]
113	UFC Fight Night: Silva vs. Irvin	Jul 19, 2008	Palms Casino Resort	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	2,071[17]
112	UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin	Jul 5, 2008	Mandalay Bay Events Center	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	10,990[18]
111	The Ultimate Fighter: Team Rampage vs. Team Forrest Finale	Jun 21, 2008	Palms Casino Resort	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	1,853[18]
110	UFC 85: Bedlam	Jun 7, 2008	The O2 arena	London, England, U.K.	15,327[19]
109	UFC 84: Ill Will	May 24, 2008	MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	14,773[20]
108	UFC 83: Serra vs. St-Pierre 2	Apr 19, 2008	Bell Centre	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	21,390
107	UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Lauzon	Apr 2, 2008	Broomfield Event Center	Broomfield, Colorado, U.S.	6,742[21]
106	UFC 82: Pride of a Champion	Mar 1, 2008	Nationwide Arena	Columbus, Ohio, U.S.	16,431[22]
105	UFC 81: Breaking Point	Feb 2, 2008	Mandalay Bay Events Center	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	10,583[23]
104	UFC Fight Night: Swick vs. Burkman	Jan 23, 2008	Palms Casino Resort	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	1,900[10]
103	UFC 80: Rapid Fire	Jan 19, 2008	Metro Radio Arena	Newcastle, England, U.K.	8,412[10]

See also

• UFC
• List of UFC champions
• List of UFC events