Best fights to recommend someone just getting into MMA

I live in England so MMA is still quite small on a mainstream level but with the success of McGregor & Rousey over the past two PPVs I have found over the last month or so that many friends & people I work with are suddenly talking to me about MMA & UFC, asking me what fights they should watch & who the best fighters are...

Basically I'm looking for the sort of fights that would showcase the exciting side of MMA that would get someone hooked i.e flashy, fast, aggresive or just some sort of *** moment.

Fights that went down well:
Kongo vs Barry
Jung vs Garcia I
Hendo vs Pettis
Rua vs Hendo
Lawler vs Manhoef
Frye vs Takayama
Barboza vs Etim

Or more recently
Arlovski vs Browne
Trujillo vs Varner
Matt Brown vs Erick Silva

A few all time classics that were not that appealing - Jones/Gus; pacing & technique wasn't appreciated, Lawler/Rory 2; first couple of rounds were a little slow, Silva/Sonnen or Silva/Weidman cause the back story was irrelevant, most of GSP's title defenses.

What fights would you guys recommend to showcase the exciting side of MMA or what were the fights that got you hooked on MMA?

I tried to think of fights that show a lot of heart, a lot of different aspects of MMA, and have dramatic endings.

Huerta vs Guida
Leben vs Akiyama
Nick Diaz vs Gomi
Silva vs Sonnen
Hughes vs Trigg 2
Chandler vs Alvarez 1
Edgar vs Maynard 3
Lauzon vs Varner

Check out the Tapology Consensus Rankings. 

I highly recommend Pre-UFC 50 fights and PRIDE fights for beginners just because those are so exciting. But its important to watch all time periods. Some of my must see fights:

Pat Miletich vs Andre Pederneiras
Matt Hughes vs Georges St. Pierre I
Chuck Liddell vs Randy Couture I & II
Renzo Gracie vs Kazushi Sakuraba
Shonie Carter vs Matt Serra
Anderson Silva vs Tony Fryklund
Shogun Rua vs Rampage Jackson
BJ Penn vs Kenny Florian
BJ Penn vs Matt Hughes (All 3)
**** it, watch all BJ's fights before 2012
Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz (Both)
Demian Maia vs Chael Sonnen
Joe Lauzon vs Jens Pulver
Tim Sylvia vs Rodrigo Nogueira (Big Nog)

I could go on and on...

Houston Alexander vs Kimbo Slice

Melendez vs Sanchez !

Fedor vs. Cro Cop, Cruz vs. Faber II, Couture vs. Nogueira. 

Those are 3 of my lesser-mentioned favorite fights. Lawler vs. MacDonald II was very recent and it was ******* insane. I think if you took someone who didn't like MMA and had them watch that fight, they would be very interested to see more. 

Some that aren't listed yet
Jorge Santiago vs Kazuo Misaki II
Shogun vs Lil Nog I
Daisuke Nakamura vs Hideo Tokoro
Nick Diaz vs Paul Daley
Chan Sung Jung vs Poirier
Wanderlei vs Stann
Doo Ho Choi vs Shoji Maruyama
Nick Diaz vs Cyborg
Manhoef vs Cyborg

For a bit more recent stuff
Hunt vs Bigfoot
Matt Brown's whole resurgence
Kyung Ho Kang vs Michinori Tanaka
Hideo Tokoro vs LC Davis
Werdum vs Cain
Patricio Pitbull vs Weichel
Jeremy Stephens vs Bermudez
Thomas Almeida vs Brad Pickett
Seung Yeon Kim vs Munguntsooj Nandin-Erdene
Gaethje vs Palomino
Palhares's recent streak
Hisaki Kato vs Schilling

Also I would recommend showing some highlight videos (a really old Cro Cop one helped a lot with getting me into MMA) and watch some of the classic tournaments (PRIDE GP's, early UFC, Super Hluk, etc) since that helps build familiarity with certain fighters and people just like tournaments in general.

Here's some non UFC fights:

Daisuke Nakamura vs. Hideo Tokoro
Daisuke Nakamura vs. Bogdan Cristea
Melvin Manhoef vs. Evangelista Santos
Anthony Pettis vs. Ben Henderson I
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Kestutis Smirnovas
Miguel Torres vs. Yoshiro Maeda
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp
Hiroyuki Takaya vs. Hideo Tokoro
Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson II
Nick Diaz vs. Paul Daley

* Edited at 08.13.2015, 9:28 PM ET *

Some might have being said earlier, but here's some of fights I'd recommend to watch

