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Colby Covington vs. Tyron Woodley – September 19

For a long time this seemed like a fight that the UFC was building towards while Woodley was the welterweight champion. It had a chance to be the biggest 170 pound title fight since Georges St.Pierre vacated the belt as long as Covington was able to not take things too far (right) with his Trump obsessed MAGA schtick. Instead they’ll meet in much different circumstances as Covington tries to rebound from his loss to champion Karamu Usman. It was competitive bout so a win here could get him right back in the title picture. Woodley is coming off back to back losses of his own after losing his belt to Usman in a one sided affair and then getting shut out in the follow up. While the stakes aren’t as high as fans would like it is still an interesting style match-up that would appear to have only two possible outcomes. Either Woodley connects with one of his patented overhand rights or Covington puts constant pressure on his opponent, stifling his offense en route to a unanimous decision victory. As much as I would love to see Woodley put his lights out I just haven’t seen enough from the former champ lately to think he can prevent Covington from putting it on him for five rounds.

Israel Adesanya vs. Paolo Costa – September 26

This is the fight I’m most looking forward to. A very rare bout between two young undefeated fighters in a match-up for the title. In this case it is the middleweight belt on the line. Adesanya has become an up and coming star on his way to winning and then defending the 185 pound title. He beat Kelvin Gastelum in a fight of the year candidate to win the interim belt while Robert Whittaker recovered from an injury. Once he recovered Izzy made quick work of his to consolidate the belts, knocking him out viciously in the first round. He had his stock drop a touch his last time out eking out a close decision against Yoel Romero in his first title defense. It was easily his least entertaining fight but Romero is incredibly dangerous and both of them were looking to counter for 25 minutes. I may regret saying this but I don’t see any a fight with Costa can be boring. He is constantly moving forward and trying to knock his opponent out, which he usually does. Adesanya will have to rely on his kickboxing experience to evade and counter Costa’s aggression. No matter who comes out on top I bet this isn’t going to be the only time these two enter the cage together.

Dominick Reyes vs. Jan Blachowicz – September 26

When this fight was announced it seemed obvious that it was to see who would get to fight Jon Jones for the light heavyweight championship. And in that case it would’ve been an entertaining top contenders fight. But instead news broke shortly after that Jones would be vacating his title and making a run in the heavyweight division. All of a sudden this went from a top contenders bout to a fight for the real belt. Reyes’ last fight was against Jones for the championship and it couldn’t be any more competitive. I scored it for Reyes but it was incredibly close and the judges gave the defending champion the nod. The UFC has to be hoping Reyes gets his redemption. Blachowicz is a really good fighter and has improved a lot over his UFC tenure but from a marketing standpoint its not even close when it comes to who could be the new face of the division. Inside the cage it should be a competitive fight with Reyes having a slight advantage on the feet and Blachowicz better on the mat. Thiago Santos is healthy and fighting Glover Teixeira also in September, if both him and Reyes win that is an enticing match-up for early 2021.

Brian Ortega vs. Chan Sung Jung – October 17

The featherweight division has stagnated a bit with current champion Alexander Volkanovski and former champion Max Holloway in a protracted rivalry over back to back fights. With Volkanovski surprising everyone to win the first match and take the belt from the arguable best featherweight of all time (according to UFC commentator Joe Rogan) and then Holloway getting robbed (in my humble opinion) in the rematch, there is actually a chance that they run it back for a third time before any other contender gets their chance. Whether its next or after a rare instant trilogy it should be the winner of this fight that gets that shot. Ortega hasn’t fought since losing to Holloway almost two years ago. He didn’t just lose, he took a ton of damage over four rounds before having the fight stopped before he could come out for round five. It was the first loss of his career and he’s still young enough to rebound. ‘The Korean Zombie’ had a rough title shot loss of his own in 2013 against Jose Aldo before going away for mandatory military time for South Korea. His only loss since coming back was the epic buzzer beater knockout he suffered at the elbow of Yair Rodriguez in a fight he was literal seconds away from winning. Bad blood has been building between this two over the course of 2020 to add another layer of spice to the bout.

Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Justin Gaethje – October 24

To me Khabib is the current number one pound for pound fighter on the planet. I had it as Jon Jones until his last couple lackluster outings when I thought he should’ve lost to both Dominick Reyes and Thiago Santos. He may not be my favorite fighter in the sport but Nurmagomedov is relentless in his ability to make great fighters seem subpar. We thought we were finally going to get to see the long awaited fight between him and Tony Ferguson, the guy everybody thought might have the only style to take out Khabib. Well Justin Gaethje stepped in when the pandemic kept Khabib in lockdown and took the crown of pure violence and craziness that we want to see if the Dagestani can walk through. Gaethje has ridiculous power in his hands, is a good wrestler in his own right, and has the mindset of you’re going to have to kill him to get him out of a fight. It will be interesting to see if the recent passing of Khabib’s father will effect him inside the Octagon. There is talk that if he is successful in this title defense he may fight GSP or someone else to try and end his career at 30-0. He is one guy I could see walking away in the relative peak of his career.

Deiveson Figueirdo vs. Cody Garbrandt – November 21

Figueirdo has had fight fans confused as to how to feel about him in 2020. When Henry Cejudo vacated the flyweight title it seemed like a good opportunity to finally have fan favorite and all around good guy Joe Benavidez win a championship. He will forever be known as one of the best fighters to never win a belt after his saga with Figueirdo. The Brazilian power puncher missed weight in their first fight and then knocked out Benavidez following an incidental headbutt. You can’t win a belt having missed weight so the rematch was booked and the result was the same minus the controversy. So with an exciting style but having just smashed the dreams of a well liked opponent, Figueirdo will now defend the 125 pound championship against former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt. It will be ‘No Love’s’ flyweight debut and add some much needed name value to the lowest men’s weight class. Garbrandt schooled all-time great Dominick Cruz to win the 135 pound belt but started feeling himself and proceeded to suffer three consecutive knock out losses before coming back a couple months ago to score a highlight reel knockout of his own over Raphael Assuncao. I don’t see any way that this fight makes it to the judges considering both of their fighting styles. It should be a ridiculous fire fight ending with somebody flat on the canvas. Only one of them has proven to have a granite chin so I will predict that the belt doesn’t change hands. Doesn’t mean I want to see it any less.

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Male Fighter of the Year – Justin Gaethje

Going into the year it was hard to invision a scenario where Gaethje would be in contention for the lightweight title let alone fighter of the year. The year started with Conor McGregor firmly re-establishing himself in the division with a quick knock out win over Donald Cerrone. At the onset of the pandemic champion Khabib Nurmagomedov was scheduled to finally fight Tony Ferguson after numerous attempts in the past but he got stuck in his home country amidst the confusion of where a new event would take place. In stepped Gaethje who emphatically rose to the occasion, putting a beating on the former interim champ Ferguson before finally knocking him out to win a different interim belt. The reason he is ahead of other champions who have one fight win streaks in 2020 is because of how impressive and entertaining he was in the process. He has also set himself up to give Khabib the first loss on his professional record if/when they consolidate their belts later this year.

Honorable Mentions: Henry Cejudo, Kamaru Usman, Petr Yan, Israel Adesanya

Female Fighter of the Year – Amanda Nunes

Strawweight champion Zhang Weili was a close runner up after her incredible win over former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk but I had to give the edge to Amanda Nunes making history. She had already cemented her legacy as the greatest female mixed martial artist of all time but she went ahead and added more distance to her future competition for that claim. By defending her featherweight belt against Felicia Spencer, in a completely one sided dominant performance, she became the first UFC champion to simultaneously defend two belts at the same time. There have been other champions to hold two belts at the same time and Daniel Cormier has defended both the heavyweight and light heavyweight championships but not while he held both of them. There isn’t much more Nunes can do to add to her resume at this point and there is barely any competition left to face her. She might lose her spot here by the time December rolls around strictly because of someone else having multiple impressive victories while she takes some time off.

