2012 in UFC

The year 2012 was the 20th year in the history of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, a mixed martial arts promotion based in the United States. 2012 started with UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes and ended with UFC 155: dos Santos vs. Velasquez 2. The year saw the successful UFC Featherweight title defense by José Aldo, the crowning of Carlos Condit as the Interim Welterweight Champion, a new Lightweight Champion in Benson Henderson, a tournament to crown the first UFC Flyweight Champion as well as the finales of The Ultimate Fighter 15 and The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.

2012 UFC.com awards

Debut UFC fighters

The following fighters fought their first UFC fight in 2012:

Abel Trujillo
Akira Corassani
Al Iaquinta
Andrew Craig
Andy Ogle
Anistavio Medeiros
Anton Kuivanen
Antonio Carvalho
Antônio Silva
Azamat Gashimov
Ben Alloway
Bernardo Magalhaes
Besam Yousef
Brad Scott
Brendan Loughnane
Brock Jardine
Buddy Roberts
C.J. Keith
Caio Magalhaes
Carlo Prater
Cezar Ferreira
Chad Griggs
Chico Camus
Chris Clements
Chris Saunders
Chris Tickle
Cody Donovan
Colin Fletcher
Colton Smith
Cristiano Marcello
Dan Stittgen
Daniel Pineda
Daron Cruickshank
Delson Heleno
Derek Brunson
Ednaldo Oliveira
Eiji Mitsuoka
Eric Wisely
Erik Pérez
Francisco Trinaldo
Glover Teixeira
Godofredo Pepey
Gunnar Nelson
Hacran Dias
Héctor Lombard
Henry Martinez
Hugo Viana
Ian McCall
Issei Tamura
Jared Papazian
Jeremy Larsen
Jimi Manuwa
Joe Proctor
Joey Gambino
John Cofer
John Lineker
John Moraga
John Teixeira
John-Olav Einemo
Jon Tuck
Jussier Formiga
Justin Lawrence
Justin Salas
Khabib Nurmagomedov
Lavar Johnson
Leonardo Mafra
Magnus Cedenblad
Manuel Rodriguez
Marcelo Guimarães
Marcos Vinicius
Marcus LeVesseur
Max Holloway
Maximo Blanco
Michael Chiesa
Michael Kuiper
Mike Ricci
Mike Rio
Mike Wilkinson
Milton Vieira
Mitch Gagnon
Motonobu Tezuka
Myles Jury
Nick Denis
Nick Penner
Norman Parke
Oli Thompson
Pat Schilling
Phil Harris
Renee Forte
Reza Madadi
Robert Whittaker
Rodrigo Damm
Rony Mariano Bezerra
Rustam Khabilov
Ryan Jimmo
Sam Sicilia
Sergio Moraes
Shane del Rosario
Shawn Jordan
Simeon Thoresen
Siyar Bahadurzada
Stephen Thompson
Thiago Perpétuo
Tim Elliott
Tim Means
Tom DeBlass
Tom Watson
Tommy Hayden
Ulysses Gomez
Vinc Pichel
Wagner Campos
Wagner Prado
Yaotzin Meza
Yasuhiro Urushitani
Yoislandy Izquierdo
The Ultimate Fighter

Title fights

Events list

#	Event	Date	Venue	Location	Attendance
224	UFC 155: dos Santos vs. Velasquez 2		MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	13561
223			Hard Rock Hotel and Casino	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	2500
222	UFC on FX: Sotiropoulos vs. Pearson		Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre	Gold Coast, Australia	5133
221	UFC on Fox: Henderson vs. Diaz		KeyArena	Seattle, Washington, U.S.	14387
220	UFC 154: St-Pierre vs. Condit		Bell Centre	Montreal, Quebec, Canada	17249
219	UFC on Fuel TV: Franklin vs. Le		CotaiArena	Macau, SAR, China	8415
218	UFC 153: Silva vs. Bonnar		HSBC Arena	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	16844
217	UFC on FX: Browne vs. Bigfoot		Target Center	Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.	7049
216	UFC on Fuel TV: Struve vs. Miocic		Capital FM Arena	Nottingham, England, U.K.	7241
215	UFC 152: Jones vs. Belfort		Air Canada Centre	Toronto, Ontario, Canada	16800
–	UFC 151: Jones vs. Henderson		Mandalay Bay Events Center	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	Cancelled
214	UFC 150: Henderson vs. Edgar II		Pepsi Center	Denver, Colorado, U.S.	13027
213	UFC on Fox: Shogun vs. Vera		Staples Center	Los Angeles, California, U.S.	16080
212	UFC 149: Faber vs. Barão		Scotiabank Saddledome	Calgary, Alberta, Canada	16089
211	UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs. Weidman		HP Pavilion	San Jose, California, U.S.	4250
210	UFC 148: Silva vs. Sonnen II		MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	15104
209	UFC 147: Silva vs. Franklin II		Mineirinho Arena	Belo Horizonte, Brazil	16643
208	UFC on FX: Maynard vs. Guida		Revel Casino Hotel	Atlantic City, New Jersey, U.S.	4652
207	UFC on FX: Johnson vs. McCall		BankAtlantic Center	Sunrise, Florida, U.S.	6635
206			Palms Casino Resort	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	1628
205	UFC 146: dos Santos vs. Mir		MGM Grand Garden Arena	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	14674
204	UFC on Fuel TV: Korean Zombie vs. Poirier		Patriot Center	Fairfax, Virginia, U.S.	6668
203	UFC on Fox: Diaz vs. Miller		IZOD Center	East Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.	10788
202	UFC 145: Jones vs. Evans		Philips Arena	Atlanta, Georgia, U.S.	15545
201	UFC on Fuel TV: Gustafsson vs. Silva		Ericsson Globe Arena	Stockholm, Sweden	15428
200	UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann		Allphones Arena	Sydney, Australia	14537
199	UFC 144: Edgar vs. Henderson		Saitama Super Arena	Saitama, Japan	21000
198	UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger		Omaha Civic Auditorium	Omaha, Nebraska, U.S.	7120
197	UFC 143: Diaz vs. Condit		Mandalay Bay Events Center	Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.	9015
196	UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis		United Center	Chicago, Illinois, U.S.	16963
195	UFC on FX: Guillard vs. Miller		Bridgestone Arena	Nashville, Tennessee, U.S.	7728
194	UFC 142: Aldo vs. Mendes		HSBC Arena	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis

