UFC
Gane vs Spivak
Volkov vs Tuivasa
Blaydes vs Almeida
Jones vs Stipe for the title
Of course everyone cares who wins Jones Stipe even if they don’t like Stipe getting this shot and then there is the question of who does and who does not retire after this fight and if so for how long.
Aspinall is fresh off a great win over Tybura and Pavlovich appears to be waiting for the next title shot.
Despite Ngannou leaving… Gane, Jones, Aspinall, Pavlovich and Almeida have created some interest in the division as I don’t think anyone wanted to see something like a Blaydes and Volkov title trilogy with Lewis and Tuivasa battling it out for a title shot.
Bellator:
Bader vs Vassell for the title
PFL:
Goltsov vs Ferreira for the title
Gamebred FC:
Werdum vs JDS II
ONE
Lets see what Malykhin does next.
Then Ngannou is also boxing vs Fury in October and apparently Joshua vs Wilder could happen in Jan.
Austen Lane vs Justin Tafa on the Adesanya card as well with Volkov vs Tuivasa.
Hopefully both Usyk vs Fury and Joshua vs Wilder do get put together for early next year and who knows if they ever do get a fight together with the winners like was rumored this spring.
How many years now have fans been unable to actually watch Joshua vs Wilder or Joshua vs Fury? Many.
Big win for JDS over Werdum. JDS vs the winner of Nelson vs Belcher is what Masvidal wants next. Nelson vs Belcher in October for the title.
Tafa now has a 3 fight win streak with three first round KO’s. Only 29 years old.
Volkov now has a 3 fight win streak with three finishes. 11-4 in the UFC HW division but 37-10 in MMA and still just 34. Most HW’s with that amount of fights are 44 not 34.
Aspinall, Gane and now Volkov with these recent wins and the top five and title situation is now a very interesting thing at HW in the UFC.
HW is not in the greatest state but at the top end theres some solid fighters. Jones, Aspinall, Pavlovich, Gane, Blaydes, Jailton. Its not as bad as it was in the mid 00s, i’m talking UFC specifically of course not including Pride.
There was a year there, I think like 2004 or 2005 were UFC held seven HW fights the entire year. They had nothing. Someone on here was trying to say how UFC has always been the premier org at HW and I had to laugh and explain to them, UFC barely even had HW fights at PRIDE’s peak. Their division was nothing and nobody tried to say it was except young fans that didn’t know history. This fan obviously did not follow the sport in those years and just has a brand loyalty issue with UFC.
The winners of all these HW Fight Nights fights are in the top five and close to title fights. They make the division a lot better than it was before they climbed the ranks. Jones vs Stipe is for the actual title, thats a position all the HW’s would love to be in even if people didn’t really want to see Stipe getting this shot.
A lot of money on the line with that PFL final and same with the Bellator title fight.
Nothing wrong with the bareknuckle MMA fights featuring the legends.
Sure the Fury Ngannou fight is a bit silly but it is what it is.
Its not the 2010 HW division of Strikeforce/UFC but it could be worse.
Jones vs Stipe for UFC title.
Fury vs Ngannou and Usyk
Verhoeven vs Osaro
Nelson vs Belcher
Rothwell vs Duffee
Pretty big 4th quarter for HW across those five combat sports. As a bonus you got the PFL finals and the Almeida vs Lewis fight.
If Jones and Stipe both retire after November its gonna be interesting to see how things go with Pavlovich, Gane, Volkov, Almeida and Aspinall in 2024.
