Sept. 1, 2026, 8:30 p.m. ET
With another action-packed month of MMA in the books, MMA Junkie looks at the best fights from August 2026: Here are the five nominees, listed in chronological order, and winner of MMA Junkie’s Fight of the Month award for August.
At the bottom of the post, let us know if we got it right by voting on your choice.
Nominee: Steven Asplund def. Guilherme Pat at UFC Fight Night 284
Steven Asplund got back in the win column against Guilherme Pat in an action-packed heavyweight scrap.
Asplund (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and Pat (6-2 MMA, 1-2 UFC) combined for three knockdowns and over 100 significant strikes landed over the course of 15 minutes, and ultimately it resulted in Asplund getting his hand raised by unanimous decision.
41-year-old Diego Ferreira put on one of the best performances of his career when he outworked Billy Quarantillo in a 15-minute co-main event slugfest.
Ferreira (21-7 MMA, 12-7 UFC) got the unanimous decision over Quarantillo (20-9 MMA, 6-6 UFC) and netted Fight of the Night honors after the pair nearly combined for 200 significant strikes in the action-heavy featherweight bout.
Nominee: Gregory Rodrigues def. Anthony Hernandez at UFC Fight Night 285
The supposition was that the longer it went against Gregor Rodrigues, the more it favored home headliner Anthony Hernandez
But Rodrigues (20-6 MMA, 11-3 UFC) went past the fourth round for the first time in his career and took a dominant unanimous decision from Hernandez (15-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC). Rodrigues took a 49-46 and a pair of 48-47 scores from the judges in the middleweight bout.
Liu Ce threw the kitchen sink at Levi Rodrigues Jr. until he finally went down.
Ce (4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) and Rodrigues Jr. (5-2 MMA, 0-1 UFC) threw heavy leather from the opening bell, but Ce’s power shots were getting through. Rodrigues Jr. hung tough until he was caught with a thunderous right which rendered him face first onto the canvas at the 2:28 mark of Round 2 in the light heavyweight showdown.
The winner: Roman Puga def. Taner Trembley at DWCS 88
One of the most memorable bouts in Dana White’s Contender Series history led to the UFC CEO awarding contracts to both the winner and loser.
Roman Puga (6-1) and Tanner Trembley (7-1) went to war over three rounds of featherweight action, making the absolute most of their respective UFC auditions.
There were swings in momentum from the first round until the last the last, but ultimately Puga did the more effective work and was rewarded with the decision by unanimous 29-28 scorecards.