5 of the best UFC APEX fights, 1 of the worst

BEST: Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker, UFC Vegas 4

No list of greatest UFC APEX fights would be complete without arguably the best of the bunch. Just one week after Josh Emmett and Shane Burgos put on one of the best fights of the year, Dustin Poirier and Dan Hooker stole the show with an all-time war that fight fans will never forget.

From the opening minute of the fight, Poirier and Hooker engaged in a contest that would only be comparable to something out of a Rocky movie. Shockingly enough, neither of the competitors were knocked down from the nearly 400 total strikes landed. Round two of this bout will go down as one of the most entertaining and greatest rounds in combat sports history. For new fans of the sport who haven't seen the fight, it is an absolute must-watch.

The eerie silence of the UFC APEX allowed the TV audience to really feel every haymaker thrown during this epic bout. Poirier was able to survive and advance with the decision victory, but both fighters earned massive applause from the mixed martial arts community in a fight that will truly go down as one the best ever.

BEST: Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Brandon Moreno, UFC 256

The first and only pay-per-view entrant on the list, and one that marked the beginning of the greatest rivalry in flyweight history. Deiveson Figueiredo was coming off a submission victory and successful title defense against Alex Perez just three weeks prior and was looked at as a heavy favorite by many. Brandon Moreno was significantly less publicized than he is in 2024 and was looked at as another stepping stone for Figueiredo at the time.

Due to a round three-point deduction for the reigning flyweight champion, the fight ended in an anticlimactic majority draw but the actual content of the bout was anything but disappointing. The flyweight division was also in an interesting position, with the still recent retirement of Henry Cejudo and the shadow of Demetrious Johnson still looming large over the division. It was even thought that the UFC may get rid of the flyweight division altogether, which is what makes this fight even more memorable in retrospect. Without the shot of energy that the Figueiredo vs. Moreno rivalry injected into the weight class, it is truly questionable whether there would still be a flyweight division to this day.

Though we would see three more fights between these two, none were more memorable than their first contest in at UFC 256. In terms of championship contests at the UFC APEX, it's undeniable that the best of these fights took place late-2020 and restored stability to the once lost flyweight division.