Looking Back At Every World Championship Triple-Header In UFC History

Amid the on-going COVID-19 pandemic, the UFC announced that it would be welcoming back a full crowd for its upcoming UFC 261 event, scheduled for April 24 at the 15,000-seater VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena in Jacksonville, Florida.

With the boldness of the UFC’s decision to bring fans back while the entire country is still reeling from the effects of the global health crisis being the main narrative of this announcement, the magnitude of this fight card has somewhat brushed aside.

UFC 261 is scheduled to feature three world championship fights, with Kamaru Usman defending the UFC welterweight championship against Jorge Masvidal in a rematch in the main event.

In the co-feature attraction, Valentina Schevchenko puts the UFC women's flyweight title on the line versus one-time strawweight queen Jessica Andrade. Meanwhile, Zhang Weili stakes her UFC women'strawweight belt against former champion Rose Namajunas.

The UFC rarely pulls out a world title triple-header, but with fans back in attendance for the first time in over a year, it’s no surprise that the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion in the world decided to bring out its big guns.

Let’s take a look back at some of the other times that the UFC scheduled three title fights on one card.

UFC 259

The last time that the UFC had three title fights in one night wasn’t that long ago. In fact, it was just earlier this month at UFC 259 on March 9.

The headliner saw Jan Blachowicz defend his UFC light heavyweight title against reigning UFC middleweight kingpin Israel Adesanya, while Amanda Nunes demolished Megan Anderson to successfully defend her women’s UFC featherweight championship.

READ: Why Jon Jones Vs. Israel Adesanya Won’t Be As Exciting As Fans Hope It Would Be

The most controversial moment of the night was Petr Yan being disqualified and dropping the UFC bantamweight strap to Aljamain Sterling.

UFC 251

During the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, the UFC took its act to Abu Dhabi, also known as Fight Island.

In its debut on Fight Island in July 2020, the organization put on three title fights, with Kamaru Usman defeating Jorge Masvidal to retain the UFC welterweight championship, Alexander Volkanovski edging out Max Holloway to keep the UFC featherweight belt around his waist, and Yan knocking out Jose Aldo to claim the vacant UFC bantamweight title.

UFC 245

Heading back to pre-pandemic days, the UFC stacked its final pay-per-view of 2019 with a title triple-header, headlined by Usman knocking out Colby Covington to retain the UFC welterweight championship.

In the co-headliner, Alexander Volkanovski shocked the world by defeating Max Holloway for the UFC featherweight crown, while Nunes took a decision win over Germaine De Randamie to retain the UFC women's bantamweight trinket.

UFC 217

One of the biggest cards of 2017, UFC 217 saw a returning Georges St-Pierre choke out Michael Bisping to become the new UFC middleweight champion

Meanwhile, TJ Dillashaw knocked out Cody Garbrandt to become the new UFC bantamweight ruler. On the other hand, Namajunas scored a massive upset over Joanna Jedrzejczyk to become the capture the top prize in the female strawweight bracket.

UFC 214

Earlier in 2017, the UFC staged another three-title card, headlined by a highly-anticipated rematch between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier.

Jones knocked Cormier out to reclaim the UFC light heavyweight Championship, but the decision would later be overturned after the former tested positive for a banned substance.

The card also saw Tyron Woodley defend the UFC welterweight belt against Demian Maia, while Cris "Cyborg" Justino knocked out Tonya Evinger to capture the vacant UFC women's featherweight title.

UFC 205

When MMA was finally sanctioned in New York in 2016, the UFC celebrated by bringing one of its biggest bout lineups ever to Madison Square Garden.

At UFC 205, Conor McGregor--who was the reigning UFC featherweight champion at the time--made history by becoming the first person to hold two UFC world titles simultaneously after demolishing Eddie Alvarez for the lightweight strap.

The card also saw Woodley keep the welterweight belt in his possession against Stephen Thompson, while Jedrzejczyk came out on top of Karolina Kowalkiewicz to walk away with the strawweight championship.

UFC 33

UFC 33 back in 2001 marked the outfit’s first-ever championship triple-header.

In the main event, Tito Ortiz defeated Vladimir Matyushenko to retain the UFC light heavyweight championship.

Jens Pulver remained as the UFC lightweight champion with a triumph of Dennis Hallman, while Dave Menne beat Gil Castillo to become the inaugural UFC middleweight titleholder.