UFC Primed for Several Great Fights

There’s no denying UFC’s slow start to 2018. To be sure, most events have produced memorable moments (who will ever forget Tai Tuivasa chugging beer out of a fan’s shoe?), but in most cases there was not much to be excited about beforehand.

Both in spite of this lack of momentum and because of it, the UFC has managed to put the pieces in place for five of the most well-matched fights in the promotion’s history.

The UFC has set the first of these excellent bouts for April 7, when, if there is any luck in this world, Tony Ferguson will face Khabib Nurmagomedov for the lightweight championship. On July 7, light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier moves up in weight to fight heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

Any one (or even two) of the third, fourth, and fifth bouts could take place on that same July 7 card.

The longest-discussed of those three remaining bouts would match the record-setting flyweight division king Demetrious Johnson against bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw. Another champion vs. champion bout, women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes against women’s featherweight champion Cris Cyborg, has also been in UFC’s plans for the past few months.

The last remaining of these great match-ups presented itself on Saturday. Fighting on short notice at UFC 222, Brian Ortega knocked out Frankie Edgar to earn a shot at featherweight champion Max Holloway.

Although none of these five bouts will strike gold at the box office, they are appointment viewing for any MMA fan. If all or most of these fights occur by the end of 2018, the year may mark UFC’s best in-case year.

Attempts to lock Tony Ferguson and Khabib Nurmagomedov in a cage together have brought great pains to the UFC. The fight has been scheduled for December 2015, April 2016, and March 2017, only to fall through each time. The wait has only made the match-up better.

Ferguson has won nine consecutive fights dating back almost six years. Nurmagomedov’s record stands at 25-0, and he has never lost a single round on any judge’s scorecard in his nine UFC bouts.

Neither fighter was afforded the opportunity of competing for Conor McGregor’s lightweight championship, nor Eddie Alvarez’s or Rafael Dos Anjos’s. However, Ferguson and Nurmagomedov have beaten every top lightweight put in front of them, showing rare dominance in MMA’s deepest division. The lightweight championship they compete for on April 7 is the legitimate lightweight championship, and their bout is the best clash of lightweights UFC has ever promoted.

Up in the heavyweight division, Stipe Miocic is trying to solidify his claim as the best heavyweight UFC has ever seen. He’s defended his belt three times, which no other UFC heavyweight can claim to have done, and he’s done it against excellent competition. A fourth successful title defense against Daniel Cormier will help push him further ahead of the pack.

For Cormier, the stakes are even higher. He has already lost the two biggest fights of his career (one of those losses was, of course, overturned to a no contest), but defeating Miocic will cast a bit of shadow on those losses. What a feat it would be for Cormier, at 39, to take the heavyweight championship from Miocic. His place near the top of light heavyweight history is already undeniable, but defeating Miocic will place him near the top of all of MMA history.

On the subject of MMA history, Demetrious Johnson may already be the most talented fighter in the sport’s history. He pleaded his case in twelve UFC flyweight championship bouts, all of them victories. The only criticism you can lay on “Mighty Mouse” is his strength of opposition.

As the first UFC flyweight champion, there weren’t many incumbent top stars in the division for Johnson to defeat, as Jon Jones did in the light heavyweight division for example. Johnson beat whoever the UFC placed in front of him, but flyweight is the thinnest UFC’s men’s division below 205 pounds.

Fighting T.J. Dillashaw is an opportunity that can erase most of the criticism for Johnson’s case as the best fighter ever. Dillashaw is an elite bantamweight in his fighting prime, as the gold around his waist indicates. For Dillashaw, who is keen to move down to Johnson’s 125-pound weight class for the fight, he could be the first reigning champion in major MMA history to move down in weight to capture a second title.

The last of the champion vs. champion bouts is Cris Cyborg, the most dominant female fighter of all-time, against Amanda Nunes.

For almost ten years, Cyborg has destroyed all challengers. In December, she met the most skilled challenger of her career in Holly Holm, and beat the former bantamweight champion comfortably. Reigning bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes may be the only fighter that can threaten Cyborg’s thirteen-year unbeaten streak.

This fight could take place as soon as May 12, which was the targeted date for the bout before UFC called on Cyborg to save UFC 222.

It would be unfair to call UFC 222 Brian Ortega’s coming out party, but the 27-year-old’s first round knockout over Frankie Edgar established Ortega as an elite featherweight and the top contender for Max Holloway’s featherweight title.

Ortega is unbeaten has won all of his UFC bouts by stoppage, while Holloway has won his last twelve fights.

With Holloway, 26, twice stopping longtime featherweight champion Jose Aldo, and Ortega becoming the first fighter to stop Edgar, the inevitable Holloway vs. Ortega collision feels like the dawning of a new age in the featherweight division.

The survivor of that collision will dictate the future of the featherweight division—at least until what already feels like a certain rematch.

So rarely does a fight come along that promises ahead of time to be a key historical bout. Last year, the UFC had just one—Jon Jones vs. Daniel Cormier. In the first seven months of 2018, they could have five such bouts, and perhaps more before the close of the year.

Perhaps none of the bouts will help UFC regain mainstream momentum (that may need to wait until Conor McGregor returns), but they will grab the attention of close followers of the sport that haven’t been invested in UFC’s recent offerings.

Dan Plunkett has covered MMA for 411Mania since 2008. You can reach him by email at [email protected] and follow him on Twitter @Dan_Plunkett.