Diego Sanchez vs. Karo Parisyan

After winning the middleweight tournament in the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter, Diego Sanchez dropped to 170 lbs. and reeled off back-to-back victories, including one over Nick Diaz. So when he stepped in against veteran contender Karo Parisyan in August of 2006, he was on the doorstep of contender status. With the fight with Parisyan ending up a consensus best fight of the year, Sanchez truly broke into UFC stardom for the first time. He beat Parisyan, the Judo expert, from bell to bell in a classic fight.

Long known as one of the most gifted welterweights in the world, Parisyan nevertheless had trouble with the ceaseless pace set by Sanchez. “The Nightmare” attacked with an endless barrage of strikes, takedowns, and submission attempts. Sanchez, a young phenom undefeated at the time, even bounced back quickly after being flipped onto his head by a textbook Parisyan hip throw.

In a moment that would come to define the fight, Sanchez smashed Parisyan with a knee to the face from the clinch, knocking out a veneer on one of his teeth. The slow-motion capture of this moment, which showed the tooth spinning out of Parisyan’s mouth, became a UFC go-to replay for years to come.

But in something of a surprise, the solid victory over Parisyan did not earn Sanchez his expected title shot at 170 lbs. In fact, the welterweight contender first shot at the title came in the lightweight division, where he faced BJ Penn in an unsuccessful effort upon dropping down to 155 lbs.