The moment Dricus Du Plessis took Israel Adesanya's back late in the fourth round of their UFC 305 encounter, the bout was as good as done.
It took just seconds between Du Plessis jumping onto Adesanya and the Kiwi tapping out for the first time in his glittering UFC career.
What's more, it meant Adesanya had now lost three of his last four fights, a worrying run that seemed almost unthinkable at the height of his middleweight title reign.
Although he was tremendously gracious in defeat and vowed he was 'not f***ing leaving' the UFC, the defeat begs the question: what's next for Adesanya?
Rather, in the grand scheme of things, should the UFC, which made over £1billion in revenue last year, be worried about the waning star power of their biggest draws?
ISRAEL ADESANYA
When Adesanya knocked out Robert Whittaker to win the middleweight title in front of 57,127 fans, he improved to 18-0 and catapulted himself into superstar status.
Yoel Romero, Paulo Costa, Marvin Vettori, Jared Cannonier and Whittaker all tried and failed to take the title off of Adesanya's hands over the course of two years, but the Kiwi squashed every challenge.
Such was Adesanya's star power, he was allowed to challenge light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz for his title but fell short.
Then Alex Pereira, a man who knocked out Adesanya in a kickboxing bout with a thunderous left hook, joined the UFC.
The Brazilian cemented his status as Adesanya's boogeyman when he stopped the Kiwi to win the middleweight championship in November 2022.
Adesanya got his revenge in their rematch with a stunning knockout five months later, but that has been his only win since.
A unanimous decision defeat to the outspoken Sean Strickland at UFC 293 prompted some soul-searching from Adesanya, only to return almost a year later and fail to recapture his belt from Du Plessis.
As good as Adesanya has been throughout his time in the UFC, the loss to Du Plessis means his next fight is highly unlikely to be for a title.
Defeat in a No. 1 contender bout, or against any other middleweight rival, would see Adesanya's stock plummet and would seal a devastating fall from grace for a fighter who held down third spot in the UFC's pound-for-pound rankings for several years.
CONOR MCGREGOR
It wouldn't exactly be an incorrect statement to say the UFC would not be the combat behemoth it is today without Conor McGregor.
The Irishman was involved in eight of the UFC's ten highest-rating pay-per-view (PPV) events.
His best-selling PPV, and the UFC's for that matter, was UFC 229 as 2.4million fans tuned in to see him get submitted by Khabib Nurmagomedov as their fierce rivalry came to an explosive conclusion.
However, McGregor has not fought since he broke his tibia in a loss to Dustin Poirier in July 2021.
McGregor was then slated to make his return in a welterweight bout against Michael Chandler at UFC 303 in June, but a broken small toe forced him out.
UFC president Dana White has confirmed McGregor remains intent on fighting Chandler, but said it would not be in 2024.
McGregor disputed that on social media, stating 'December is the date', but many won't believe that is the case until the 36-year-old is actually inside the octagon.
Like Adesanya, McGregor has lost three of his last four fights, with his only victory coming against an ageing Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone in January 2020.
Given he has made a fortune with his ventures outside of the ring, including the launch of his own restaurant and a highly successful whiskey, McGregor no longer needs to fight to make money.
McGregor will likely remain a PPV draw until he retires, but now resembles more of a dying ember than the roaring flame he was at the peak of his powers as the simultaneous featherweight and lightweight champion.
JON JONESSince UFC 128 in March 2011, Jon Jones has only fought in title fights.
However, his reign as heavyweight champion has created more headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Jones returned after three years away to submit Ciryl Gane in the first round and win the vacant heavyweight title in March last year.
The UFC great was then scheduled to defend his belt against Stipe Miocic in November at 305, but suffered a torn pec.
In Jones' absence, England's Tom Aspinall has won and defended the interim heavyweight title.
The logical fight is to pit Jones against Aspinall once the former is ready to fight, but he only has eyes for Miocic, a 42-year-old who has not fought since he was viciously iced by Francis Ngannou three years ago.
Although the heavyweight title would be on the line between Jones and Miocic, it would largely be nothing more than a legacy fight.
Aspinall, who has fought three times since Jones' last outing in the octagon and has won all but one of his fights via a first-round stoppage, is a far bigger threat for Jones.
With Jones only having eyes for Miocic, fans may be left to debate what would have happened in a bout between the former and Aspinall.
There is also a lack of serious star power in the women's divisions.
Granted, Ronda Rousey was shown up to be essentially a one-trick pony with her armbars when she was stopped by Holly Holm and then by Amanda Nunes.
But the fact she headlined UFC 193 in front of 56,214 fans in Melbourne, Australia, spoke volumes of how big a draw she was at the time.
Nunes quickly took the mantle of being the biggest name among the female fighters as she went on to headline seven PPV events, including UFC 200, before retiring in 2023.
Mexico's Alexa Grasso sits atop the women's pound-for-pound rankings at present and is scheduled to defend her flyweight title against Valentina Shevchenko at UFC 306 in what is the third fight between the pair.
A victory at 306 may elevate her standing, but given her last fight against Shevchenko headlined a fight night card and not a PPV, Grasso has work to do to become a serious drawcard.
SO, WHO WILL CARRY THE TORCH GOING FORWARD?
It is the £1b question the UFC needs an answer to.
Put simply, there are very few fighters on the roster who carry the same gravitas quite like Jones, McGregor and Adesanya do.
But the company needs someone to step up.
Light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira looms as the most logical figure.
Despite speaking little English, his iconic entrances and highlight-reel knockouts have made 'Poatan' a fan favourite.
Most importantly for the UFC, Pereira is an active fighter.
He has already beaten Jamahal Hill and Jiri Prochazka this year and is slated to fight Khalil Rountree at UFC 307 on October 5, which will mark six fights in the space of two years.
Salford's own Aspinall is another potential option.
It takes something special to draw a crowd of nearly 18,000 to watch a main card that kicked off at 3am, but that is the pulling power of Aspinall who co-headlined UFC 304 in Manchester.
However, Aspinall's next big challenge, at least outside of the octagon, is breaking into the American market.
A fight against Jones would be the quickest way to do that but, as pointed out earlier, the chances of that happening appear slim.
Dricus Du Plessis also cannot be discounted as a potential leading star of the UFC going forward.
Having beaten Whittaker, Strickland and Adesanya on his way to winning the middleweight title, Du Plessis has moved up from 11th to sixth in the latest update of the pound-for-pound rankings.
With no fresh contenders in the middleweight division, there is plenty of scope for the 30-year-old South African to enjoy a dominant reign at the top.
Bantamweight champion Sean O'Malley is another fighter with star power potential.
O'Malley will headline UFC 306, which will be held in The Sphere in Las Vegas, as he fights Merab Dvalishvili.
The 29-year-old boasts a strong social media presence too, with a total of 8.4m followers across Instagram, TikTok, Snapchat, YouTube and X.
Across the female divisions, women's strawweight champ Zhang Weili is already an established star but is tremendously popular in China, one of the biggest markets in the world.
With a population of 1.4b, it was no coincidence Weili defended her strawweight title against Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300 in the co-main event, marking the first all-Chinese title fight in the promotion's history.
If the UFC can crack the Chinese market, it could see their revenue skyrocket and they'd owe a significant amount of it to Weili's title reign.
