Photos of the Decade

My tenure with MMA Fighting has been for over a decade, and it is with great pride I share with you, my favorite photos of the decade. It was extremely difficult to pare everything down to just one image per year, but I tried to consider both the quality of the photo and the importance of the fight and its place in MMA history. I have no doubt that I’ve forgotten many of your favorites, and I’d love to see them in the comments here.

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• August 7, 2010 - After five rounds struggling against Chael Sonnen, Anderson Silva pulls off the last minute submission with a triangle choke. I love this photo because they look tangled in a mess of limbs. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• June 26, 2010 — History is made when Fabricio Werdum is the first to submit Fedor Emelianenko, and the first to defeat the Last Emperor since 2000. Esther Lin, Strikeforce
• February 5, 2011 — Anderson Silva knocks out Vitor Belfort with a front kick to the face in one of the Spider’s most famous knock outs of all-time. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• April 30, 2011 — Georges St-Pierre walks out for the main event of UFC 129, at the time, the largest attendance for a UFC event, ever. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• September 24, 2011 - Jon Jones kicks Quinton “Rampage” Jackson square in the mouth during his first defense of his light heavyweight title. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• May 19, 2012 — Daniel Cormier rests backstage after winning the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix against Josh Barnett. During my time at Strikeforce, I tried my best to cultivate trust between myself and the fighters, I wanted them to know I could be trusted to capture their moments truthfully. Esther Lin, Strikeforce
• November 17, 2012 — Carlos Condit, face-bloodied but still hungry, waves at the crowd to cheer him on as he gets up from round four, ready to start the last round against Georges St-Pierre in his welterweight title bid. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• November 17, 2012 — That same night, after Georges St-Pierre is victorious, he sits in the post-fight press conference at the Bell Centre in Montreal, ice-pack against where Condit had kicked him in the face. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• April 13, 2013 — Cat Zingano knees Miesha Tate in the third round of their battle at The Ultimate Fighter Season 17 finale. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• July 6, 2013 — Chris Weidman becomes the UFC middleweight champion by knocking out Anderson Silva, who before this had seemed rather invincible. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• December 28, 2013 — You could call this the heel turn for Ronda Rousey, but it just sticks in my mind, this refusal to shake Miesha Tate’s hand after defeating her for the second time. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• July 19, 2014 — The crowd in Dublin at the O2 erupts as Conor McGregor climbs the cage after defeating Diego Brandao. This was a magical night for Irish MMA. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• December 5, 2014 — Herica Tiburcio cries after submitting Michelle Waterson to win the Invicta FC atomweight title. Esther Lin, Invicta FC
• 11 July 2015; Robbie Lawler and Rory MacDonald stare each other down at the end of the fourth round of their epic battle at UFC 189. Esther Lin, Sportsfile
• July 30, 2015 — A day before their bout at UFC 190, Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia meet at the weigh-ins where Correia yells into the stone-faced Rousey. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• November 14, 2015 — Holly Holm knocks out Ronda Rousey to hand the previously invincible fighter her first loss, to take the UFC bantamweight title. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• March 6, 2016 — A bloody Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor stare at each other, hands down, during their fight at UFC 196. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• November 12, 2016 — Conor McGregor sits atop the cage after winning the lightweight title from Eddie Alvarez, making him the UFC’s first simultaneous champ-champ. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• December 29, 2016 — Amanda Nunes, the UFC bantamweight champion, stares down the returning Ronda Rousey from the scale at ceremonial weigh-ins for UFC 207 as a lion. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• June 3, 2017 — Max Holloway unifies the UFC featherweight title by defeating the legend of the division, José Aldo. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• July 12, 2017 — During the Toronto stop of the Mayweather vs McGregor press tour, the two meet in the center of this outdoor stage, hands in each other’s directions, sending the capacity crowd into a frenzy. Esther Lin, Showtime Networks
• August 26, 2017 — Floyd Mayweather Jr. sends a right cross through Conor McGregor in their boxing match. ESTHER LIN/SHOWTIME
• November 4, 2017 — Georges St-Pierre walks away from Michael Bisping upon defeating him to capture the UFC middleweight title after four years away from the sport. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• October 6, 2018 — Conor McGregor struts around a fog-filled cage as he readies to challenge Khabib Nurmagomedov for the UFC lightweight title. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• October 6, 2018 — Khabib Nurmagomedov points towards Conor McGregor’s corner, right before scaling the fence to enter a melee after defeating The Notorious one. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• November 10, 2018 — Chan Sung Jung lays unconscious after being knocked out in the final second of the fifth round in his epic bout against Yair Rodriguez where he was knocked out by an upward back elbow. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• December 15, 2018 — Ilima-Lei Macfarlane takes in the sights and sounds as she walks out for her Bellator flyweight title defense at the Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• February 9, 2019 — Israel Adesanya, just promoted to the main event that morning, gives a nod to Naruto’s Rock Lee in his fight against Anderson Silva. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• August 14, 2019 — Nate Diaz lights up a joint during the open workouts for UFC 241. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• October 5, 2019 — Israel Adesanya lands the most devastation left hook in his defeat of Robert Whittaker to unify the UFC middleweight titles at UFC 243 in Melbourne, Australia. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting
• December 14, 2019 — Colby Covington sits on the mat as welterweight champ, Kamaru Usman, approaches him after knocking him down a second time in the fifth round at UFC 245. Esther Lin, MMA Fighting