UFC 130: Jackson vs. Hamill and the 20 Least Compelling UFC PPV Main Events

Recently promoted to the main event of UFC 130, a fight between Quinton Jackson and Matt Hamill has drawn some heat for its lack of appeal as a feature fight.

Traditionally, the UFC has done an excellent job of putting together fights that the fans want to see.

However, sometimes injuries and limited options can put the organization in a rough spot when it comes to matchmaking.

As was the case for UFC 130 when a title fight between Frankie Edgar and Gray Maynard was cancelled due to injuries to both fighters.

20. Anderson Silva vs. Travis Lutter

After winning The Ultimate Fighter, Travis Lutter earned a title shot against Anderson Silva.

Having just taken the title from Rich Franklin, it was unlikely that Silva was going to let a journeyman like Lutter come into the UFC and steal his thunder.

Before the fight even started, Lutter took some pressure off of Silva by not even making weight for the title fight, which meant the belt would no longer be on the line.

19. Rich Franklin vs. Davis Loiseau

At UFC 58, Rich Franklin defended his middleweight title for a second consecutive time.

Franklin's opponent, David Loiseau, had been on a five-fight winning streak, but his only really impressive victory during that run was a win over a fading Evan Tanner.

What resulted from Loiseau's title shot was one of the most one-sided beatdowns in UFC history. Two judges scored the bout 50-42 and Loiseau's entire face was swollen by the end of the fight.

18. Georges St-Pierre vs. Dan Hardy

Anytime a champion is defending their belt, there will be some level of interest in the fight. However, Georges St-Pierre's fight against Dan Hardy at UFC 111 took a lot of marketing to draw the interest that it did.

Hardy had won seven straight fights heading into the event, but had hardly defeated any elite welterweights. Furthermore, Hardy's weak ground game and takedown defense suggested an awful mismatch.

With the help of UFC Primetime on Spike TV, the rivalry between the two fighters drew some attention to the fight, but few who watched the event could have felt that Hardy had any significant chances of winning.

17. Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin II

At UFC 106, Forrest Griffin and Tito Ortiz met in a rematch of a fight that had ended in a controversial decision that went in Ortiz's favor at UFC 59.

Despite the usually intriguing idea of a rematch, many fans had begun to lose interest in Ortiz's fights as he had not won in more than three years. Also, Griffin was coming off of back-to-back losses.

Because of the weak main event, UFC 106 turned in a middling 375,000 pay-per-view buys.

16. Rich Franklin vs. Nate Quarry

After appearing on the first season of The Ultimate Fighter, Nate Quarry won his first three UFC fights in impressive fashion, which earned him a title shot against Rich Franklin. However, none of Quarry's wins came against overwhelmingly impressive competition, so Franklin was expected to come away with a fairly easy victory.

With only 200,000 pay-per-views purchased, that is exactly what happened in a first-round knockout that gave Franklin his first successful title defense as UFC Middleweight Champion.

15. Quinton Jackson vs. Keith Jardine

Coming off of a brutal knockout win over Wanderlei Silva, Rampage Jackson was expected to overwhelm Keith Jardine at UFC 96. Jardine had recently been knocked out by Silva and took a narrow decision victory over Brandon Vera in the previous fight.

Because of the expected one-sided bout, the event only managed 350,000 pay-per-view buys, which is extremely low for an event headlined by Jackson.

14. Chuck Liddell vs. Keith Jardine

Coming off of his first loss in more than three years, Chuck Liddell was expected to get right back on track with a win over Keith Jardine at UFC 76.

In his last fight, Jardine had lost to Houston Alexander, so he was seen as a heavy underdog heading into the bout.

Although Jardine did pull off the upset, the fight did not have nearly the same level of interest as most Liddell appearances.

13. Chuck Liddell vs. Rich Franklin

Chuck Liddell and Rich Franklin have both been UFC champions and huge names in the sport for quite some time. However, their days as intriguing main event participants had passed them by long before their featured fight at UFC 115.

Prior to UFC 115, Franklin had suffered an embarrassing loss to Vitor Belfort and Chuck Liddell had dropped four of his last five fights.

As it ended up, the fight produced an exciting knockout and produced more than 500,000 pay-per-view buys, but the fight really had no bearing on the light heavyweight title picture.

12. Anderson Silva vs. Patrick Cote

Patrick Cote had won five straight fights after blowing a chance at a title shot in a loss to Travis Lutter. However, most of those wins came against middle-of-the-road middleweights, so some questioned if Cote was really deserving of a title shot against Anderson Silva.

It was apparent that many of those same people decided not to spend their money on viewing the event because only 300,000 pay-per-views were purchased for UFC 90.

11. Anderson Silva vs. Demian Maia

At UFC 112, Anderson Silva was attempting to break the record for most consecutive title defenses, yet nobody seemed to really care.

Originally expected to fight Vitor Belfort at the event, Silva ended up fighting Demian Maia due to a Belfort injury. Because Silva was expected to dominate Maia, there was little interest in the fight. 

