The UFC MW division will be the most exciting and captivating division in MMA in 2024. Sometimes a fight gets booked and people say well that has FOTN written all over it well I think MW has DOTY written all over it for 2024.
Strickland just took the belt off Adesanya in a huge upset.
Chimaev vs Costa is booked.
Du Plessis just KOed Whittaker.
Paul Craig has dropped down to MW, debuts vs Allen.
Aliskerov vs Imavov winner gonna be there for a big fight.
Cannonier just beat Vettori
Plenty of guys like Borralho, Hernandez, Park, Ruziboev and Rodriguez climbing the ranks.
Bo Nickal is gonna take a step up in comp and Iâm sure Rodolfo Vieira will as well.
âMe & @SStricklandMMA had the biggest upsets of 2023 so letâs settle this like men Iâm ready. After that @stylebender can get a hiding in Africa. I donât want to fight the amateur that fought on Sat I want to beat the best Adesanya, take some time and get your sh*t together first.â
Adesanya was dropped in Round 1 and could never get going as he was constantly pressured by Strickland. UFC president Dana White, who was not happy with Du Plessis not making it to the fight against Adesanya, thinks Adesanya should get an immediate rematch against Strickland. If that happens, that would put a major halt to Du Plessisâ plans.
Hopefully UFC gets Johnny Eblen from Bellator. Would be a great addition to an already tremendous division.
PFL does not even have a MW division at the moment, they got rid of it to create that failure of a WLW division that they already had to cancel. Who could have seen that coming, lol.
A lot going on in the division before we hit 2024.
Adesanya has said he is taking a break, we will see if that means he is not fighting in 2024 or not, who knows.
With Bellator possibly ending or being bought by PFL we donât know if Eblen ends up in UFC in 2024 or not, who knows. Brunson just made the jump to PFL.
What is known is that Usman has thrown his hat in the ring and the winner of Usman vs Chimaev gets the next title shot vs Strickland.
Then you got Cannonier about to fight Dolidze in December. Both 4-1 in their last five and highly ranked. Cannonier has a recent win over the current champ but he is aging and didnât look great in his title fight vs Adesanya.
Below that in the rankings you got Paul Craig who just won his MW debut and he is now fighting Brendan Allen in Novermber and Allen happens to have a big win streak going.
You got some other fights happening before the end of the year like the Rodolfo Vieira, Aliskerov, Petroski, Muniz and Borralho fights and that about covers it.
Looks like the loss to Jiri in RIZIN was his last fight. Might of been an issue with injuries and maybe he was just mentally done with it, no clue.
Lookis like Salter retired after his last fight, a win over Jeffery. He is 38 now.
Too bad Rafael Lovato Jr. started MMA late and retired after injury. Beat Mousasi and won the Bellator title while already in his mid 30âs. I see he returned for won fight at Inoki Bom Ba Ye but thats it. He is 40 now.
Didnât realize Salter was that old, good on him picking up a win and retiring. No shame losing to Moose and Eblen.
Lovato would have been interesting now that USADA is gone, for sure! I figured something devastating happened with Halsey for him to go from looking like an absolute world beater to meh. His title run through Bellator reminded me of Weidman, kicked everyoneâs ass then subbed Alexander Schlemenko in like a minute for gold. Was whipping Carvalho before that kick too, after that he was never the same, if I remember right though it was a body kick? Weird for a body KO to be career changing but it could have fucked his mentality up I guess.
This is making me nostalgic, I used to love going to the cigar lounge to watch Bellator I never missed a card. Have only seen a few main events the last couple years now.
Shara Magomedov is not gonna become some serious contender or gatekeeper to the top 10 but there are some fun fights for him.
Why not Michel Pereira vs Magomedov next to open a PPV or headline a prelim? Pereira just moved to MW and scored a KO last week over Petroski, the guy who claimed to be the best grappler at MW and was calling out Nickal.
Aliskerov has a very high ceiling and its doubtful and rematch with Chimaev would end so fast. That was a short notice WW he beat last night though to be fair but he KOed Phil Hawes just as fast last fight. Actually just read Aliskerov beat Bellator WW champ Amosov 2x in sambo. Amosov happens to now be like 26-0 in MMA.
Dana said last night, obviously, some ranked fighter will have to agree to fight him next.
