In my previous post, I began my ranking of every UFC title picture by discussing what were, in my opinion, the bottom six weight classes in terms of the level of excitement surrounding fights at the top of each division’s rankings.
With that in mind, here are the top six.
#6. Men’s Bantamweight
The men’s bantamweight division may have ranked lower on this list, had it not been for the recent developments surrounding the next challenger for Henry Cejudo’s championship now that the Olympic gold medallist is 100% focussed on the 135-pound division.
The original matchup scheduled for UFC 250 in May was Cejudo defending against former long reigning featherweight champion José Aldo, but due to COVID-19, travel restrictions were put in place in Aldo’s native Brazil, forcing him out of the fight. The replacement fight that has been the most heavily discussed is a potential fight between the current champion Cejudo and the inaugural UFC bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz.
While Cruz has not stepped into the octagon since his second reign with the championship was ended by Cody Garbrandt at UFC 207 in December of 2016, it would not be the first time that ‘The Dominator’ has returned from a long layoff to reclaim his crown.
No matter who leaves UFC 250 as champion, they will have a pool of hungry challengers waiting to stake their claim to the next opportunity. There have already been discussions for a potential matchup at the upcoming June 13th UFC event in Kazakhstan between number one ranked Marlon Moraes, who Cejudo beat for the then-vacant championship and number three ranked Petr Yan, who is 6-0 since joining the UFC.
Given Yan’s surging win streak and the fact that Moraes bounced back from his loss to Cejudo with a victory over the aforementioned ‘King of Rio’ Aldo, this bout could be considered a title eliminator.
Another candidate for Cejudo’s next challenger could be the man ranked at number two, between Moraes and Yan, Aljamain ‘Funk Master’ Sterling. Sterling is currently 10-3 in the UFC and is currently on a three-fight win streak after a loss to Marlon Moraes.
Despite the rich pool of talent vying for the bantamweight title, Cejudo has also voiced his intention to eventually deliver on a matchup with Aldo and if the former double champion is able to dispatch of Dominick Cruz, who is mostly recognised as the greatest bantamweight in history, Cejudo may look to accelerate a matchup with the ‘King of Rio’ to defeat two legends back-to-back, potentially cementing his own legacy as an all-time great.
#5. Middleweight
While the middleweight division may not boast the depth of other divisions on this list, the fan excitement around this division seemingly hinges around one man, the division’s champion ‘The Last Stylebender’, Isreal Adesanya.
The Nigerian-born fighter’s rise to the top of the 185-pound mountain was stamped with an incredible three fight streak, first scoring a decision victory over the consensus greatest middleweight of all time, Anderson Silva, in a matchup that may go down as one of the great passing of the torch moments in UFC history. Then, a potential Hall of Fame fight candidate just two months later against Kelvin Gastelum to win the interim middleweight championship, which he would turn into the undisputed middleweight championship after dethroning then-champion Robert Whittaker in Whittaker’s home country of Australia at UFC 243 in October 2019.
What keeps the middleweight division out of the top three in this list is the aforementioned relative lack of depth and the disappointment that was the most recent title bout between Adesanya and Yoel Romero, who has a reputation as one of the most imposing fighters in the entire promotion due to his freakish athleticism and knockout power. The fight with Adesanya, however was a tepid affair with Romero not engaging for much of the fight, eventually leading to a decision victory for Adesanya, who was content to keep Romero at a distance for the majority of the fight.
With fans looking to move on past the Romero fight, Izzy’s next opponent could not be clearer, the equally intimidating Paulo Costa. With both men being undefeated in not only the UFC but their professional MMA careers as a whole, this match could decide who could end up potentially dominating the division for perhaps the next five years.
In addition, while any potential matchup between the two is unlikely to take place at middleweight, Adesanya has been relentless in his pursuit of a matchup with light-heavyweight champion Jon Jones, engaging in multiple verbal exchanges over social media and most recently, Adesanya taking to Twitter to continuously mock Jones’ recent arrest for a DWI.
#4. Men’s Featherweight
While the UFC’s 145-pound division only just cracks the top five on this list, it would easily sit at number one if this list were based on the easiest division to book. For a division with 5 credible contenders and a newly minted champion with zero defences, all six fighters all seemingly fit perfectly together into three equally anticipated fights.
The first, and probably most obvious, is the proposed rematch between champion Alexander Volkanovski and the man he beat for the championship, ‘Blessed’ Max Holloway. While their fight at UFC 245 in December of last year was not considered close by many, the former champion has a resume that speaks for itself and is more than deserving of a rematch.