Honorable Mentions: Zhang Weili, Valentina Shevchenko, Rose Namajunas

Fight of the Year – Zhang Weili vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk (UFC 248)

As noted above this was an incredible performance and win for champion Zhang Weili but it was also an incredible performance by former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. It was an incredibly close fight that could’ve gone either way. It was also an absolute war where both women landed strikes against each other at will, Jedrzejczyk looked completely deformed when the final bell rang. It reminded me of one of the best fights I’ve ever seen, Robbie Lawler vs. Carlos Condit at UFC 195, and it may have even surpassed it. Its hard for me to imagine any fight being able to overtake it for best of the year. The more I think about it the higher it rises up my list of favorite fights of all time.

Honorable Mentions: Dustin Poirier vs. Dan Hooker (UFC on ESPN 12), Justin Gaethje vs. Tony Ferguson (UFC 249), Vicente Luque vs. Niko Price (UFC 249)

Event of the Year – UFC 249

Not only was UFC 249 the first event after the Coronavirus pandemic rocked the sports world, and thus loaded up with great fights after multiple weeks of no competition, but it also delivered on every level. Fight fans were starved for action and they were served a smorgasbord of violence. Two great title fights sat atop the card, the previously mentioned Justin Gaethje/Tony Ferguson interim lightweight belt and what turned out to be Henry Cejudo’s final bantamweight defense. He surprised everyone by announcing his retirement following a TKO over former long time champion Dominick Cruz. You had three great knockouts that night with Francis Ngannou obliterating Jairzinho Rozenstruik in 20 seconds, Calvin Kattar butchering Jeremy Stephens, and Vicente Luque putting the nail in the coffin of a rematch against Niko Price. The preliminary card on ESPN rounded things out with fun close fights between Donald Cerrone and Anthony Pettis, Aleksei Oleinik and Fabricio Werdum, and Michelle Waterson and Carla Esparza. The only blight on the night was a terrible fight involving Greg Hardy to open up the pay-per-view main card.

Honorable Mentions: UFC 250, UFC 251

Breakout Fighter of the Year – Gilbert Burns

My first thought for this category was Petr Yan but I feel like he was a contender for this spot last year and him knocking out Jose Aldo at UFC 251 was just him fulfilling that potential. On the other hand Gilbert Burns became the poster boy for the COVID era of MMA. His first fight in 2020 was the card in Brazil that coincided with all sports shutting down and the UFC went ahead with their event sans fans. There he knocked out hometown hero (and former title contender) Demian Maia and then turned around two months later to headline an event against former welterweight champion Tyron Woodley where he completely dominated him over five rounds. That win, which gave him six in a row, earned him a title shot against champion and teammate Kamaru Usman. The only problem was that he tested positive for COVID-19 before leaving for ‘Fight Island’ and now him being the poster boy for this era has come full circle. Hopefully he can make a complete recovery and get the next shot against Usman after he was able to stifle the offense of late replacement Jorge Masvidal this past weekend.

Honorable Mentions: Petr Yan, Dan Ige, Jiri Prochazka

Comeback Fighter of the Year – Rose Namajunas

A little over a year ago Namajunas suffered a scary knockout loss to lose her strawweight championship to Jessica Andrade. The powerful challenger had ‘Thug Rose’ on the top of her back and slammed her on her head rendering her unconscious and luckily nothing more than that. As you might expect Namajunas took some time off following that incident and was actually scheduled to rematch Andrade at UFC 249 before pulling out to a couple COVID related deaths in her family. She finally made her return to the Octagon at UFC 251 in Abu Dhabi and looked like she hadn’t missed a beat. It wasn’t easy but she took an early lead in the bout and then survived as Andrade found a lot of success in the third round to win a split decision. It was the kind of gutsy, impressive performance that should give her a chance to win back her title in her next fight. Rose Namajunas vs. Zhang Weili gives me goosebumps just thinking about it as it could be the one match-up to potentially match the current front runner for fight of the year.

Honorable Mentions: Conor McGregor, Cody Garbrandt

Knockout of the Year – Cody Garbrandt (Punch) over Raphael Assuncao (UFC 250)

UFC 250 was where both of the top two contenders for knockout of the year took place. Both happened within a couple fights of each other and were remarkably similar, and in the same weight class to boot. Sean O’Malley’s clean walkoff knockout of Eddie Wineland on a straight right punch was sensational but the timing and brutality of Cody Garbrandt’s KO of Raphael Assuncao gives it the edge for me. For starters Assuncao is a guy renowned for his great defense and toughness and ‘No Love’ was able to one shot him dead at the buzzer of the second round. The optics were crazy as Garbrandt slipped a punch by ducking down and in one motion came over the top at full speed to land a punch right on the button. It was a much needed victory for the still young former champion who is coming off a tough losing skid. If he can learn to keep his composure when he gets hit hard he can find himself fighting for that belt again soon.

Honorable Mentions: Sean O’Malley (Punch) over Eddie Wineland (UFC 250), Conor McGregor (Shoulder Strikes into Head Kick) over Donald Cerrone (UFC 246)

Submission of the Year – Aljamain Sterling (Rear Naked Choke) over Cory Sandhagen (UFC 250)

Sterling gets this award not necessarily because of the technique of his rear naked choke on Cory Sandhagen at UFC 250 but because of how fast he was able to accomplish it (one minute and 28 seconds into the first round) and with the authority he announced his worthiness of being the next one to fight for the bantamweight championship. Of course he wasn’t, Jose Aldo was awarded the honor of losing to now champion Petr Yan at UFC 251, but that doesn’t change the fact that he is without a shadow of a doubt the top contender in the division. Yan vs. Sterling might not move the needle when it comes to pay-per-view sales but it certainly moves the needle when it comes to hardcore fans interest, including me.

Honorable Mentions: Aleksei Oleinik (Armbar) over Maurice Greene (UFC 246), Charles Oliveira (Guillotine) over Kevin Lee (UFC on ESPN+ 28)

Upset of the Year – Justin Gaethje over Tony Ferguson (UFC 249)

This is not a big upset in the usual sense. The betting line was close and even I thought it would be a close, competitive affair. But I did give Ferguson the advantage seeing as he was on an incredible 12 fight win streak against good competition and had what I thought at the time was the best arsenal to pose a threat to champion Khabib Nurmagomedov. Ferguson tends to start a little slow and then build momentum throughout the fight, never getting tired. We’ve seen Gaethje get beat up and tired as fights go on as evidenced in his losses to Dustin Poirier and Eddie Alvarez. Instead Gaethje took an early knockdown at the end of the first round and then never looked back, crushing ‘El Cucuy’ with power punch after power punch. Ferguson’s chin was incredible but only served to have him take more damage than was necessary with the referee mercifully calling a stop to the fight in the fifth round. Now Gaethje is in line to really shock the world when he goes up against Khabib. I’m doubting him less in that match-up now after seeing what he was able to do against what I perceived as the champs stiffest competition.

Honorable Mention: Roxanne Modafferi over Maycee Barber (UFC 246)

Robbery of the Year – Alexander Volkanovski over Max Holloway (UFC 251)

This isn’t a “robbery” in the strictest sense of the word but that just happens to be what the category is called. In a 10 point must scoring system there is an argument that Volkanovski won the last three rounds in the featherweight title fight at UFC 251 on July 11^th. I just didn’t happen to see it that way. Holloway came out in the first two rounds looking much improved since his first fight against Volkanovski where the new champ slightly edged him out leaning on leg kicks to limit his movement. ‘Blessed’ knocked him down in each round and clearly took them both on the scorecard. Rounds three and four were very close but I gave them both to Holloway based on more significant strikes. Volkanovski had a couple takedowns but wasn’t able to do anything with them as Max immediately got back up. Alex clearly won the fifth round but I assumed the judges had to at least give Holloway one of the two rounds that were up in the air. Never assume… The unfortunate thing is this result puts Max in a tough position at 145 pounds. Hard to see him getting a third shot against Volkanovski considering he has now lost the first two bouts. His options are either move up to lightweight and make a run in a new weight class or keep taking out contenders at featherweight and hope that someone beats Volkanovski or he wins enough to get that third shot.