UFC on Fox: Evans vs. Davis was a mixed martial arts event held by the Ultimate Fighting Championship on January 28, 2012, at the United Center in Chicago, Illinois.

Background

The event was the first to be broadcast on Fox as part of a seven-year agreement between the UFC and the network and the second to air live on Fox after the inaugural UFC on Fox: Velasquez vs. Dos Santos.
A bout between Demetrious Johnson and Eddie Wineland was originally slated for this event. However, Johnson was pulled from the bout to be a participant in the UFC's Flyweight tournament set to begin in March. Wineland was then expected to face Johnny Bedford at this event. However, Wineland himself was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by promotional newcomer Mitch Gagnon. Then just days before the event, the bout was cancelled due to an alleged visa issue for Gagnon.
Paul Sass was expected to face Evan Dunham, but was forced from the bout with an injury and replaced by Nik Lentz.
Cody McKenzie was expected to face Michael Johnson at the event, but was forced from the bout with an injury and replaced by Shane Roller.
Mark Muñoz was expected to face Chael Sonnen in a #1 contender's bout for a middleweight title shot, but Munoz was forced out of the bout with an injury. Michael Bisping, who was pulled from a scheduled fight with Demian Maia, replaced Munoz to face Sonnen in the #1 contender's bout. Chris Weidman would step in on 11 days notice to face Maia as Bisping's replacement.
The preliminary bout between Chris Camozzi and Dustin Jacoby was not aired on television or Facebook, making it the first bout on a UFC card to go unaired on the event's live broadcast since UFC Fight Night: Nogueira vs. Davis in March 2011.
The event averaged 4.7 million viewers with a ratings peak of 6 million viewers for the main event.

Results

Bonus awards

The following fighters received $65,000 bonuses.

Fight of the Night: Evan Dunham vs. Nik Lentz
Knockout of the Night: Lavar Johnson
'''Submission of the Night: Charles Oliveira'''
UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger

UFC on Fuel TV: Sanchez vs. Ellenberger, was the first UFC event to air exclusively on Fuel TV. It was held on February 15, 2012, at the Omaha Civic Auditorium in Omaha, Nebraska. At the time, the event was the most watched show ever aired on Fuel TV with 217,000 viewers tuning in.

Background

The main event consisted of Diego Sanchez facing Jake Ellenberger. Ellenberger came into the match on a five fight win streak, four of which ended by stoppage, including one against Jake Shields. The fight against Ellenberger would be Sanchez's seventeenth fight with the UFC going back to April 2005 when he won The Ultimate Fighter 1. Ellenberger continued his win streak defeating Sanchez by unanimous decision.
Rani Yahya was expected to face Jonathan Brookins at the event. However, Yahya was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Vagner Rocha.
Promotional newcomers Yoislandy Izquierdo and Bernardo Magalhaes were expected to face each other at the event. However, Izquierdo was not allowed to compete due to a contractual dispute with another organization and was replaced by Tim Means.
A bout between Buddy Roberts and Sean Loeffler was scheduled for the preliminary card. However, the pairing was scrapped on the day of the event as Loeffler injured his ankle during a pre-fight warm up. With the loss of the Roberts/Loeffler bout, the event took place with only nine fights, making it the smallest fight card for the promotion since UFC 110 in 2010.