Everyone loves surprises. The art of deflecting expectations is one of the most fascinating aspects of MMA – the unpredictability of what may happen inside and outside the fight itself.
When reflecting on the year’s biggest surprises, the big upsets are always easy to point to as highlights. However, 2025 is a little different. While disadvantaged groups continue to overcome the odds, as always, many of the biggest shocks this year have occurred in peripheral areas. MMA is only getting bigger, and so is the notoriety of the UFC and the deals it’s making, one of Uncrown’s top five surprises for 2025.
advertise
1. UFC abandons pay-per-view, reaches seven-year, $7.7 billion deal with Paramount
When dissecting the news that the UFC has signed a new broadcast deal with Paramount, there are a few details that are more surprising than others.
Let’s start with the most unexpected: the price tag of $7.7 billion. Of course, that number sounds pretty staggering, especially considering the lackluster products we’ve seen in recent years. But the reality is that throughout the ESPN era, the UFC’s popularity continues to grow regardless of the quality of its cards. Furthermore, inflation is real. Considering the ESPN deal was worth $1.5 billion in 2018, the UFC has plenty of time to solidify its position in the latest deal.
Did Paramount overpay? For now, that’s certainly a sure thing, but we’ll have to see what the first few years hold.
advertise
Which brings us to the most amazing aspect of the entire deal: no more pay-per-view. (at present.)
Imagining the MMA leader fighting the biggest, best fights without charging an extra $79.99 — or at least trying to convince us of that fact — still sounds unbelievable. All you need to do is subscribe to Paramount+ and you can watch every UFC event in 2026 (also now) for free. For MMA fans, this is actually a pretty big deal. Paramount+ subscribers who are not fight fans may not be as happy, they may not be as happy, but free UFC should be enjoyed as long as it looks too good to be true.
Finally, of all the talk and speculation about possible landing spots for the UFC, no one expected Paramount to be involved. Netflix, Amazon Prime, maybe a combination of the two plus ESPN? No. It’s all in one place – this place is essentially an updated, modern version of Spike TV, home of the UFC.
Time is indeed a flat circle.
After Sphere, Dana White decided to continue experimenting with unique combat settings.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
2. The UFC White House card is no joke
It’s one thing to host a UFC event inside a giant LED ball. Hosting a boxing match on the White House lawn is another matter entirely.
advertise
Even though UFC CEO Dana White has been adamant that the company won’t stage stunt fights, that’s exactly what happened. This is exactly what the White House is hosting, and when it was first floated as an idea for America’s 250th birthday, it somehow seemed too silly, too over-the-top to be real.
U.S. President Donald Trump has been a regular at UFC events throughout his time in office, but he never made any concrete, serious-sounding statements about the event’s status until we suddenly started seeing the fight scenes in action. Note that these were shown on major news networks, demonstrating the broad mainstream interest the White House Card concept could generate.
White repeatedly pointed out how difficult it would be from a logistical perspective to organize the event throughout 2025, while also promising to deliver the best cards imaginable. What the latter means is still anyone’s guess, but this unique, VIP-only experience will happen eventually. Who would have thought?
Gambling doesn’t always pay off, as Isaac Dulgarian found out the hard way.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
3. Darga Domino Effect
As expected, by the end of the year, the noise of the Isaac Dalgarian tragedy was almost completely drowned out.
advertise
The UFC’s latest gambling scandal is an interesting one because, let’s be honest, it’s not surprising that a fighter could allegedly bet against himself and intentionally lose a fight. Cashing in on a bigger payday, especially on a UFC entry-level contract, is a very understandable situation. Multiple other UFC fighters said they were approached in a similar manner after Dalgarian’s bizarre first-round loss to Yadier Del Valle.
Once a top contender in the featherweight division, Durgarian now finds himself suspended until an FBI investigation reveals further details about his alleged diving. The scandal cost him his spot on the UFC roster and possibly his entire fighting future. Perhaps the biggest surprise in this whole domino effect is that nothing like this has happened since the James Krause saga in 2022.
Regardless, it’s a shocking reminder of just how fractured the UFC’s compensation structure is – something that’s further highlighted by the massive broadcast deal that ranks No. 1 on our list.
Petr Yan is very good at fighting.
(Ian Moore via Getty Images)
4. Petr Yan Master Class Rematch
Another way to describe it: Reigning UFC bantamweight champion Merab Dvalishvili lost.
advertise
The bottom line is, it wasn’t Petr Yan who defeated Dvalishvili – even if that’s ridiculously surprising ——But more importantly how Yan defeated him. After losing a lopsided decision in 2023, Dvalishvili maximized his ruthless style like never before, before seriously rallying to win three straight fights at UFC 323 and getting style on Dvalishvili. With his incredible tactical tweaks and improvements in defensive grappling, the Russian made their first game look like it never happened.
Yan completely flipped the script, shutting out Dvalishvili – or at worst losing a round – to regain the title he once held. It was one of the best performances from a champion we’ve ever seen against a seemingly unstoppable champion – and in a matchup we’ve already seen.
When Islam Makhachev calls it a career, he may become an all-time great.
(Ishika Samant via Getty Images)
5. Whose department is it?
It’s been a wild, rollercoaster year for the UFC welterweight division. Despite all the twists and turns we took to get to the end of our journey, somehow only one Uncrowned staff member predicted the correct winner. They must be very smart.
advertise
After Shavkat Rakhmonov solidified himself as a top contender and closed out 2024, Belal Muhammad vs. Jack Della Maddalena wasn’t the title fight we expected. More unexpectedly, underdog Della Maddalena had an uneven performance in winning gold. It was a perfect start that got lightweight champion Islam Makhachev through the door, and before the end of 2025, Makhachev looked even more dominant in his new division, beating Della Maddalena from pillar to post to show why he was the division standard regardless of weight.
Meanwhile, the reshuffle of contenders at welterweight is unlike any other in MMA’s many divisions. Ian Machado Garry bounced back from his loss to Rakhmonov, defeating top contenders such as Muhammad and Carlos Prates. The latter also bounced back spectacularly, defeating Jeff Neal and Leon Edwards with epic knockouts. The emergence of Ecuadorian superstar Michael Morales has stolen Sean Brady’s spotlight, and Rakhmonov’s shadow still looms over the entire welterweight scene.
71 / 1101 / 110he 170-pound tables don’t really reset until 2025. Hopefully 2026 will bring more chaos.