Honorable Mentions: Jon Jones over Dominick Reyes (UFC 247), Claudia Gadelha over Angela Hill (UFC on ESPN 8)

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The UFC eventually came back on May 9^th with a great card they were able to put together with previously agreed to matches combined with some short notice fights. That card and two others took place in Jacksonville, Florida in the span of a week. During this stretch Dana White caught everyone’s attention by bragging that they were in the process of buying an island to hold fights on so that they could be in complete control of the health and safety standards and be able to fly in international fighters who couldn’t gain access to the United States. It seemed far fetched even eliciting a few segments focusing on it from the John Oliver show on HBO. The hashtag UFSea was born and the whole thing seemed like a joke. Well after a month of holding events at their personal APEX Center in Las Vegas the month of July finally brings us to Fight Island. Its not exactly as Dana advertised it, it’s actually being held in an arena in Abu Dhabi where the UFC has already been (Yas Island… see, it has island in its name!), but they are putting together four nights of fights during the month with mostly an international flavor.

UFC 251 – July 11

The UFC is kicking things off on Fight Island with an incredibly stacked pay-per-view that includes three title fights. While you can make a very easy argument that the wrong contender received the nod to challenge for their respective belts, at least for two of the three, there is no denying that they should be entertaining, competitive bouts. In the main event is Kamaru Usman defending the welterweight belt against teammate Gilbert Burns who has been the breakout star of the ‘quarantine era’. This will be his third consecutive fight in front of no fans having previously knocked out Demian Maia and dominating former champion Tyron Woodley over five rounds. Usman’s pressure and wrestling ability should give him trouble but he has improved his striking and has always been a great submission grappler. With Jorge Masvidal holding out for a much deserved bigger piece of the financial pie, Burns makes the second most sense as the ‘shut down star’. In the co-main event is a featherweight rematch between Alex Volkanovski and Max Holloway. The first fight was competitive but not exactly close as Volkanovski edged almost every round against the arguably best 145 pounder of all time. Immediate rematches tend to not be much different than the original but if anyone can buck that trend its Holloway.

The biggest travesty when it comes to deserving contender is the first title fight viewers will see. With ‘Triple C’ Henry Cejudo surprising everyone by retiring following his bantamweight title defense against Dominick Cruz at UFC 249 the promotion rushed to fill that vacancy. The obvious fight to make was rising prospect Petyr Yan against the constantly improving and well rounded Aljamain Sterling especially after he submitted Cory Sandhagen in 88 seconds at UFC 250. If not Sterling then Marlon Moraes who has won five out of his last six with his only loss coming to Cejudo in a fight he clearly won the first round. He also knocked out Sterling in brutal fashion during that stretch and beat the guy they ultimately gave the nod to, Jose Aldo, in his last fight. Instead they give the featherweight legend Aldo a shot to win a belt in a second weight class despite losing his only previous fight in the division, coming off a two fight losing streak, and going 2-4 over his last six fights. Even with all that said this is combat sports and Aldo is still a great fighter so he has a real shot to win. Rounding out the main card of the PPV are two good women’s fights: a rematch between two former strawweight champions, Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade, and recognizable name Paige VanZant against the up and coming Amanda Ribas.

UFC Fight Night: Kattar vs. Ige – July 15

Things fall off a bit for the sequel to Fight Island. Its more of a filler card that is designed to make sure fighters that are owed fights get them but thats not to say there is nothing of value here. The main event is an interesting featherweight match-up between two under the radar contenders. The winner probably doesn’t earn a title shot but will put themselves in a position where they could be a win away. Kattar is an excellent boxer who is coming off an excellent knockout of the always tough Jeremy Stephens and has won three of his last four fights. Ige lost his UFC debut in January 2018 but has won six in a row. He is coming off of a split decision win over former lightweight contender Edson Barboza. Also on this card is Frankie Edgar’s long awaited bantamweight debut. The former lightweight champion and featherweight contender has a tough test against Pedro Munhoz, a hard hitting granite chinned brawler that also has good submission skills. Another fight of note is a women’s strawweight fight between former champion Carla Esparza and solid prospect Marina Rodriguez.

UFC Fight Night: Figueiredo vs. Benavidez 2 – July 18

This event is similar to the previous one except it has a title fight in the main event and a great co-main. Figueiredo and Benavidez first fought for the flyweight belt in February following Henry Cejudo vacating the belt to focus on bantamweight and ultimately retiring. Figueiredo knocked out the veteran in the second round but remained uncrowned due to missing weight. Benavidez has become known as one of the best fighters to never win a championship, like Michael Bisping before he finally broke through against Luke Rockhold. Always the bridesmaid, never the bride. But because of the circumstances in their first fight and the lack of another serious contender Benavidez gets another chance at the altar. Figueiredo is a wild man with serious power in his hands (and theres no guarantee hes going to make weight this time around) but Benavidez has proven to be a smart fighter that can adapt. The co-main event is a great middleweight fight between two guys who were recently in title contention. Kelvin Gastelum lost to champion Israel Adesanya in 2019’s fight of the year and then came back to lose a close decision to Darren Till. He gets a chance to put himself back in the win column against Jack Hermansson who got knocked out by Jared Cannonier last September, ending a four fight win streak.

UFC Fight Night: Whittaker vs. Till – July 25

Even though the event on the 18^th has a title fight, the main event here on the 25^th is my most anticipated bout on the Fight Island lineup. Robert Whittaker hasn’t fought since he lost his official middleweight belt to Israel Adesanya (Adesanya held the interim belt). It was a devastating knockout after he came back from multiple injury layoffs and led to him taking a hiatus to regroup and recover. He said he was suffering from burnout due to over-training and needed to regain his love for the sport. I’m guessing that is now the case since he accepted a fight with former welterweight top contender Darren Till. Till is coming off of a close decision win over Kelvin Gastelum in his middleweight debut putting himself in title contention immediately. A win over Whittaker would give him a great case to be the next contender to Adesanya’s throne. Both fighters are excellent strikers but Whittaker should have the edge due to his wrestling ability. The only thing that could have me pick against him is the possibility that the injuries and damage hes taken has taken its toll on top where his head could be following a nine month layoff. A couple other fights of note is Alexander Gustafsson’s heavyweight debut against former champion Fabricio Werdum and a senior tour special between Shogun Rua and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira.

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Jose Aldo is another guy reportedly getting a title shot (at bantamweight) coming off of a two fight losing streak. The difference in that case is that there are multiple deserving challengers who are willing and ready to take on champion Henry Cejudo including the person who just literally beat him in a close split decision, Marlon Moraes, but thats an issue for another time. As for the fight itself on March 7^th between Adesanya and Romero its a very hard bout to predict. Izzy has the style and the skills to win a striking match and take the decision by sticking to the outside. The problem is Romero is essentially The Incredible Hulk, just a beast of a man who is seemingly impossible to knock out. Hes also an Olympic level wrestler and incredibly strong. He also brings out his offense in bursts with powerful strikes of his own and knows when to push the pace late in fights. Both guys have paths to victory but even though Romero looks like hes in his prime I will predict that at 42 he has slowed down just enough to give Adesanya the edge. That is despite him doing a backflip into a split while wearing tight jeans during their face off at the pre-fight press conference.

In the co-main event is another tantalizing title fight between two entertaining fighters. Strawweight champion Weili Zhang’s first title defense after shockingly knocking out Jessica Andrade in 42 seconds in her home country in late August is against former long reigning champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Everyone knew Zhang was a tough out at 115 pounds after beating tough competition like Tecia Torres and Jessica Aguilar. Some people predicted that she could take the belt from Andrade but nobody predicted that she would do it the way she did. It will be interesting to see if she maintains that knockout power and aggression moving forward or if it was mostly a product of necessity against the aggressive style of Andrade. The problem for the rest of the division is that even if the latter is the case she still has the skills to win in other ways. She has great jujitsu as shown by her seven wins via submission to go along with her 10 knockouts and three wins by decision. She hasn’t lost since her MMA debut in 2013, reeling off 20 consecutive victories heading into Saturday night. It will be an interesting chess match against the crafty striker Jedrzejczyk.

