5 Best Tournaments In MMA History (& 5 Worst)

Tournaments in MMA are some of the funniest things to ever take place in the sport's history. While not as common nowadays, the sport was born out of tournaments, as all of the beginning UFC events took place within the tournament format. Organizations such as PRIDE, DREAM, and RIZIN have also put on notable tournaments over the years.

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However, for all the great tournaments, there have also been quite a few stinkers over the years that have been lost to history. Without further ado, let's take a look at five of the greatest tournaments to ever occur, as well as five of the worst to take place.

10 Worst: Invicta Phoenix Series 3

By far the least notable of the tournaments, Invicta FC put on a tournament as a part of their Phoenix Series in 2020. While the previous two tournaments saw future UFC fighters such as Brianna Van Buren and Miranda Maverick dominate, this one wasn't as fun.

Every single fight went to a decision in this bantamweight tournament. Future UFC Contender Series alum Teneisha Tennant won the tournament mainly off of controlling the cage with her jab, which is a good strategy, but not a fun thing to watch.

9 Best: UFC 1

UFC 1 may not be the greatest tournament on paper, mainly due to the dominance of Royce Gracie. However, the tournament still had loads of excitement outside of Gracie, with Ken Shamrock and Gerard Gordeau also having highlight finishes.

It's also important to note that the tournament launched MMA to new heights, especially in the United States. Without UFC 1, it's likely that MMA wouldn't have reached the popularity that it has today.

8 Worst: UFC 3

After the success of the two previous UFC events, it seemed that the promotion couldn't do anything wrong. That was until UFC 3 came, and the two biggest stars in Ken Shamrock and Royce Gracie got injured throughout the tournament.

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The tournament final came between Steve Jennum and Harold Howard. Jennum was an alternate who hadn't even fought to that point and Howard had only gotten there because Gracie had withdrawn prior to their fight. Jennum won the most anticlimatic finals ever by submission.

7 Best: PRIDE 2000 Openweight Grand Prix

The PRIDE 2000 Openweight Grand Prix is about as hectic of a tournament you'll see. The bracket reads like a Hall of Fame list, as legends such as Royce Gracie, Kazushi Sakuraba, Mark Coleman, and Igor Vovchanchyn are just some of the names that were a part of the event.

There were many legendary moments that took place in the tournament, none bigger than Sakuraba defeating Gracie in a 90-minute brawl in the quarterfinals. After Sakuraba was taken out in the semifinals by Vovchanchyn, the Ukrainian was defeated by Mark Coleman in the finals.

6 Worst: Bellator 2018 Welterweight Grand Prix

The 2018 Bellator Grand Prix looked amazing on paper, in execution, it was anything but. There were good fights in the tournament, such as Douglas Lima and Andrey Koreshkov 3, and Ed Ruth vs. Neiman Gracie.

However, they were overshadowed by many stinkers throughout the tournament. Jon Fitch vs. Rory MacDonald, Michael Page vs. Paul Daley were terrible bouts. Even the finals involving MacDonald and Lima were a dud, as MacDonald was hesitant to throw anything and lost the fight in the process.

5 Best: PRIDE 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix

In case it's not clear by now, PRIDE didn't mess around with their tournaments, and their 2005 middleweight Grand Prix was no different. The field had loads of great fights including Vitor Belfort, Alistair Overeem, Wanderlei Silva, and more. However, the true story was the rise of Shogun Rua.

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Shogun Rua had arguably the greatest run in MMA tournament history in this one. Defeating Rampage Jackson, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Alistair Overeem, and Ricardo Arona to cement his place as one of the greatest on the planet.

4 Worst: UFC 2002-2003 Lightweight Tournament

On paper, this four-man tournament involved B.J. Penn, Caol Uno, Matt Serra, and Din Thomas. However, the tournament is one of the most consequential in MMA history because it almost ended the UFC's lightweight division.

Penn and Uno met in the finals, and after five rounds the bout was ruled a draw, meaning no champion would be crowned. For whatever reason, the UFC took this as a sign that a division is a bad idea and completely cut the division. The division would be brought back over three years later, but because the tournament almost resulted in the permanent closure of one of the greatest weight classes ever, it's gotta be one of the worst tournaments ever.

3 Best: Strikeforce 2011 Heavyweight Grand Prix

The 2011 Strikeforce 2011 heavyweight Grand Prix had it all. Replacements coming in, dominant performances, absolute wars, and more. It also had arguably the greatest bracket of all time, with Fedor Emelianenko, Bigfoot Silva, Andrei Arlovski, Josh Barnett, and more.

The wild tournament saw massive upsets throughout, but none bigger than an unknown Daniel Cormier coming in as a tournament alternate and knocking out Bigfoot Silva. Cormier then turned around and dominated Josh Barnett to cap off one of the greatest tournament performances ever.

2 Worst: UFC 11

Somehow, UFC 3 isn't the worst tournament in company history. UFC 11 has it beat by a massive metric. While the UFC 3 finals featured fighters not really known, nor should have been there, at least there was a finals at UFC 3. There wasn't any at UFC 11.

UFC 11 saw no final take place due to multiple fighters having pulled out due to exhaustion. The finals saw Mark Coleman win off of default due to there being no opponent left for him to face.

1 Best: PRIDE 2003 Middleweight Grand Prix

The PRIDE 2003 middleweight Grand Prix was about as good as it gets. The bracket featured names such as Wanderlei Silva, Rampage Jackson, Alistair Overeem, even Chuck Liddell showed up as a result of cross-promotion between PRIDE and the UFC.

The card consistently featured amazing fights throughout the tournament. However, none were better than the finals between the aforementioned Silva and Jackson, who put on one of the best fights of the year. Silva won the fight via knockout and secured the tournament crown.