While MMA is a sport that has its fair share of amazing fights, fans have also missed out on quite a few missed fights. There are incredible bouts that were booked but never came to fruition, such as Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson. There are also other bouts that had public discussions but never occurred, such as Brock Lesnar vs. Fedor Emelianenko.

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However, fight talks don't always play out in the public eye. For example, Urijah Faber was the runner-up to fight Conor McGregor at UFC 196, before Nate Diaz was given the mega-bout. Sadly, 'The California Kid' vs. 'The Notorious' is far from the only fight that fans didn't know nearly came to reality.

10 Tyron Woodley vs. Nate Diaz

In 2017, the UFC was badly scrambling for the main event for its end-of-the-year PPV. UFC 219 was in bad shape, and as such, the promotion decided to get creative for its headlining bout. So, they turned to Tyron Woodley.

Woodley had previously called out both Diaz brothers in the past, and the UFC tried to make the fight a reality. With the card in shambles, the promotion offered both Woodley, and Nate Diaz the bout. The champion accepted, but his foe turned it down.

9 Matt Hughes vs. Royce Gracie 2

After six years removed from the cage, Matt Hughes announced that he was looking at a return to action. He made the announcement on Joe Buck's radio show in March 2017 and noted that he was in talks with a promotion and that his future opponent had been on the same show recently. Bellator's Royce Gracie had previously appeared on the program.

Following Hughes's comments, Gracie admitted he'd be open to the fight. However, just months past that interview, the former UFC welterweight champion got into a devastating car accident, ending his fighting career permanently.

8 Daniel Cormier vs. Gegard Mousasi

When Jon Jones tested positive and was yanked from his UFC 200 headlining spot, the company got desperate. They badly wanted to keep Daniel Cormier on the card and had three potential fighters who offered to step up. Those men were Dan Henderson, Gegard Mousasi, and Anderson Silva.

While the company went with the latter option, most don't know how close Mousasi was to get the fight. Later on, he revealed that the promotion actually told him he got the bout before ultimately withdrawing the offer after Silva passed medicals at the last minute.

7 Fedor Emelianenko vs. Tsuyoshi Kohsaka 3

Tsuyoshi Kohsaka is one of a few to hold a win over the great Emelianenko. Granted, the Russian was only a few fights into his career, it came off an illegal shot, and it was a victory by cut, but a win is a win. He did get annihilated in their rematch years later though.

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In 2015, Emelianenko came out of retirement and needed an opponent for his RIZIN debut. The promotion offered the fight to Kohsaka, and he seemed down, and the rubber match nearly happened. For unknown reasons, the Japanese fighter lost out on the fight to kickboxer Jaideep Singh.

6 Fedor Emelianenko vs. Shane Carwin

Fedor Emelianenko's second comeback fight was former UFC veteran Fabio Maldonado. However, it was nearly a UFC champion, that being Shane Carwin. The hard-hitter announced he was coming out of retirement around that time and was in talks with Fight Nights Global, who had the Russian under contract.

He never ended up competing again, however, Carwin revealed on Twitter earlier this year that he was offered the fight and FNG wanted him to make a video calling out the legend. He declined out of respect for Emelianenko.

5 Conor McGregor vs. Frankie Edgar

Frankie Edgar seemed set to fight Conor McGregor after he knocked out Chad Mendes to close out 2015. However, the fight never happened due to McGregor moving up in weight, and Edgar moving down. That being said, the fight nearly happened in 2017, under strange circumstances.

Frankie Edgar was set to fight Max Holloway in the main event of UFC 222, but 'Blessed' pulled out. Conor McGregor offered to fight his foe on short notice but was turned down by the UFC. According to the megastar, the UFC told him it wasn't worth putting him on a short-notice PPV, and they also didn't have the funds available at that time.

4 Anderson Silva vs. Ovince St. Preux

Yes, hold on for this one. Anderson Silva was set to fight Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 212 in 2017. However, Gastelum was pulled from the fight due to a drug test failure from his previous fight. The UFC badly wanted to keep the Brazilian legend on his hometown card and got creative.

According to Combate, the promotion offered Ovince St. Preux a 195-pound catchweight fight against Silva. In the end, this one ended up getting scratched, but man, what a weird matchup that would've been.

3 Conor McGregor vs. Rafael Dos Anjos

These two were indeed booked to fight at one point, at UFC 196. But that's not the booking we'll be discussing here. No, McGregor had agreed to fight Rafael Dos Anjos at UFC 224 in Brazil, the bout would've been set for the UFC interim welterweight strap.

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Following McGregor's attack on Khabib Nurmagomedov's bus at UFC 223, he was pulled from the matchup. In the end, Colby Covington was inserted in the Irishman's place, and the UFC accidentally made a new star by pulling their current one.

2 Nick Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal

Before Jorge Masvidal fought Darren Till in London in 2019 and became a star, he was nearly set to face Nick Diaz at UFC 235. ESPN's Brett Okamoto broke the news that the two sides were in talks and that Masvidal even had agreed to the fight already.

In the end, this one didn't happen due to Diaz's belief that the UFC lowballed him. While he did return to the cage two years later, it didn't come against 'Gamebred'.

1 Conor McGregor vs. Urijah Faber

Nate Diaz stepped into the UFC 196 main event on two weeks' notice and became a worldwide star. However, it was nearly not meant to be. The UFC offered the fight to Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar, but the clear contenders who badly the fight appeared to be Nate Diaz, and Urijah Faber.

According to Faber, who spoke about the situation at a fan Q&A, the UFC actually wanted him to step in thanks to his previous history with McGregor on The Ultimate Fighter. Despite the build-in rivalry, the Irishman demanded that he face Diaz, likely thanks to the Stockton-native's callout a few months prior.