Joanna has had an interesting journey over the past few years following the loss of her title to Rose Namajunas. She faced her first adversity since winning the UFC strawweight belt in her eight professional MMA bout and defending it five times including one being against the aforementioned Jessica Andrade. After getting shockingly knocked out by Thug Rose and then losing a close decision in their rematch five months later she got a win under her belt against Tecia Torres before taking an opportunity to chase the flyweight championship against Valentina Shevchenko. Her size disadvantage proved to be too much and she got beat up pretty good losing that fight. After a 10 month hiatus she came back down to strawweight and knocked off one of the top contenders, beating Michele Waterson by commanding decision. With Andrade taking the belt from Namajunas and then Zhang taking the belt from her suddenly there was a fresh match-up for Jedrzejczyk to re-enter the title picture. Joanna doesn’t have the power that Zhang possesses but she appears to be the more technical striker and has underrated takedown defense to be able to keep the fight standing. To me it will come down to Joanna being able to avoid and/or withstand Weili’s power shots and I do believe she will do so and become Joanna Champion once again.

There are some other interesting fights on the undercard of the event. Sean O’Malley finally makes his return to the Octagon after a long battle with USADA over what amounted to contaminated supplements. Unfortunately for him he doesn’t have the cache of a Jon Jones to get immediately cleared so he actually had to go through the arduous process of proving his innocence. He last fought almost exactly two years ago when he beat Andre Soukhamthath by decision on a bum ankle and then had that memorable interview with Joe Rogan while lying on his back. Luckily he is only 25 so he can get right back on track after working on improving his skills for two years against Jose Alberto Quinones. Neil Magny is also returning from his own USADA suspension to take on Li Jingliang in what is sure to be a violent contest. Magny last fought 16 months ago when he was knocked out by Santiago Ponzinibbio. He will never be a top contender at welterweight but is an important gate keeper to see who belongs in the top 10-15 range of the rankings. A few other fights to keep your eye on are Beneil Dariush vs. Drakkar Klose, Alex Oliveira vs. Max Griffin, and Deron Winn vs. Gerald Meerschaert.

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McGregor fought undefeated boxing legend Floyd Mayweather in August of 2017 and put up a few competitive rounds before being completely outclassed and finished as expected. He left that night with a payday of nearly $100 million and almost instantly became a trainwreck. Rumors of drug and alcohol abuse were all over the internet while at the same time he marketed his new irish whisky ‘Proper 12’. He stayed in the MMA headlines for acts such as jumping into the Bellator cage to confront a referee following a teammate’s fight, calling another teammate’s opponent a homophobic slur for strategically wrestling in order to win, and most infamously throwing a dolly through a bus window to try and attack Khabib Nurmagomedov who had reportedly disrespected his friend and teammate Artem Lobov. That ‘unforgivable act’ which injured a few other fighters on the same bus as Nurmagomedov and had their fights canceled was fairly quickly forgiven as McGregor was booked to fight Khabib six months later.

Despite Conor clearly being out of control and not the same guy that I had grown to love to watch over his first four years in the UFC, I found myself getting sucked back into the hype come fight week for UFC 229. That same anticipation that starts the Monday before the fight and ramps up to a fever pitch that is unmatched by any other number of great fights and fighters. I talked myself into thinking he just needed to get back into a fight camp and have his energy focused on the task at hand. He had too much free time to let his new fame and money go to his head. He can still be the most electric combat sports athlete in the world and do the impossible by knocking out the undefeated Russian who was clearly his kryptonite on paper. By the time the bell rang for the start of the main event on October 6, 2018 I had reached my peak as far as my appreciation for Conor McGregor goes and its been all downhill ever since as the denial washed away.

He put up a decent fight against a dominant force in so far as he didn’t get finished until the fourth round but missing was that patented offense. That mix of speed, power, and confidence that was present even in his only other loss in the UFC to Nate Diaz was never on display. He looked like a shell of his former self. The mayhem following the stoppage was ugly and a terrible decision by Khabib and his team that could’ve gone way worse and severely damaged the reputation of the sport but its hard to deny McGregor’s part in that. Not only did Conor attack that bus in Brooklyn in April of that year but he got incredibly personal the week of the fight attacking Nurmagomedov’s family, religion, and political connections. That continued after the fight with one particularly ugly tweet about Khabib’s wife. Then the excuses started. Conor fought with a broken foot. He was unfocused and drinking throughout the camp for that fight. He wants an immediate rematch.

Things really hit their nadir when the New York Times reported a story that had previously been relegated as internet rumors. Conor McGregor was under investigation for sexual assault in Ireland but their laws prevented the accused from being publicly mentioned. Then another accusation came out months later. It was one thing when the worst thing you could say about him was that his loyalty to his teammates resulted in aggression and rage that turned into poor decisions. Or that he was “aggressively online” every time anybody near his weight class fought to try and get attention. Once potential felony crimes that show a complete lack of respect and humanity entered the picture I found it difficult to get excited to watch him try to earn glory inside the Octagon. Obviously he hasn’t been convicted of anything and we need to let the criminal justice system run its course but it seems wrong to pretend that its not hanging in the balance.

Now this week appears to be the start of the Conor McGregor redemption tour with a 50 minute interview airing on ESPN’s Ariel Helwani Show where he is saying all the right things. He has denied any allegations against him, says that he is cleaned up and hasn’t had a drink since this training camp began. The world loves a comeback and I can’t say that I’ve completely ruled this one out as being legitimate but I’m going to need more than a few quotes to buy into it. As fight night approaches I’m not sure what result will make me happy. A return of the Conor of old (at least inside the cage) or a humbling comeuppance at the hands of Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone, who to be fair has his own shortcomings outside of fighting. One thing is for certain, I do not feel that anticipation of old building. More of a curiosity than anything. But I’ll be watching.

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So much so that he is headlining one of the biggest PPV events of the year in a non-title fight. Its the first time that has happened since McGregor/Diaz 2 in August 2016. Actually I’m mistaken, there is a belt on the line. The ‘Baddest Mother F***er’ belt that Diaz created out of thin air in the same post fight interview where he called his shot on his next opponent. And for the first time ever the UFC is running with a completely fabricated belt just because everyone wants it so bad. They’re even going to present the winner with an actual physical representation after the fight with Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson scheduled to wrap it around their waist. Nate made more history last week when he announced on Twitter that his fight with Masvidal was off due to a positive drug test. He maintained his innocence and demanded that USADA clear his name or else he wasn’t showing up despite no suspension having been announced. And they did exactly that. Its not surprising given that this is the same promotion that moved an entire event to a different state on a week’s notice to save a lucrative PPV when Jon Jones tested positive for picograms of the M3 steroid metabolite. What it does say is that Nate Diaz is not only a needle mover but one of, if not the most, important fighters on the roster when it comes to the UFC’s bottom line.

Nate Diaz vs. Jorge Masvidal

As for the fight itself between Diaz and Masvidal, it should be a good one. Both of them are fairly similar fighters in skill as well as personality. The UFC is promoting this as East vs. West with Masvidal representing Miami, Florida and Diaz hailing from Stockton, California. They both make their bread and butter striking on the feet. Diaz with more volume, Masvidal with more power. Both are tough as hell with underrated jujitsu. Masvidal might have more of a wrestling game but I doubt its going to come to that. With Nate knocking off any ring rust he might’ve had following a three year layoff in his last fight and turning around three months later I think he will edge out a close, competitive decision that fans are going to love. At the same time Masvidal is on a roll with back to back knockouts of Darren Till and Ben Askren. One of the reasons this card is so great is because outside of the fights being important they’re also coin flips for the most part as far as who I think will win.

Kelvin Gastelum vs. Darren Till

UFC 240 is loaded with great, consequential non-title fights and the co-main event is certainly one of them. Gastelum is coming off of his fight of the year contender against Israel Adesanya for the interim middleweight championship where he lost via decision. Till is making his middleweight debut after suffering back to back losses for the first time in his career. He was submitted by then champion Tyron Woodley in the second round and then turned around six months later only to be knocked out by BMF top contender Jorge Masvidal in the second round. Gastelum was a welterweight who had trouble making the weight as well but he is still an incredibly tough draw for Till in his first fight in the division. Kelvin is a strong wrestler who has developed some excellent boxing. Till has good striking too and potentially more power with the added weight but until I can see it in practice I would suspect the more established middleweight will be victorious.

