5 of the best UFC fights this year, and 1 of the worst

Where did the year go? July is in its latter half, meaning we're more than halfway through the year and the fight calendar. So far, 2023 has been great for MMA fans.

We saw the long-awaited return of Jon Jones, Israel Adesanya knocked his boogeyman Alex Pereira to sleep, and Alexander Volkanovski once again proved his supremacy. We also witnessed Robbie Lawler, Jorge Masvidal, and Amanda Nunes all bid farewell to the sport.

There's so much more to come too. UFC 290 was an absolute blast, and we'll get UFC 291 as a loud aftershock. Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje will be raising blood pressures. Later in the year, Sean O'Malley will get his title shot, Jones will fight Stipe Miocic in New York, and maybe, just maybe, we'll see Conor McGregor return to action.

God only knows how these upcoming events and matchups will turn out. But we can at least smell the roses from the past six months and some change. But as the classic rock band Poison said in 1988, "Every rose has its thorn." So let's look at five of the best bouts from this year and one of the worst.