The UFC will celebrate a decade since its return to New York City on Saturday night with a stacked card headlined by two title fights.
As the UFC exploded in popularity following the success of The Ultimate Fighter, the promotion spread its reach first across the United Sates, and then to locations all over the world.
However, despite the undeniable appetite for mixed martial arts in the Big Apple, New York remained the final remaining holdout when it came to legalization.
For nearly two decades professional MMA bouts were outlawed across the state before the ban was finally lifted in April 2016.
From that year onward, the UFC has held annual events at the iconic Madison Square Garden every November, with the exception of 2020 due to the pandemic.
This year's showcase will see Ciryl Gane defend his heavyweight title against surging contender Josh Hokit in the headline bout, while the co-main will see the legendary Amanda Nunes coming out of retirement to face reigning bantamweight queen Kayla Harrison.
Ahead of Saturday's card we've taken a look back at some of the most iconic fights to take place at the hallowed venue over the course of the last decade.
Eddie Alvarez vs Conor McGregor - UFC 205
For the UFC's maiden visit to Madison Square Garden in 2016 Dana White needed a main event befitting the significance of the occasion and in Eddie Alvarez vs Conor McGregor, he had one.
A stunning 13-second KO of Jose Aldo to capture the featherweight title less than 12 months earlier answered any lingering questions about McGregor's ability before his popularity skyrocketed to unprecedented levels with an iconic pair of fights against Nate Diaz.
Now the Irishman had get the opportunity to become the first fighter to hold UFC gold in two weight divisions simultaneously against the decorated veteran Alvarez at MSG.
Rising to the significance of the occasion, McGregor produced one of the most flawless performances in UFC title fight history, dropping the champion multiple times before the referee waved the fight off in the second round.
At just 28 years old, McGregor had made history, but few at the time could have imagined the triumph would ultimately mark the beginning of the end of one of the most storied runs ever seen inside the Octagon.
Michael Bisping vs Georges St-Pierre - UFC 217
Such an iconic debut at MSG was always going to be a hard act to follow but the UFC nonetheless managed it with a 2017 card headlined by three title fights.
The headline bout of the evening saw the return of Georges St-Pierre to the Octagon for the first time in four years.
GSP had walked away from MMA after defending his welterweight belt against Johnny Hendricks at UFC 167 but had been coaxed out of retirement with an opportunity to become a two-division world champion.
The fight more than delivered on the hype surrounding it, with Bisping effectively striking from his back to punish the challenger's takedowns in the early going.
Throughout his career GSP had demonstrated an ability to battle through adversity and on that night he again drew on those reserves, submitting Bisping in the third round to join the pantheon of two-weight champions in a fight that would prove to be the final one of his legendary career.
Cody Garbrandt vs T.J. Dillashaw - UFC 217
While the technical acumen of the fighters involved will always be the primary factor, the existence of genuine animosity between two athletes can make a fight even more compelling.
Few fights serve as a better example of this than when Cody Garbrandt defended his UFC bantamweight title against his former teammate T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 217.
The pair had spent several years training together under Urijah Faber at Team Alpha Male before a highly-publicized dispute saw Dillashaw part ways with the gym in late 2015.
In the meantime Garbrandt had become the gym's leading star, and he had captured gold the previous year with a dominant win over long-reigning champion Dominick Cruz.
In a fight that had it all, Dillashaw emerged victorious after being rocked in the opening round, knocking out his rival with a devastating head kick in the second.
Rose Namajunas vs Joanna Jedrzejczyk - UFC 217
After debuting in the UFC in 2014 Poland's Joanna Jedrzejczyk would embark on a meteoric rise in the nascent women's strawweight division.
Capturing the title in just her third visit to the Octagon, the former Muay Thai standout's striking skills made her one of the most feared athletes at 115lbs and she reeled off five title defenses ahead of her clash with Rose Namajunas in 2017.
"Thug" Rose as she was affectionately known had shown rapid improvements in her all-around game in recent outings but was still primarily considered to be a grappler as she prepared for her first shot at UFC gold.
That would quickly change just three minutes into her fight with Jedrzejczyk.
After an impressive start Namajunas connected with a picture-perfect left hook before raining down strikes and forcing the referee to intervene. The nature of the victory underlined the unpredictability that defines mixed martial arts at its finest.
Jorge Masvidal vs Nate Diaz - UFC 244
The career paths of both Jorge Masvidal and Nate Diaz had dovetailed in the 2010s in a way rarely seen in combat sports.
Both grizzled veterans renowned for their tenacity, and willingness to take on all comers, the pair had separately been catapulted into mainstream superstardom while already a decade into their professional careers.