Stephen Thompson vs. Vicente Luque

An important welterweight affair takes place here between two guys whose momentums are going in complete opposite directions. The former title contender ‘Wonderboy’ has lost three of his last four. Since a draw in his title fight with Tyron Woodley three years ago he has lost the rematch by decision, defeated Jorge Masvidal by decision, lost a controversial decision to Darren Till, and got knocked out by Anthony Pettis despite winning up to that point. He really needs a win here if he wants to make another run at the belt. On the other end of the spectrum is Luque who is on a six fight winning streak and has won 10 of his last 11 fights. His only loss over that span is to Leon Edwards who is very likely to be the next welterweight title contender. Unfortunately for him the UFC has never really given him the step up in competition that he deserved (until now) so the biggest name on his resume is Mike Perry who he beat by split decision in August. Luque’s power is very dangerous and he could be a title contender one day soon but I’m not sure about this matchup. Thompson should be able to keep him at range and use his kicks and counter punches to win a decision.

Derrick Lewis vs. Blagoy Ivanov

The New York crowd should be very familiar with Lewis. He earned his title fight against Daniel Cormier (which also took place at Madison Square Garden last year) coming right off of his knockout of Alexander Volkov. But more importantly that was the moment that ‘The Black Beast’ went viral telling Joe Rogan he took off his shorts after the fight because his “balls was hot”. Unfortunately he lost that title fight to DC as well as his next fight against Junior Dos Santos. He has another tough test in Ivanov. Blagoy also lost to JDS (by decision) in his UFC debut but came back to beat Ben Rothwell and Tai Tuivasa in his two fights since then. Hes a technical striker if not the most dynamic or athletic. Hes also incredibly tough. If the fight reaches the judges it should be Ivanov’s hand being raised but Lewis has stupid power and can hit a homerun at any time.

Kevin Lee vs. Gregor Gillespie

This pay-per-view curtain jerker was one of the last fights to be announced for UFC 240 but what a fascinating match it is. It is pretty much a lightweight version of the Thompson/Luque bout. Lee plays the role of the veteran who is clearly very talented and its easy to see him putting everything together and making a run for the title but is on a rough skid that puts him in danger of becoming irrelevant, at least for a while. He lost an interim title fight to Tony Ferguson two years ago, came back and dominated Edson Barboza (despite a scare in the fourth round), but then lost to Al Iaquinta for a second time before getting submitted by Rafael Dos Anjos in his welterweight debut. Gillespie is the undefeated prospect who hasn’t fought anyone that could test his skills until this weekend. Both are tremendous wrestlers. ‘The Motown Phenom’ has a power and size advantage but Gillespie has a much better gas tank. If it was a five round fight I would favor ‘The Gift’ but since its only three I will give Lee a slight advantage.

Johnny Walker vs. Corey Anderson

Johnny Walker came into the UFC like he was shot (take one for every whisky reference you hear on Saturday night) out of a cannon. He has three first round knockouts over progressively tougher competition in his first three fights. Those fights lasted 2 minutes and 48 seconds combined. The last two coming to a grand total of 51 seconds. The last one was a ridiculous flying knee over Misha Circunov but then he proceeded to injure his shoulder while doing the worm in celebration. Even so he could cement a title shot with an impressive win over Corey Anderson here. That is certainly possible since ‘Overtime’ (formerly ‘Beasting 25/8’, RIP) has three knockout losses in his career, all in the UFC. But hes also a grinding wrestler which seems like the perfect strategy to stifle Walker’s flashy striking. Anderson is on an impressive three fight winning streak in the light heavyweight division with decision wins over Patrick Cummins, Glover Teixeira, and Ilir Latifi. If he can knock Johnny Walker back and derail his hype train he could be in line for a shot at Jon Jones or perhaps he might need to ask for a refill against Dominick Reyes while Jones chases a super fight.

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Donald Cerrone – 23-10 in the UFC, 0-1 in title fights

The man who holds the records for most fights in the UFC (33, tied with Jim Miller), wins (23), and fight bonuses (18) has only fought in one title fight in his career with the organization. And in that one he lost to Rafael Dos Anjos in the first round in a fight that was never competitive. Despite that he will certainly be entered into the UFC hall of fame as a guy who fights often and only against top 15 level opponents in two different weight classes (lightweight and welterweight). He is a true gate keeper in the sense that he only loses to guys who are worthy of title shots. Gaethje, Tony Ferguson, Dos Anjos, Nate Diaz, Jorge Masvidal, Anthony Pettis, Robbie Lawler, Leon Edwards, Darren Till. Thats it. His best wins are over Eddie Alvarez, Edson Barboza, and Al Iaquinta. The good thing is if you have a dream match-up with him in mind all you have to do is wait long enough and it’ll probably come to fruition.

Uriah Faber – 11-6 in the UFC, 0-4 in title fights

‘The California Kid’ became a star in the WEC before the UFC had any divisions under 155 pounds. He won the WEC featherweight belt in 2006 and defended it five times before losing it to Mike Brown, who is now one of the best coaches in MMA. In fact Faber hasn’t won a championship fight since, losing the rematch to Brown as well as to a young Jose Aldo before dropping down to bantamweight as he entered the UFC in 2010. He was given every opportunity to win the UFC bantamweight belt but lost to Dominick Cruz and Renan Barao twice each. The only fights he lost outside of championship bouts were to Frankie Edgar, the former lightweight champion, and Jimmie Rivera. He only loses to the cream of the crop and even came back from a two and half year retirement to knockout Ricky Simon in July. All of a sudden he has put himself back into the title picture once more if he can win the right match-ups.

Joseph Benavidez – 15-3 in the UFC, 0-2 in title fights

A teammate of Faber’s, Benavidez has a very similar story to his coach and mentor. His only losses in the UFC are a split decision to one of the best pound for pound fighters in the sport Demetrious Johnson, a knock out in the rematch with ‘Mighty Mouse’, and a split decision with Sergio Pettis that could’ve easily gone his way. He only has two other losses in his career and both of those are to the best bantamweight of all time and Team Alpha Male rival Dominick Cruz, one of which was for the WEC bantamweight title. Benavidez already has a win over current flyweight and bantamweight champion Henry Cejudo (although it was also a split decision that could’ve gone either way) and is currently on a three fight winning streak most recently knocking out Jussier Formiga in a number one contenders fight. A rematch with Cejudo seems to be in his future and a win there would have him dropping off of this list. I don’t think he would complain about that.

Dan Henderson – 9-9 in the UFC, 0-3 in title fights

Henderson may have had a .500 record in the UFC but that doesn’t tell the whole story. He won his first two fights in the UFC all the way back in 1998 but then left the organization and eventually ended up in Pride. Thats where he really made his name winning both their welterweight and middleweight championships. He came back to the UFC in 2007 and was immediately given back to back title shots, losing to ‘Rampage’ Jackson for the light heavyweight belt and to Anderson Silva for the middleweight belt. He went on a three fight winning streak to set himself up for another title shot but instead left for Strikeforce where he lost to Jake Shields for the middleweight belt but went on to win the light heavyweight belt. He even knocked out heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko before he came back to the UFC yet again when they bought out Strikeforce. By then he was past his prime but he did give Michael Bisping a close, competitive fight for the middleweight championship before he retired.

Alexander Gustafsson – 10-6 in the UFC, 0-3 in title fights

Gustafsson might be the fighter who had the most painful journey to landing on this list. The Swedish light heavyweight came into the UFC undefeated at 8-0, lost a fight to fellow prospect (at the time) Phil Davis, and then went on a six fight winning streak to earn a title shot against Jon Jones. Everybody wrote off Gustafsson heading into that fight but he gave Jones the toughest test of his career and lost a very close decision. He got knocked out by Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson but was still given another title shot in his next fight against Daniel Cormier after Jones had the belt taken away from him. That fight was even closer with the judges giving ‘DC’ the split decision. Alex was resilient, working his way back to another shot against Jones last December but it didn’t go nearly as well. He was taken down and TKO’d in the third round. After losing another fight in June to Anthony Smith he announced his retirement. But like most MMA “retirements” it sounds like hes looking for a comeback fight that can get him back in the title picture.

