This past week, The UFC blessed us with three events in eight days. UFC 249 kicked off the events on Saturday May 9th, and followed up with UFC Fight Night in Jacksonville on the following Wednesday and Saturday. The UFC did not disappoint, they stringed together awesome fights and new hypes.
Henry Cejudo defeats Dominick Cruz in the first round. He then retires. Tojny Ferguson gets lit up for five rounds by Justin Gethje for the interim title belt. Glover Teixera destroys Anthony SMith for five straight rounds. A half dozen sketchy decisions. Vicente Luque and Niko Price put on a show while the coming out party of Kevin Holland, Miguel Baez and Giga Chikadze. All this to say is what’s next? The UFC has committed to continue to put on fights, but who do they have in mind?
A few divisions were thrown for a loop of the last nine days but fret no more, I have a few solutions and suggestions the UFC may or may not use.
Heavyweight
Alistair Overeem defeats Walt Harris by TKO in the second round, Francis Ngannou KOs Jairzinho Rosenstruik in 40 seconds. Alexei Oleinik defeats Fabricio Werdum by decision. So it leaves a few questions but the most common ones are “when is Ngannou getting his tile shot”? “Ngannou should fight Jones?”. I know I’ve asked these questions. I like that Ngannou gets his title shot first before he fights Jones, but Stipe is battling an eye injury and might not be ready for a while. Daniel Cormier is available but why would he take that fight? Ngannou should go for Jones first while waiting for Stipe to come back or vacate the belt.
Bantamweight
Henry Cejudo retires from the sport after defeating Dominick Cruz and I totally respect that decision. Get out on top with millions and fight 2-3 more times in superfights and make a few more million. Dominick Cruz was not ranked but deserved his shot because he technically never lost the belt. Triple C retiring leaves huge gap at the top. Dana White has said that it will be Peter Yan vs TBD. Options are Aljimain Sterling, Cory Sandhagen or Raphael Asuncao. I like the Sterling vs Yan fight, very nice matchup to watch.
Lightweight
All we wanted was Tony Ferguson to fight Khabib, but Ferguson had to fight Gaethje and what a mistake that was. Justin Gaethje is no slouch and he proved that on May 9th. The D1 wrestler/brawler put on a boxing clinic vs the #1 contender Ferguson. Gaethje wins the interim, so he will fight Khabib. Conor, in conor fashion, challenged every ranked fight + Oscar De La Hoya. Charles Olivera has been fightying well as well, I like him to face a top 5 fighter, he is currently on a seven fight win streak. Throw Dan Hooker into the mix, and we a cluster fuck. Goodluck to Uncle Dana and the UFC.