The most depressing MMA fights of 2023

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2023 was a pretty wild year. The very first day saw UFC president Dana White slap his wife on camera and that kind of set the tone for the rest of the year. One thing that never changes is the sport’s ability to provide some of the greatest fights, and alternately, some of the worst. That’s why we’re here, to provide you with an unbiased (or maybe completely biased) look at the worst, to bring you soul-crushing, joy-stealing fights. These are the ones you wish you’d made your beer run during.

Cody Garbrandt featured in our most depressing fight of the year

So, which MMA fights did our terrific trio decide to depress us with this week? The boys went excavating the Fight Pass library and came up with a pair of UFC bouts, and the third is a ONE contest that despite it’s exciting nature, was pretty much a slopfest that somehow managed to still draw the performance of the night award for one of the fighters. Let’s take a look at the three match-ups the boys chose:

1. Cody Garbrandt vs. Trevin Jones (available on Fight Pass)
2. Anthony Smith vs. Johnny Walker (available on Fight Pass)
3. Reug Reug vs. Marcos ‘Buchecha’ Almeida (via Youtube link below)

Cody Garbrandt’s bout with Trevin Jones was his return to bantamweight after a 15-month hiatus following a disastrous debut at flyweight. That fight ended with Kai Kara-France scoring the TKO victory, so it’s understandable Cody’s style change dramatically on his return versus Jones.

Anthony Smith vs. Johnny Walker was an absolute stinker, full stop. One would never know that these two men have 53 finishes between them. Smith looked like he was fighting underwater and Walker looked like he didn’t really want to engage. It’s easy to see how this one ended up on the list.

Reug-Reug vs. Buchecha was a wild brawl that saw both men go for broke. The moment the decision was read, Reug Reug collapsed from sheer exhaustion. Comments like “That was the best ‘worst’ fight ever” dotted social media and our team agrees, it was so bad it might just have ended up being good. You judge for yourself:

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Stephie Haynes

Stephie Haynes has been covering MMA since 2005. She has also worked for MMA promotion Proelite and apparel brand TapouT. She hosted TapouT’s official radio show for four years before joining Bloody Elbow in 2012. She has interviewed everyone there is to interview in the fight game from from Dana White to Conor McGregor to Kimbo Slice, as well as mainstream TV, film and music stars including Norman Reedus, RZA and Anthony Bourdain. She has been producing the BE podcast network since 2017 and hosts four of its current shows.

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