Honorable Mentions: Demian Maia, Yoel Romero, ‘Jacare’ Souza, Chad Mendes

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Heavyweight

This weekend in the main event of UFC 241 we have a rematch between two of the best heavyweights in the history of MMA. Stipe Miocic holds the record for most heavyweight title defenses at three and that record was snapped by Daniel Cormier when he knocked him out in the main event of UFC 226. DC has held the belt since then, defeating Derrick Lewis at Madison Square Garden last November before taking some time off to heal from a back injury. Since he lost Miocic has sat on the sideline waiting for the rematch. At the time that seemed like a mistake with it looking like Brock Lesnar was coming back to the UFC and getting an immediate title shot. Lucky for him Brock stayed in the WWE and the UFC decided to turn to him instead of a resurgent Francis Ngannou for the next title shot. Ngannou is in position to wait for the winner after knockout wins over Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, and Junior Dos Santos in quick succession. The only other threat to Ngannou’s claim would be if Jon Jones decided to make a run for the heavyweight belt. The rest of the division is filled with old guys who have a punchers chance any given night and slightly less old guys who have a punchers chance on any given night.

Division Grade: C

Light Heavyweight

Jon Jones is back as the dominant force in the division having defeated Alexander Gustafsson, Anthony Smith, and Thiago Santos over the past eight months. It stands to reason that he’ll defend his title one more time this year, most likely on the year end Pay-Per-View in Las Vegas. Its still up in the air who he will fight. My best guess is the winner of undefeated prospect Dominick Reyes and former middleweight champion Chris Weidman who fight on October 18^th as long as they’re healthy enough for a quick turnaround. If that isn’t possible other options would be Jan Blachowicz, who is coming off of a knockout victory over Luke Rockhold, or the winner of Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic this weekend. The always exciting Johnny Walker is fighting Corey Anderson in November, setting up a possible showdown with Jones in early 2020. This might be the healthiest the light heavyweight division has been since Jones initially won the title at the beginning of the decade.

Division Grade: B

Middleweight

Of all the fights currently booked, my most anticipated of the bunch is the middleweight title fight set for UFC 243 at Marvel Stadium in Sydney, Australia between champion Robert Whittaker and interim title holder Israel Adesanya. That fight takes place on October 5^th and features two of the best strikers in the UFC at their peak. Adesanya is close to becoming the next big MMA star and I think a win over Whittaker would push him over the top. This weekend we also have former title challenger Yoel Romero going up against undefeated young prospect Paulo Costa in what could also be a contest to decide who is the most jacked fighter in the promotion. Another important fight in the division is Jack Hermansson vs. Jared Cannonier taking place on September 28^th as the main event in Copenhagen, Denmark. While middleweight is exciting at the very top it drops off significantly after the top five or so.

Division Grade: B-

Welterweight

Welterweight is kind of a mess right now, mostly a self inflicted wound by UFC. They missed out on a potential big fight between then champion Tyron Woodley and then interim champion Colby Covington by stripping Covington of his belt for refusing to fight someone else while Woodley was injured. Woodley went on to get dominated by Kamaru Usman. Luckily there is similar heat (for negative reasons, but it gets attention) between Covington and Usman but the champion needed time to recover from an injury. It looks like Covington will finally get his real title shot after dominating former champion Robbie Lawler over five rounds. There is also Jorge Masvidal waiting for a title shot after derailing the hype train of both Darren Till and Ben Askren in back to back fights. Further down the line in this deep division are guys like Leon Edwards and Santiago Ponzinibbio who have long winning streaks and are soon deserving of a title shot. Nate Diaz fights Anthony Pettis this weekend in a fight that could cause some waves.

Division Grade: B+

Lightweight

Lightweight is always the deepest and best division in MMA and it is no exception right now. Undefeated champion Khabib Nurmagomedov might go down as one of if not the best fighter of all time when all is said and done. Hes defending his belt next month against Dustin Poirier in Abu Dhabi in a follow up to submitting Conor McGregor in the biggest MMA fight of all time. Theres also Tony Ferguson out there on a 12 fight winning streak having won the interim belt and had it stripped due to injury. Justin Gaethje fights Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone next month and Dan Hooker takes on Al Iaquinta on that Australian PPV in October. Then there is always the looming threat of a McGregor return. He could jump the line at the drop of a hat. No matter what exciting championship fights are lined up for the foreseeable future.

Division Grade: A

Featherweight

Featherweight and bantamweight are quickly developing into exciting divisions that can stand toe to toe with lightweight and welterweight as the best, deepest divisions. Max Holloway just returned from his loss to Dustin Poirier in an attempt to win the lightweight interim belt to dominate Frankie Edgar at UFC 240. Hes set up to next defend his belt against Alexander Volkanovski whether it takes place at UFC 243 in the top contender’s home country or at a later date. Zabit Magomedsharipov is scheduled to fight Calvin Katter in Boston on October 18^th, Yair Rodriguez is scheduled to fight Jeremy Stephens in Mexico next month, and the ‘Korean Zombie’ Chan Sung Jung is rumored to be taking on Brian Ortega at that same event. Ortega hasn’t fought since losing to Holloway last December but should be right back in the title picture with one win. Jose Aldo just signed a new contract and hes always out there despite losing to Volkanovski last time out. If and when Holloway gives lightweight another shot Aldo is always a marketable guy to stick in a title fight.

Division Grade: A-

Bantamweight

‘Triple C’ Henry Cejudo took bantamweight by storm, coming up from flyweight where he beat former 135 pound champion TJ Dillashaw (before he tested positive for PEDs) to finish Marlon Moraes and win the vacant belt, his second. The third ‘C’ in his self proclaimed moniker comes from his Olympic gold medal in wrestling. Hes currently out for the year following shoulder surgery but the division is still exciting in his stead. Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan will most likely fight each other, either for an interim belt or just to see who is the top contender. But its the UFC, they’ll put a belt on it. Frankie Edgar might’ve lost last month to Holloway at featherweight but he just announced his next fight will be at 135 pounds and we know it won’t take much to give him another title shot. I’d love to see him fight Dominick Cruz when hes healthy. Cody Garbrandt should be ready to return by the end of the year, hes promotable if he can get back on track. Perennial top five Raphael Assuncao fights the on the rise Corey Sandhagen on Saturday.

Division Grade: A-

Flyweight

Back from the dead… Prior to the flyweight title fight between Henry Cejudo and then bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw all the talk was about how Dillashaw was essentially an assassin hired by the UFC to kill the 125 pound division. Even after Cejudo knocked him out in the first round the rumors continued to circle that it was only a matter of time before the promotion pulled the plug on the weight class. Every fight felt like the Hunger Games with every loser being released from their contract unless they agreed to move up to 135 pounds. At some point they changed their mind and because of everything they did before then it is the thinnest division outside of women’s featherweight. Cejudo is the champion but also has duties one weight class higher if he wants to keep that belt. Joseph Benavidez is the clear top contender. Deiveson Figueredo bounced back from a loss to Jussier Formiga and could be in the title picture with a win over Tim Elliot in October. As long as they remain committed to building the division back up the talent is there for it to be full of exciting fights.

Division Grade: D

Women’s Featherweight

Speaking of divisions the UFC has shown no commitment to building… Amanda Nunes is the champion but bantamweight is her real division where she is also the champion. She only moved up to 145 pounds to fight Cris Cyborg. She knocked her out in one of the most thrilling women’s fights of all time but any hope of selling a rematch was killed when the UFC released Cyborg last week. The only natural featherweights in the promotion I can think of are Felecia Spencer and Meghan Anderson, the former was just beat up by Cybrog and the latter is on a two fight losing streak. Dana White insists they are going to keep the division around but unless they have a bunch of signings coming up it just looks like a glorified tool to further promote Nunes.

Division Grade: F

Women’s Bantamweight

This is where Amanda Nunes will spend most of her time defending her belts. After beating Holly Holm last month she has pretty much defeated every notable name in women’s bantamweight history. She has hinted at retirement and while that would be unfortunate for fans of the sport and the UFC, she really doesn’t have anything else to prove. The only viable fights she has is a rematch with Germaine de Randamie, who she has already defeated, and Ketlen Viera, who hasn’t fought in almost a year and a half. The division’s biggest prospect, Aspen Ladd, was just knocked out by GDR and may be too big to safely make the cut down to 135 pounds.