When you also consider that early rumours have pointed towards this matchup being the new main event of UFC 251, replacing the women’s flyweight title bout between Valentina Shevchenko and Joanne Calderwood, and this event is currently booked to take place in Volkanovski’s native Australia, there is no doubt that Alexander ‘The Great’ would relish the opportunity to definitively prove he is the superior fighter to Holloway in front of a ravenous hometown crowd.
The second fight to book amongst the featherweight division’s top six is the rumoured grudge match between Brian Ortega and ‘The Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung. After a continuous series of verbal barbs between the two on social media, the rivalry seemingly boiled over backstage at UFC 248 last month when Ortega was removed from the arena after slapping Jung’s manager, rapper Jay Park.
These two fighters were originally scheduled to main event the UFC on ESPN 23 event last December, but Ortega was forced to pull out with a knee injury, ‘The Korean Zombie’ would go on to defeat replacement Frankie Edgar in the main event.
Finally, the third fight that fans of the featherweight division are eager to see is the long overdue matchup between Zabit Magomedsharipov and Yair Rodriguez. One of the oldest sayings in MMA is that styles make fights and there seems to be no better clash of styles in the division than putting the Russian grappler against the Mexican Rodriguez who utilises an extensive taekwondo skillset. The two were originally scheduled to fight at UFC 228 in 2018 but ‘El Pantera’ was forced out with an injury, Zabit would go on to tap out replacement Brandon Davis in the second round.
In terms of how each fight would impact the title picture, the UFC could potentially treat the matches between Zabit and Yair and Ortega and Jung as an unofficial four-man tournament to determine the next contender to whoever is the champion following UFC 251.
#3. Lightweight
Admittedly, much of the excitement surrounding the lightweight title picture is centred around two men, however, there are many fans that would probably argue that the lightweight division deserves to top this list based purely on how desperate the MMA community is for this particular matchup.
That matchup of course being the infamous and apparently cursed, if you believe some fans, fight between current champion Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. With the recent cancellation of UFC 249 due to COVID-19, Khabib vs Tony has been booked and cancelled five separate times, each one more bizarre than the last.
‘The Eagle’ Nurmagomedov and ‘El Cucuy’ were originally booked for their first meeting all the way back in 2015, for the finale of the UFC’s 22nd season of The Ultimate Fighter, but after Khabib broke a rib in training, the fight was cancelled. The two were then booked for a UFC on FOX event on April 16th 2016, but this time it was Ferguson who pulled out due to injury after 11 days before the fight it was discovered that Tony had blood building up in his lung.
The third attempt at booking Khabib vs Tony came in early 2017, at a time when Conor McGregor was pursuing his eventual boxing match with Floyd Mayweather, Conor was the lightweight champion and so Tony and Khabib were to fight for the interim title. The fight is then cancelled again after Khabib fell ill during his weight cut, which especially angered ‘El Cucuy’ when Khabib was spotted indulging in tiramisu in the build up to his weight cut, which Tony found disrespectful. To this day, Ferguson insists on referring to Nurmagomedov’s camp as ‘Team Tiramisu’.
The fourth fight between both men was scheduled for the main event of UFC 223 in 2018 but was cancelled after Tony tripped over a camera cable during fight week media obligations and as a result required surgery on his lateral cruciate ligament. And then that brings us to this year, cancelled for the fifth time after Khabib returned home to Russia amidst the pandemic and was unable to return in time for the event due to travel bans.
Three severe injuries, a global pandemic and a plate of tiramisu have deprived the MMA community of a fight that would likely determine the greatest lightweight in history.
If it feels as if I’ve wasted most of this entry by simply talking about the ridiculous history of this fight, it’s because for any fan with even a basic knowledge of both men, this fight simply speaks for itself, Khabib is undefeated in 28 professional fights and both men have a combined UFC record of 27-1. Both men were recognised as two of the best in the division when they were matched up in 2015, now they are the two greatest lightweights of all time and half a decade of waiting has turned this into the most anticipated fight perhaps in combat sports history.
At this point, when the fight is inevitably booked for the sixth time, I am almost expecting the MMA community to band together and place both men in padded cells, both wrapped in bubble wrap until fight night to ensure nothing can go wrong.
#2. Welterweight
Similarly, to the middleweight division, the welterweight division belonged to one man in 2019, Jorge Masvidal. Whether it was him sending Darren Till ‘to the shadow realm’, his ‘super necessary’ ground and pound on rival Ben Askren after landing a five-second, flying knee knockout, or the man affectionately known as ‘Street Jesus’ by his legions of fans, asking for a rematch with Nate Diaz even though he won because he ‘didn’t get to baptise Nate’.
If Khabib vs Tony is an anticipated matchup because of the ridiculous amount of time fans have been made to wait, Masvidal challenging for the welterweight title is almost equally as anticipated by some fans due to the absolute maelstrom of viral moments in “Gamebred’s” rise to the top.
