Over the last couple of days, the UFC has hit the MMA world with a barrage of big fight announcements that pulled the focus away from Conor McGregor’s alleged retirement and the sexual assault allegations against the former two-weight champion, as well as the massive ONE Championship fight card set to take place in Tokyo, Japan.
The cavalcade of fight announcements has been the inverse of trying to sneak some bad news in on a Friday afternoon when everyone has already packed up their things and are looking forward to the weekend — a calculated move designed to draw the attention away from the challenges facing the promotion at the moment, while simultaneously making the upcoming UFC slate the talk of MMA Twitter right as the competition is readying to roll out its biggest show to date.
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It’s a wise strategy, but more importantly, the collection of bouts that the UFC rolled out over the last couple of days genuinely have fight fans excited about the coming months.
Some people were disappointed to hear that Jon Jones will be defending the light heavyweight title against Thiago Santos in July at UFC 239 just a few hours after “Bones” floated the idea of facing former heavyweight champ Stipe Miocic, who was quick to accept the hypothetical offer.
I don’t think you guys are ready to witness @stipemiocic and I, would July give you all enough time?
— Jon Bones Jones (@JonnyBones) March 27, 2019
been ready see you there https://t.co/QWV3524xFF
— Stipe Miocic (@stipemiocic) March 27, 2019
But Jones making another quick turnaround to take on the latest “next in line” contender in the 205-pound ranks is in line with what the dominant champion said he wanted to do prior to his win over Anthony Smith last month at UFC 235 and it meets the requirements of our suggestion for how Jones can settle MMA’s GOAT debate in three easy steps.
At the same time, he’s planted the seed for a move to heavyweight, which is Step No. 3 in our plan, by setting his sights on one of the most dangerous fighters the division has to offer. Heavyweight has always seemed like the final destination for Jones, who has the size and skills to be a force in the division, and after nixing the idea not that long ago, he’s whetted everyone’s appetite with an out-of-the-blue call-out of Miocic that sent shockwaves through the MMA world just prior to his bout with Santos being made official.
After getting just a single appearance from Jones every year from 2014 to 2018, this will be his third fight in eight months, and he’s already got the next opportunity after this percolating — all of which has fight fans excited.
Amanda Nunes and Holly Holm will set the table for Jones and Santos on the International Fight Week card in Las Vegas this summer, squaring off in a battle for the bantamweight title.
It’s a bout that hasn’t generated as much buzz as some of the other contests that have come down the pike in the last couple days, in part because Holm has just a single victory in the division since dethroning Ronda Rousey and just a 2-4 mark in her last six.
But part of it is also that fans haven’t embraced the UFC’s female “Double Champ” the same way they have her male counterparts, continuing to “yeah, but” Nunes’ biggest achievements as if what she’s done over the last three years and change isn't incredible.
While Holm’s inclusion in the championship tilt is a little forced, but fully expected, the allure of this matchup is the opportunity it gives Nunes.
The American Top Team product is the fourth woman to hold the bantamweight title and Holm is the only member of that exclusive group that Nunes has yet to beat. She dominated Miesha Tate to claim the title and then sent Rousey scurrying to the WWE after her much ballyhooed comeback turned into a colossal disaster.
If she can handle Holm this summer in Las Vegas, it will leave no question as to who is the greatest women’s bantamweight of all-time. But it’s even bigger than that.
Nunes has also defeated the two women to hold the featherweight title in the UFC as well, having stopped Germaine de Randamie when they first started competing in the Octagon after Strikeforce was shuttered, and then blistering Cris Cyborg in a jaw-dropping performance that somehow didn’t get the recognition it deserved to claim that belt back in December.
You could already make a case for Nunes being the best female fighter in MMA history. With a win at UFC 239, there will be little room for debate.
A month before Jones and Nunes defend their respective titles in “The Fight Capital of the World,” twin title fights are set to headline the UFC’s return to Chicago in June.
Holding down the co-main event position is a flyweight bout between champion Valentina Shevchenko and challenger Jessica Eye.
After coming up just short in her bid to win the bantamweight title in 2017, Shevchenko spent 2018 proving she’s a dominant force in the 125-pound weight class by first brutalizing Priscila Cachoeira and then beating Joanna Jedrzejczyk 49-46 on all three scorecards to claim the vacant UFC flyweight title.
Her matchup with Eye is an interesting one because while many people seem to get bogged down in the fact that the Cleveland native, who has relocated to Las Vegas in recent months, had just one win in her first seven UFC starts, they tend to miss the part where the 32-year-old is 13-1 in bouts contested in and around the flyweight limit.
Yes, each of the three straight bouts she has won since shifting to the still relatively new 125-pound weight class have gone the distance and two of those three have been split-decision wins. But the overall results show that Eye is a tough out at flyweight and the kind of tenacious, scrappy opponent who should pull the best out of Shevchenko when the two lock up inside the United Center on June 8.
Closing out the UFC’s return to “The Second City” is a battle for the vacant bantamweight title between flyweight champion Henry Cejudo and entrenched No. 1 contender Marlon Moraes.
It’s the matchup that most anticipated, as Cejudo had been pegged to challenge TJ Dillashaw for the title before the Duane Ludwig protege relinquished the title after being informed of an “adverse finding” stemming from a drug test administered in advance of their flyweight championship clash in January and the UFC still seems transfixed by the idea of creating “Double Champs,” despite the chaos it brings.
Although it creates further confusion about the future of the flyweight division and slows the pace of the title chase at bantamweight, it is an outstanding fight that should have a significant impact on where each man stands in the pound-for-pound discussion, depending on who wins. Holding two belts would elevate Cejudo even higher in the rankings than he is now, while besting the Olympic medalist and flyweight kingpin would vault Moraes into the Top 10.
Stylistically, it’s a compelling fight as well, as Cejudo has excellent wrestling and steadily improving hands, as he showed against Dillashaw, while Moraes is a natural-born finisher with powerful strikes and an opportunistic submission game. While it may not be the matchup those wanting to see each division move forward on its own had hoped for, it’s an excellent fight that should close things out in Chicago in style.
Taken individually, these are all excellent fights that make a great deal of sense in their respective divisions. As tandem title fight main events for consecutive pay-per-view shows, they’re each a perfect fit to close out the cards they’re on.
Positioned at the top of the list of recently announced fights that also includes a rematch between former welterweight champs Tyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler, Rafael dos Anjos welcoming Kevin Lee to the 170-pound weight class, Cub Swanson fighting Shane Burgos and Mike Perry squaring up with “Cowboy” Oliveira in Fort Lauderdale, it all feels like something even bigger — like the UFC finally saying, 'You know what? We’re just going to stick to making fights that make sense and get people excited.'
It has been a busy 48-hours on the fight announcement front for the UFC, but there hasn’t been a dud in the group.
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Fans are buzzing. Dates on calendars are being circled. Debates are being had and columns are being written.
This is how it should always be.
Well done, UFC.