Division Grade: D-

Women’s Flyweight

The newest division in the UFC has a lot of parallels with its counterpart on the men’s side. It has a dominant champion (Valentina Shevchenko) who is so far ahead of the competition that it makes her fights feel inevitable in a way that saps all the drama out of the affair. She just defeated Liz Carmouche this past weekend in what may be one of the worst title fights in UFC history. There are a few interesting prospects but its hard to see them having any chance against Shevchenko. Katlyn Chookagian or Jennifer Maia is probably next unless one of the winners of Andrea Lee vs. Joanne Calderwood or Gillian Robertson vs. Maycee Barber has an impressive showing. Flyweight isn’t as shallow as bantamweight but its not as loaded as strawweight. Hopefully it can get there in time.

Division Grade: C-

Women’s Strawweight

Strawweight is easily the best women’s division. Its basically the women’s version of lightweight where the mix of size and skill is perfectly aligned. Jessica Andrade wasted no time following her impressive come from behind body slam knockout victory over Rose Namajunas, defending her belt in China against Weili Zhang at the end of the month. Undefeated prospect Tatiana Suarez has been compared to men’s lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov with her wrestling ability but she has to recover from a neck injury. Namajunas is always a threat to get her belt back, she dominated Andrade in the first round before she lost in the second. Former champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk returns in October to fight Michele Waterson. I could easily see the winner of that getting a shot at the belt as they both have the resume and are marketable in different ways. Other significant fights in the division coming up are Claudia Gadelha vs. Cynthia Calvillo and Carla Esparza vs. Alexa Grasso.

Division Grade: B+

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Jon Jones vs. Thiago Santos – Light Heavyweight Championship

The last time I did an event preview also happens to be the last time Jon Jones fought, UFC 235. Thats not an accident. With the absence of Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, Brock Lesnar, and Georges St. Pierre the UFC has leaned on Jones as their biggest star. What more evidence do you need other than they literally picked up and moved an entire event with less than a week’s notice – UFC 232 was originally scheduled to take place in Las Vegas, Nevada until the NSAC refused to license him after a positive PED test and eventually took place in Los Angeles, California. Because of that positive drug test that USADA ruled was from the lingering effects of a prior failure, the UFC and the drug agency have changed the way they handle repeat failures that don’t appear to be from new ingestion. Jones continues to test positive when he cuts weight but here we are.

The latest version of Jon Jones seems to be someone who wants to cement his legacy as the greatest fighter the sport has ever seen. The way he wants to go about that is to race to defend his title as many times as possible against up and coming contenders who are either ill prepared or not seen as real threats in one of the weakest divisions in the UFC. At UFC 235 he dominated former middleweight Anthony Smith and on Saturday he’s set to fight another former middleweight in Thiago Santos. Hes already hinted at defending his belt one more time in 2019, most likely against Luke Rockhold or Daniel Cormier, and has said he wants to fight three more times next year – possibly against the likes of Dominick Reyes, Corey Anderson, Johnny Walker, and Aleksandar Rakic. Nothing against those guys, who have finally injected some life into the light heavyweight division, but we could be staring at a Demetrious Johnson type of run for Jones when what the fans really want to see is him challenge himself up at heavyweight. I’m personally just glad to see him as an active fighter and not under suspension rarely fighting.

When it comes to the fight in front of us I’m not anticipating any kind of upset. Santos is a guy who was a huge middleweight and has had a lot of success since moving up to 205 pounds. He has tremendous power and is very aggressive in his attack. In a sense this is like the Anthony Johnson fight that we never got to see in that the challenger has the most realistic puncher’s chance we have yet to see against Jon Jones but there is a clear path to victory for ‘Bones’ as long as his chin holds up. And thats only if Santos is able to hit him with anything other than a glancing blow. We’ve seen from Jones’ fight with Cormier and Alexander Gustafsson that he can take damage and not be affected much at all. I’m expected Jones to toy with Santos on the feet before eventually landing a takedown and controlling the fight. Santos will wear out the longer the fight goes on and I could easily see a middle to late round finish for Jones on the ground.

Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm – Women’s Bantamweight Championship

As clear as I think it is that Jon Jones is the greatest MMA fighter of all time it may be even more obvious that Nunes is the greatest women’s MMA fighter of all time. Her resume is insane with victories over every other all time great women’s fighter you can think of. Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Valentina Shevchenko (twice), and even brief women’s featherweight champion Germaine de Randamie. Essentially the only big name women’s bantamweight/featherweight that she hasn’t fought and beat is Holly Holm. Well here we go.

Holm’s claim to fame is being the first person to beat Rousey which she did in devastating knockout fashion at UFC 193 in 2015. Shes had a rough run since that glorious moment, losing to most of the names on Nunes’ impressive hit list – Tate, Shevchenko, de Randamie, and Cyborg. To be fair that is some great competition and she wasn’t dominated in any of those contests, mixing in some impressive victories in-between. I think it will be a similar story to her recent losses on Saturday night with her losing a competitive but clear decision to Nunes but she has the skills to finally win back her bantamweight belt. Nunes’ has been known to tire as fights go on, although not as much recently, and there have been hints that shes considering retirement sooner rather than later. But I also think its more likely that Nunes catches Holm clean early and sets up a re-match with Cyborg in what should be the biggest women’s fight since Ronda Rousey called it quits.

Ben Askren vs. Jorge Masvidal

I wrote about the first trade in MMA history last October when the UFC sent Demetrious ‘Mighty Mouse’ Johnson to ONE Championship getting back ‘Funky’ Ben Askren who had previously announced his retirement after not finding the competition very motivating over there. There was controversy abound in his first fight with the promotion against Robbie Lawler at March’s UFC 235. Officially Askren was awarded a first round submission victory by way of bulldog choke but in real time it appeared as though referee Herb Dean mistook ‘Ruthless’ relaxing his body as him going unconscious. It was especially hard for Lawler to take because prior to that he was putting a beating on Askren, slamming him on his head almost immediately and nearly finishing the fight before it got started. Askren did eventually recover and start to implement his wrestling game but it was hairy there for a minute.

With his undefeated (19-0) record still in tact Askren turned to his other greatest strength after his wrestling. His mouth. Talking trash to any contender that had the ability to see and/or hear he was angling his way towards a title shot, especially since his friend and teammate Tyron Woodley lost his belt to Kumaru Usman (or Marty from Nebraska as Ben would call him). Another good talker took the bait in Jorge Masvidal, who is coming off of a shocking knockout victory over Darren Till in his home country. To top that off he also landed a “three piece and a soda” on fellow contender Leon Edwards backstage after being interrupted during an interview. Masvidal is tough and could finish the job Lawler started but I think Askren will be able to win a wrestling dominated decision. If he does its very possible he will leapfrog former interim champion Colby Covington (who is currently scheduled to fight Lawler in August) as the next title challenger to the welterweight crown.

Luke Rockhold vs. Jan Blachowicz

Following in the footsteps of the aforementioned Anthony Smith and Thiago Santos (and followed himself by former middleweight champion Chris Weidman), Rockhold is moving up to light heavyweight following a string of injuries and bad knockout losses which he has said were mostly due to a very hard weight cut. Being a former middleweight champion himself its very easy to see why the UFC would try to set him up to be the next challenger to Jon Jones’ throne. It doesn’t hurt that he is also a friend and former training partner of Daniel Cormier’s so there is plenty to work with from a story standpoint as well as just the combination of skills they would put on display inside the Octagon. Luke would also give the UFC a guy so unlikable that he would make the problematic light heavyweight champion a bit of a baby face. Blachowicz is a solid fighter who is coming off of a knockout loss to current title challenger Thiago Santos but if Rockhold’s skills are going to translate to the higher weight class at all he shouldn’t be much of a threat to the preferred narrative.