This perfect storm has almost left ‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ Kamaru Usman seeming like an afterthought in the very division that he is the champion of, but to underestimate Usman is a mistake, he currently holds a UFC record of 11-0 and boasts victories over elite opponents such as Demian Maia, Rafael dos Anjos and Tyron Woodley.
One of the main reasons that many people have been so desperate for Jorge to finally challenge for the championship could be Usman’s fighting style just not ingratiating him to the UFC faithful, as before his explosive title defence against Colby Covington, six of Usman’s previous seven fights had gone to a decision. While Masvidal has reinvigorated his career with viral knockouts and quotable lines, Usman is the professional champion who wins by any means necessary.
Win or lose, Masvidal is still the holder of the UFC’s BMF championship, created especially for the aforementioned matchup with Diaz, whether that championship will be an active title that Masvidal will be forced to defend or if it was just a one-off prize remains to be seen.
Predictably, the idea scenario for fans involves Masvidal dethroning Usman in their scheduled July showdown, as ‘Gamebred’ has a considerable amount of history with some of the division’s top contenders. One of which is Leon Edwards, the heated rivalry between the two reaching the public eye after cameras caught Masvidal and Edwards getting into a physical altercation backstage following Masvidal’s knockout of Darren Till. Masvidal got the better of the exchange, leaving Edwards bloodied, later saying that he served the British welterweight ‘a three piece with a soda’.
Another potential matchup for Masvidal, if he were to become champion, would be a fight with his former friend Colby Covington. It is well known that Covington and Masvidal would train and live together when they were both new to the UFC and when Covington reportedly failed to pay one of their coaches after Covington won the interim welterweight championship, their friendship deteriorated.
Alternatively, there have been rumours that a fight between Conor McGregor and Masvidal could be a possibility if McGregor were to move up to welterweight from lightweight.
#1. Women’s Strawweight
Since it’s introduction, the women’s strawweight division has been a constant delight for UFC fans, while not always grabbing all of the headlines or main eventing many pay-per-views, there simply hasn’t been a more exciting and unpredictable division over the past few years.
After becoming the second champion in the belt’s history, Joanna Jędrzejczyk went on an incredible winning streak that took her up to five consecutive title defences, leaving her one away from equalling Ronda Rousey’s record of six. Joanna would go into UFC 217, only the second UFC event ever in New York with the opportunity at making history. However, Jędrzejczyk would greatly underestimate her opponent, ‘Thug’ Rose Namajunas, who lost the bout that decided the inaugural strawweight champion, Namajunas would shockingly upset the champion and knock her out to take the title and after defeating Joanna again in a rematch, fight fans began to believe Rose could go on to be the next dominant female star in the UFC.
Unfortunately, Rose’s next fight would be her last as champion, as at UFC 237 in May of last year, Jéssica Andrade would deliver a sickening slam knockout of the champion, Rose landing badly on her neck leaving her unable to continue.
Four months later, the UFC would hold an event in Shenzhen, China, headlined by Andrade defending her newly won strawweight championship against Weili Zhang, a talented fighter from Beijing but a relatively unknown fighter to the wider, mainstream audience. Zhang would make the most of her opportunity however, knocking out the much more imposing Brazilian Andrade in just 42 seconds to deliver yet another shocking upset and swift title change.
The Chinese fighter known as ‘Magnum’ would make her first defence of her championship at UFC 248 on March 7th 2020 against the former queen of the division, Joanna Jędrzejczyk, in what would turn out to be a incredible contest, one that UFC president Dana White himself described as ‘definitely a Hall of Fame fight’. By the end of the fifth and final round, Joanna was left almost unrecognisable by a hematoma on her head and Zhang had narrowly retained her championship via split decision.
That takes us to the time of writing and a planned rematch between Namajunas and Andrade has been cancelled as it was part of the UFC 249 card. The excitement surrounding the strawweight division is something that fight fans have not seen since the prime of Ronda Rousey in the UFC as if Dana White is eventually able to book Namajunas-Andrade 2 and Namajunas wins, it is likely that she will be chosen as Zhang’s next challenger. This is significant as Zhang vs Rose is the only matchup that we have not seen between the four aforementioned top women in the division.
That being said, the women’s strawweight division does not only contain those four fighters, also potentially in line for a championship fight is the surging Tatiana Suarez, who currently boasts a perfect record of 8-0, including a TKO victory over the inaugural UFC women’s strawweight champion, Carla Esparza.
In summary, the women’s strawweight title picture over the last five years has been an exhilarating scramble between the best the division has to offer, all being booked against one another in an attempt to win and keep hold of the division’s top prize.
The Inbound Observer 