Diaz became a countercultural icon after he became the first man to defeat Conor McGregor inside the Octagon while Masvidal became one of the UFC's most recognizable stars with a record-breaking five-second KO of Ben Askren.
So, when they met inside the Octagon at UFC 244 in 2019 the promotion implemented a championship befitting both men, the "BMF" title.
Masvidal became the inaugural champion in a fight which more than satisfied the crowd's appetite for action, with the bout stopped before the fourth round after Diaz sustained a cut over his right eye.
Chito Vera vs Frankie Edgar - UFC 268
The old adage that Father Time is undefeated is uniquely true when it comes to elite combat sports.
Throughout his career Toms River, New Jersey native Frankie Edgar defied convention, capturing the UFC lightweight title in 2010 and defending it on multiple occasions, despite being significantly undersized for the division.
By the time Edgar fought Chito Vera in November of 2021 however, he was well past his fighting prime and had lost three of his last four fights inside the Octagon.
In front of an East Coast crowd, however, The Answer rolled back the years, effectively implementing his wrestling and looked to be holding his own heading into the third round.
Just over a minute into the final frame Vera landed a devastating front kick that sent Edgar sprawling to the canvas. The finish served as a potent reminder of just how quickly things can change in a sport like mixed martial arts.
Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesanya - UFC 281
The ascent of Alex Pereira up the UFC ranks was something to behold. Signed to the promotion in 2021, Pereira had fought just four times in MMA but held a pair of wins over the then-middleweight champion Israel Adesanya from their time in kickboxing.
The story of them once again gravitating towards one another as their rivalry transcended across sports wrote itself but Pereira had to first hold up his end of the bargain and earn a shot at the gold, something he did emphatically.
After going a perfect 3-0 inside the Octagon the pair met in the main event of UFC 281 in November 2022.
Rarely does a fight of such magnitude live up to the hype, but Adesanya and Pereira delivered. Pereira was down on the scorecards heading into the final round but turned up the heat after hurting the champion and secured the finish to add another legendary chapter to a rivalry that still had more to give.
Tom Aspinall vs Sergei Pavlovich - UFC 295
The main event of UFC 295 was originally set to see Jon Jones face off with Stipe Miocic for the heavyweight title before an injury to the former saw the fight scratched from the card.
With just two weeks remaining until fight night, the UFC scrambled for a replacement.
Rather than rebooking the former champion Miocic against Sergei Pavlovich - who had been training to serve as a replacement should either fighter drop out - the promotion instead turned to surging contender Tom Aspinall.
That summer Aspinall had returned from a lengthy injury layoff to stop Marcin Tybura in just 73 seconds and when given the opportunity to face the KO artist for the interim title he stepped up to the plate.
The early going saw Aspinall get a taste for Pavlovich's vaunted KO power but continue forward unfazed, dropping the Russian with an inch-perfect one-two and realizing his dream to capture UFC gold in the process.
Jon Jones vs Stipe Miocic - UFC 309
After the prospective showdown between the pair was canceled in November 2022 Jon Jones and Stipe Miocic would finally meet in the Octagon in the main event of UFC 309 the following year.
In many ways, both fighters' careers had mirrored each other's, with each man reigning over their respective weight class for much of the preceding decade.
Jones' long-awaited move up to the heavyweight division had seen a matchup that was previously purely confined to speculation transformed into reality.
When they finally faced off inside the Octagon Jones seized control early and pressed his advantage against the aging former champion, finally finishing off Miocic with a spinning back kick at the end of round three.
Both athletes subsequently announced their retirement from MMA, and each man bowing out against a fellow legend of the sport is befitting of their respective legacies inside the Octagon.
Islam Makhachev vs Jack Della Maddalena - UFC 322
The most recent fight to feature on this list, Islam Makhachev entered his clash with Jack Della Maddalena in the somewhat unfamiliar role of title challenger.
The 35-year-old had reigned over the talent-stacked lightweight division for three years before opting to relinquish his belt in pursuit of a two-division supremacy.
Della Maddalena meanwhile had enjoyed an impressive ascent up the welterweight ranks and had become just the third Australian to win a UFC title when he bested Belal Muhammad five months earlier.
In the fight Makhachev quickly answered the critics who claimed his grappling dominance would fail to carry over at 170lbs, overwhelming the champion from the outset en route to a one-sided unanimous decision.
Victory also saw Makhachev tie Anderson Silva's long-standing record for the longest win streak in UFC history, a feat he later surpassed by defending his title against Ian Machado Garry.
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