Mixed Martial March

With another month of MMA action behind us, this will be a recap of the month of March for the sport, and what to expect for the future. 

This month again saw an incredibly anticipated fight at UFC 285 with former dominant light heavyweight champion, Jon Jones, moving up to heavyweight to fight for the vacant title against former interim champion, Ciryl Gane. Of course, the reason there was no champion is that the UFC released title holder Francis Ngannou over contract disputes on sponsorships and overall fighter pay. However, this did not put a damper on the event with the excitement of the return of Jon Jones after a three year hiatus from the sport. There were many questions to be answered with this fight: how would Jon’s time away affect him? How would Jon’s size disadvantage as a true light heavyweight make a difference? Would Jon’s last two poor performances in wins against Dominick Reyes and Thiago Santos give a strategy for victory for Gane?

Through all of that, Jones won easily, getting Gane to the ground and submitting him in just over two minutes. It is now a consensus that Jon Jones is the greatest fighter in the history of the UFC, having become a champion in two divisions. In Jones’ future, he will most likely fight former champion Stipe Miocic in July. Even though Miocic may not deserve the title shot as it has been two years since he last fought, where he lost the title, people are just excited to watch the greatest heavyweight in UFC history fight Jones. There has not been much talk from the UFC or just the general MMA world about a future opponent for Gane, but Sergey Spivac, Tom Aspinall, or the loser of the bout next month between Sergei Pavlovich and Curtis Blaydes are some options. Gane will need to drastically improve his wrestling ability to stay among the top contenders. 

The same event saw a title fight between longtime flyweight champion Valentina Schevchenko and contender Alexa Grasso. This fight seemed like just another name added to Schevchenko’s title defense list, as Grasso did not have a stellar resume going into the fight. Surprisingly, Grasso took the champion down in the fourth round after Schevchenko stumbled with a spinning back kick, and Grasso submitted her to become the champion. It was a massive upset reminiscent of Holly Holm beating Ronda Rousey, or Juliana Peña beating Amanda Nunes. Even though this seemed like a fluke as Schevchenko made a mistake throwing that kick, Grasso was definitely dominating the striking throughout the fight. There is likely going to be an immediate rematch between the two, and so rising contenders like Erin Blanchfield will have to wait for their title shot. 

This month had two UFC pay-per-view events, with UFC 286 putting on a trilogy championship fight between champion Leon Edwards and former champ Kamaru Usman. They fought back at UFC 278 where, the then longtime champion, Usman dominated most of the fight but was caught with a head kick knockout in the final minute of the fight by Edwards. They were of course given an immediate rematch as Edwards’ win seemed like a fluke. Surprising some critics, Edwards won a close back-and-forth by majority decision, cementing himself as the true welterweight champion. Looking to the future, the UFC is looking to put Edwards against former interim champion Colby Covington for this summer. Many, including Leon, do not think Covington deserves this fight as he has not fought often and has avoided the many tough opponents of the division, but the UFC wants to get a fight made and Covington is by far the biggest star in the top of the division. For Usman, it is more interesting as many think he will retire now that he has lost twice in a row. If he chooses to continue, he would have to face some of the many talented contenders of the division, likely with the fighter that deserves a title shot the most, Belal Muhammad. 

The same night was a bout between former interim lightweight champion, Justin Gaethje, and rising contender Rafael Fiziev. Many were looking to give Fiziev a shot at the title if he could win. However, Gaethje won a majority decision in entertaining and dramatic fashion, and there’s going to have to be more fights to be made for these contenders. Gaethje will most likely rematch against Dustin Poirier, and the winner will probably get a shot at the title. Gaethje is nearing the end of his career and clearly wants an undisputed title, so he will need to fight the upper echelon of the division to get that chance. For Fiziev, his attempted quick run to the title has been stopped, and so he will have to fight some lower-level contenders in order to move up, probably with Mateusz Gamrot.

The UFC also had a notable fight night card with a bout between former bantamweight champion Petr Yan and rising contender Merab Dvalishvili. It resulted in a surprising outcome, with a dominant unanimous decision victory for Dvalishvili, who attempted the most takedowns in a fight in UFC history. Yan, who was predicted to be a dominant champion and is seen as one of the best strikers in the sport, is now 1-4 in his last 5 fights, with a DQ loss, two controversial judge’s decision defeats, and now being totally dominated in a fight. For Dvalishvili, he’s the number one contender, but is hesitant to fight for the title against the current champion Aljamain Sterling, who is a partner at his gym. The UFC does not seem sympathetic to his concerns and if Sterling defends his title against former champion Henry Cejudo in May, he might just have to take the title shot or fight another contender, probably with Cory Sandhagen, who had a win this month. For Yan, it’s odd to see such a talent fall so much in two years, but he’s going to have to take some contenders to stay relevant, most likely with a rematch of his controversial loss to star Sean O’Malley. 

Meanwhile in Bellator, they are having a grand prix tournament among their lightweight division, with this month’s fight between champion Usman Nurmagomedov, cousin of former UFC lightweight champion Khabib Nurmagomedov, and another former UFC lightweight champ, Benson Henderson. Nurmagomedov would win easily with a first round submission, and Henderson retired from the sport after the bout. He was champion in both the former WEC promotion and the UFC, getting the same number of title defenses in the UFC as Khabib Nurmagomedov, who is seen as one of the greatest mixed martial artists in history. He also had an all-time classic fight against Anthony Pettis the first time they fought, but he is not remembered as well as others as he had a ‘boring’ style for some fights, won some controversial decisions, and two of his title defenses in the UFC were not even on a pay-per-view event. In my opinion, Benson Henderson is the most forgotten great fighter in MMA history. 

This month was a big one for the UFC, with Jon Jones coming back and a competitive trilogy coming to a close. But there are still questions for the matchmaking of the future, and whether those choices are fair, and what the consequences are of a champion leaving the promotion due to a pay dispute. How this next year plays out will be incredibly telling and impactful for the future of the UFC and the relevance and growth of other promotions around the sport.