Michael Chiesa vs. Diego Sanchez

Speaking of guys who moved up a weight class and had immediate success… Chiesa was submitted by fellow lightweights who have recently become welterweights Kevin Lee and Anthony ‘Showtime’ Pettis in back to back fights before making the move and submitted former interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit himself. Its tough to say if that win means much because Condit has been a shell of his former self since his all out war with Robbie Lawler at UFC 195 in January 2016. This fight certainly isn’t going to give an answer to that either but it should be a lot of fun and give Chiesa another win in the weight class. Sanchez has shopworn since he was knocked out by BJ Penn 10 years ago. (Sidenote: maybe its time for that re-match if the UFC is going to keep torturing Penn by giving him fights…) The thing is he is so damn tough that he keeps fighting multiple times a year and winning about half of them. When hes given lesser competition to deal with, he usually does. But when hes given real top 25 level guys in their prime he gets beat up which is what I expect to happen here. Although there’s an outside chance that Sanchez, who is actually on a two fight winning streak, pulls off the huge upset since he is so tough and Chiesa’s M.O. Is of a submission grappler.

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Fighter of the Year – Henry Cejudo

Cejudo is the only champion to fight twice in 2019 so far and he took advantage of that opportunity. He kicked off the year, and the UFC on ESPN era, by knocking out bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw to defend his flyweight belt. Even more impressive is that it turned out Dillashaw was juiced, testing positive for PEDs not long after the fight and getting a two year suspension. With the future of the 125 pound division in question Cejudo turned his attention to 135 pounds and the newly vacated bantamweight belt. UFC 238 was more than two weeks ago but it is still at the forefront of my mind and Cejudo’s exciting comeback TKO victory over Marlon Moraes is a big reason why. As he’ll tell you himself he not only becomes the newest double champion with the win but the first and only triple champion if you include his gold medal in wrestling. His gimmick is corny but its hard to argue with the results. Hes talking about moving up and winning the featherweight belt to add to his collection but that will have to wait until he recovers from shoulder surgery.

Honorable Mentions: Dustin Poirier, Valentina Shevchenko

Fight of the Year – Israel Adesanya vs. Kelvin Gastelum

UFC 236 was fairly lackluster for the first 11 fights but as soon as the co-main event got started we had one of the best hours of fights in a long time, back to back fight of the year worthy title fights to close things out. As good as Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway was I have to give the edge to the interim middleweight championship. Both Gastelum and Adesanya looked as good as they ever have and each had moments where it looked like they were taking over to finish the fight. I wrote an article in February about how Adesanya could be the UFC’s next big star and this fight was a big step in that direction. He showed that he has heart and survive adversity while being exciting all along the way. He looked like he was in trouble in the middle rounds but dug deep to nearly finish Kelvin in the fifth. With his win the UFC has a chance to put together an epic showdown in Australia between Adesanya and Robert Whittaker, a fight that has a chance to top this category at the end of the year.

Honorable Mentions: Vicente Luque vs. Bryan Barberena, Dustin Poirier vs. Max Holloway

Event of the Year – UFC 238

As good as the final two fights of UFC 236 were, UFC 238 was great from top to bottom. I’ve already mentioned the bantamweight title fight between Henry Cejudo and Marlon Moraes in the main event. It also had another fight of the year contender with Tony Ferguson vs. Donald Cerrone, two important top contender fights in the bantamweight division (impressive wins by Petr Yan and Aljamain Sterling respectively), and another win for the best prospect in women’s MMA (Tatiana Suarez). Even the co-main that I was worried would be a one sided slog ended up having a big moment of the night. Women’s flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko knocked out Jessica Eye with devastating head kick that had her laying unconscious for more than five minutes. It was a night to remember between action fights, memorable finishes, and important story lines that we will continue to follow. I wouldn’t be surprised if this was the event of the year still when December 31^st rolls around.

Honorable Mentions: UFC 236, UFC on ESPN 1

Breakout Fighter of the Year – Johnny Walker

Johnny Walker really broke onto the scene last November when he made his UFC debut on a Fight Night card in South America. He knocked out Khalil Rountree with an impressive standing elbow in the first round. But he took it to another level once the calendar turned over. In February it only took him 15 seconds to knock out Justin Ledet with a spinning backfist and then a month later, in a big step up in competition, Misha Circunov only lasted 36 seconds before succumbing to a flying knee and follow up strikes. It sure looked like he was on the fast track to challenge Jon Jones with his unique look and personality, exciting fighting style, and great name but unfortunately he dislocated his shoulder in his post fight celebration. Safe to say that X factor he has that draws people in also has its disadvantages. It looks like he’s in line to return in the fall and he can continue to look as good in another step up in competition then he really could be knocking on the door of a title shot.

Honorable Mentions: Petr Yan, Weili Zhang

Knockout of the Year – Anthony Pettis (Superman Punch) over Stephen Thompson

This could easily be the leader in the clubhouse for the ‘upset of the year’ category as well but I think better belongs here. When the main event in Nashville was announced it was a bit of a head scratcher. Pettis would be moving up to welterweight to fight one of the top five fighters in the weight class. This is a guy who had a couple fights at featherweight and isn’t a particularly big lightweight. But his big problem has always been pressure fighters and wrestlers and ‘Wonderboy’ was a decent match-up in that regard. ‘Showtime’ was having some success with leg kicks but otherwise looked to be on his way to getting predictably outpointed to a decision loss before he pulled out a superman punch off of the cage out of nowhere, knocking Thompson out cold. A few coffin nails later and Pettis had one of the biggest wins of his career, setting himself up for a big fight against Nate Diaz in August.

Honorable Mentions: Valentina Shevchenko (Head Kick) over Jessica Eye, Jessica Andrade (Slam) over Rose Namajunas

Submission of the Year – Marlon Moraes (Guillotine Choke) over Raphael Assuncao

Unless I’m missing something there was no clear cut winner to this category for me. Charles Oliveira is always a candidate to pull something crazy off and Manny Bermudez continues his under the radar run at bantamweight but I went with the one that made me say ‘wow’ when they pulled it off. Moraes earned his title shot off of this great win and while a guillotine choke isn’t the most impressive submission in the world when you factor in who it was against and how he pulled it off it starts to make sense. Assuncao is a super tough guy who had only been submitted one other time in his career, nine years ago at the hands of UFC hall of famer Uriah Faber. Assuncao had beaten Moraes in his UFC debut in 2017 but this fight didn’t resemble that one at all. Moraes came out aggressive and was putting it on Assuncao, nearly finishing him with strikes before transitioning to the choke. I doubt this pick will stand when the clock strikes midnight into 2020 but for now its the best we have.

Honorable Mentions: Charles Oliveira (Anaconda Choke) over David Teymur, Manny Bermudez (D’Arce Choke) over Benito Lopez

Upset of the Year – Dustin Poirier over Max Holloway

The odds would tell you that this isn’t particularly close to the biggest upset of the year so far and that is completely fair. But for one I didn’t want to pick the same fight (Anthony Pettis vs. Stephen Thompson) to win two awards. Also, I had Max Holloway as one of the best pound for pound fighters in the sport and the biggest threat to be the first man to beat Khabib Nurmagomedov. That still may be the case and he just needs more time to prepare for his eventual permanent move up to lightweight but Dustin Poirier is as motivated a fighter as I’ve ever seen. He had already beaten Holloway in 2012 when Max was 20 years old and making his UFC debut but most prognosticators (including myself if I can be considered as such) thought ‘Blessed’ had improved to the point that the roles would be reversed. I underestimated how much Poirier himself had improved in that time. The self belief, heart, and power in his hands gave him the interim belt and a chance to shock the world once again when he takes on Khabib Nurmagomedov in September. I won’t doubt him this time around.

Honorable Mentions: Anthony Pettis over Stephen Thompson, Henry Cejudo over TJ Dillashaw

Top 10 Most Anticipated Fights for the Remainder of 2019

1. Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Tony Ferguson (Hypothetical)

2. Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Dustin Poirier (UFC 242)

3. Robert Whittaker vs. Israel Adesanya (TBA)

4. Nate Diaz vs. Anthony Pettis (UFC 241)

5. Amanda Nunes vs. Holly Holm (UFC 239)

6. Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic 2 (UFC 241)

7. Jon Jones vs. Luke Rockhold (Hypothetical)

8. Max Holloway vs. Frankie Edgar (UFC 240)

9. Yoel Romero vs. Paulo Costa (UFC 241)

10. Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington (TBA)

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