It was another exciting year of knockouts and submissions in the Ultimate Fighting Championship and Off the Ball looks back at best fights from inside the Octagon.
The year got off to a flying start as rising Mexican star Yair Rodriguez earned a "Performance of the Night" bonus when he stopped former two-division champion BJ Penn in the first round.
Rodriquez displayed his full range of skills - wobbling Penn with multiple high-kicks before forcing a stoppage in the second round.
Yair Rodriguez stops BJ Penn. Picture by: Jeff Brown/Zuma Press/PA Images
Top heavyweight prospect Francis Ngannou also got his year off to a fine start with a stoppage of former heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in the first round of their bout on the Shevchkenko-Pena under-card.
The Korean Zombie, Chan Sung Jung, made his long-awaited return to MMA with a first round knock-out of Dennis Bermudez.
Germaine De Randamie beat Holly Holm in a highly controversial inaugural featherweight title fight while Anderson Silva won a fight for the first time in five years with a decision win over Derek Brunson. Dustin Poirier and Jim Miller also entertained the crowd with a "Fight of the Night" slugfest.
In March, Tyron Woodley and Stephen Thompson had their much-anticipated rematch for the welterweight title only for the bout to pale in comparison to the first one - with Woodley escaping with a majority decision win.
A Fight Night in London saw Gunnar Nelson secure yet another submission win - this time over Alain Jouban while Joseph Duffy recorded a dominant decision over Reza Madadi.
Daniel Cormier submitted Anthony Johnson to defend the light-heavyweight title and, a few weeks later, Demetrious Johnson continued his winning run with a 10th consecutive title defence against Wilson Reis.
Artem Lobov finally got the big fight in the UFC he wanted when he took part in a "Fight of the Night" brawl against Cub Swanson only to come up short on the scorecards.
Stipe Miocic consolidated his position as the best heavyweight in the world by beating former titleholder Junior Dos Santos in the first round. Joanna Jedrzejczk continued her winning streak as women's strawweight champion dispatching Jessica Andrade with a lopsided decision win.
Stipe Miocic lands a kick on Junios Dos Santos. Picture by: Jason Silva/Zuma Press/PA Images
Elsewhere, Frankie Edgar handed Yair Rodriguez his first UFC loss while Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez was stopped in questionable circumstances.
Max Holloway announced himself as the new king at 145lbs after travelling to Brazil and finishing Jose Aldo in the third round while Claudia Gadelha kept in contention in the women's strawweight rankings by submitting Karolina Kowalkiewicz.
Holly Holm snapped a three fight losing streak in June with a "Performance of the Night" stoppage of Beth Correia. Kevin Lee would go on to submit Michael Chiesa later in the month while BJ Penn lost his fifth straight fight against Dennis Siver.
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