The event recorded 500,000 pay-per-view buys, but that had to have been seen as a disappointment for an event that had both Silva and B.J. Penn defending titles.

10. Michael Bisping vs. Rashad Evans

Heading into UFC 78, it was clear that both Rashad Evans and Michael Bisping, both former winners of The Ultimate Fighter, had bright futures ahead of them.

However, both undefeated fighters had suffered minor setbacks in their previous fights, which made the decision to have them featured in the main event somewhat questionable.

Evans had come away from his last fight without a win for the first time in his career after fighting to a draw against Tito Ortiz. However, Ortiz would have won that fight if he had not had a point deducted for grabbing the fence.

Bisping had won his last fight against Matt Hamill. However, the decision was highly controversial and many thought Hamill deserved to win the fight.

9. Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva

In terms of the head-to-head matchup, Rashad Evans and Thiago Silva was expected to be a fairly evenly matched fight.

However, both fighters had recently lost to Lyoto Machida and were working their way back toward a title shot. On top of that, fans were already disappointed with the event due to the cancellation of two title fights.

The event, which was originally expected to be one of the biggest of the year in 2010, ended up drawing only 300,000 pay-per-view buys. 

8. Quinton Jackson vs. Matt Hamill

What has made this main event, scheduled for UFC 130, so unappealing is not the matchup itself, but Quinton Jackson's apparent lack of interest in fighting Matt Hamill.

Hammill has not lost in five fights (although that includes the illegal pummeling he took from Jon Jones), so he is more than worthy of a meeting with Jackson.

Still, Jackson has not seemed at all excited about competing on this card since his originally scheduled opponent Thiago Silva was forced to withdraw due to cheating on a drug test prior to his last fight.

7. Frank Mir vs. Mirko Filipovic

Heading into their UFC 119 meeting, Frank Mir was coming off of a knockout loss to Shane Carwin, and Mirko Filipovic was clearly not the fighter that he had been prior to joining the UFC.

To add to the cards stacked against the success of this main event, Filipovic was a late replacement for Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who had been Mir's originally scheduled opponent.

As a result, the event recorded only 295,000 pay-per-view buys and the fans who paid for the event were none too pleased with the lack of action in the main event that preceded a third-round knockout by Mir.

6. Randy Couture vs. Mark Coleman

While Randy Couture and Mark Coleman were both coming off of wins heading into their featured fight at UFC 109, it was clear that both 40-something-year-olds were on the decline.

Although both fighters have been big names in the sport for many years, the pay-per-view buyrate of 275,000 spoke for itself in terms of what fans thought of this fight as a main event.

5. Ken Shamrock vs. Kimo Leopoldo II

Coming off of a loss against Tito Ortiz in his previous fight, it appeared that the best days were behind Ken Shamrock heading into his UFC 48 fight with Kimo Leopoldo.

Leopoldo had defeated Tank Abbott in his previous fight, but was also considered on his way to retirement.

The rematch between Shamrock and Leopoldo made for an interest throwback fight, but it was certainly not worthy of being a main event fight.

4. Tito Ortiz vs. Elvis Sinosic

With a submission win over Jeremy Horn in his UFC debut, Elvis Sinosic earned a title shot against Tito Ortiz.

At the time, Ortiz was on his way to becoming one of the most dominant champions in the history of the sport, so it was unlikely that Sinosic, who had a mediocre record of 4-3-1, would pose much of a threat.

As expected, Ortiz quickly disposed of Sinosic via technical knockout in the first round.

3. Andrei Arlovski vs. Justin Eilers

With Frank Mir still out of commission due to a motorcycle accident, Andrei Arlovski was forced to defend his interim UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 53. Although he was coming off of a knockout loss to Paul Buentello in his last fight, Justin Eilers was given a title shot against Arlovski.

The awful mismatch in the main event produced a first-round technical knockout and a pitiful 90,000 pay-per-view buys.

2. Tito Ortiz vs. Patrick Cote

At UFC 50, up-and-coming Patrick Cote made his UFC debut against recently dethroned Tito Ortiz.

Unproven against any competition anywhere near Ortiz's level, Cote was seen as a sacrificial lamb serving to get Ortiz back on track. To add to Cote's problems, he had accepted the fight on only four days notice after Guy Mezger had withdrawn from his scheduled fight with Ortiz.

Only 40,000 pay-per-views were purchased for the event.

1. Steve Jennum vs. Harold Howard

At UFC 3, a main event matchup between Steve Jennum and Harold Howard in the tournament finals showed exactly why the UFC no longer holds tournaments.

After winning his first-round bout, Harold Howard was given a bye into the finals after Royce Gracie was unable to continue onto the semifinals due to dehydration. Steve Jennum was inserted into the finals when it was discovered that Ken Shamrock had been injured in his semifinal fight and would not be able to continue.

While this fight wasn't promoted as a main event due to the tournament format, it still has to be considered the worst main event in UFC pay-per-view history.