Scott Smith vs. Pete Sell
T.J Waldburger vs. David Mitchell, if you like technical ground battle
Melvin Manhoef vs. Evangelista Santos
Mark Hominick vs. Yves Jabouin
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Bob Sapp
Chuck Liddell vs. Guy Mezger
Eddie Alvarez vs. Joachim Hansen
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Carlos Newton
Fedoe Emelianenko vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira 1
Wanderlei Silva vs. Quinton Jackson 2
Robbie Lawler vs. Aaron Riley
Hideo Tokoro vs. Abel Cullum
Takanori Gomi vs. Luiz Azeredo 1
B.J. Penn vs. Takanori Gomi
Clay Guida vs. Tyson Griffin
Kazushi Sakuraba vs. Wanderlei Silva, whole trilogy
Caol Uno vs. Rumina Sato 1
Bas Rutten vs. Masakatsu Funaki 2
Orlando Weit vs. Roberto Lucarelli
Patrick Smith vs. Scott Morris
Vitor Belfort vs. Daijiro Matsui
Rich Franklin vs. David Loiseau
B.J. Penn vs. Joe Stevenson
Shintaro Ishiwatari vs. Kazuhiro Ito
Robbie Lawler vs. Melvin Manhoef
Leonard Garcia vs. Chan Jung Sung, both fights
Dennis Bermudez vs. Matt Grice
Eddie Alvarez vs. Michael Chandler 1
Evan "R.I.P." Tanner vs. Phil Baroni, both fights
Matt Hughes vs. Hayato Sakurai
Matt Hughes vs. Frank Trigg
Scott Smith vs. Benji Radach
Danny Bennett vs. Jay R. Palmer 1
Segey Bytchkov vs. Brian Lo-A-Njoe
Jean Silva vs. Leigh Remedios
K.J. Noons vs. Malik Williams
Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen, both fights
Shane Fourie vs. Rafik Benziada
T.J. Dillashaw vs. Walel Watson
Holly Holm vs. Juliana Werner
Justin Baesman vs. Herman Terrado
Michiel Opperman vs. Jeremy Smith
Nildo Nascimento vs. Rayner Silva
Don Madge vs. Boyd Allen
Caio Machado vs. Domingo Pilarte
Alan Jouban vs. Ricky Legere Jr.
Thomas de Almeida vs. Vinicius Zani
Thomas Gifford vs. Wade Johnson
Bill Algeo vs. Joel Roberts
Erick Silva vs. Matt Brown
Vyacheslav Vasilevsky vs. Ramazan Emeev 1
Chan Sung Jung vs. Dustin Poirier
Jamie Vraner vs. Joe Lauzon
Edson Barboza vs. Terry Etim
Demetrious Johnson vs. John Dodson
Wanderlei Silva vs. Brian Stann
Cat Zingano vs. Miesha Tate
Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson
Mark Hunt vs. Antonio Silva
Doo Ho Choi vs. Shoji Maruyama
Dan Cramer vs. Brian Rogers
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Shintaro Ishiwatari
Alexander Shelemenko vs. Brett Cooper 2

Gina Carano weigh-in for the Cyborg fight. Guaranteed they're hooked after that.

Thanks guys, some great suggestions. There's a few listed that I haven't seen myself either so that sets up what I'll be watching tonight..

@live2wrestle I'd forgotten about Manhoef vs Cyborg, that was such a brutal fight! Good shout on the Pride GPs, the total elimination card from '03 is one of my favourite events. 

@alienator13 Smith vs Sell is one of my all time favourite KOs, the whole fight was back & forth so it was the ideal finish. 

@boredoms haha, Yeah Kimbo vs Alexander will be right at the top of the list! 

Sakuraba vs. Newton   This fight changed my mind and sold me on how exciting ground fighting is. Going forward from there I had a new appreciation of wrestling and BJJ.

Griffin Vs Bonnar

Paul Daley vs Nick Diaz is  the correct answer.

Hendo vrs Shogun 1.

Takanori Gomi vs. Nick Diaz

Wanderlei Silva vs Rampage Jackson Trilogy

Chuck Liddell vs Rampage Jackson I and II

Fedor Emelianenko vs Mirko Cro Cop

Chuck Liddell vs Tito Ortiz I and II

Fedor Emelianenko vs Kevin Randleman

Cain Velasquez vs Fabricio Werdum

T.J. Dillashaw vs Renan Barao I and II

Cain Velasquez vs Junior Dos Santos Trilogy

Anderson Silva vs Chael Sonnen I and II

Jon Jones vs Alexander Gustafsson

Jose Aldo vs Chad Mendes I and II

Frankie Edgar vs Gray Maynard II and III

Robbie Lawler vs Rory MacDonald II

Georges St. Pierre vs BJ Penn II

Dan Henderson vs Wanderlei Silva

Dan Henderson vs Michael Bisping

Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier

Shogun Rua vs Lyoto Machida I and II

Shogun Rua vs Rogerio Nogueira I

Fedor Emelianenko vs Minotauro Nogueira I and III

* Edited at 08.15.2015, 11:26 PM ET *

On the whole, I would say UFC 33 should be an adequate starting point.