What’s to Come for the UFC

The UFC has given us a wonderful year to remember already. From Alexander Volkanovski trying to become double champ, Jon Jones’s magnificent return and Israel Adesanya’s amazing knockout on Alex Pereira. There have been many moments this year that left us in awe. Now we have 3 PPV’s left and to say that they are only good would be an understatement. 

With UFC 294 we see the rematch for the lightweight belt between Islam Makhachev Vs. Charles Oliveira. If the Charles that showed up against Beneil Dariush shows up then we are in for a completely different fight than last year. One fight that every UFC fan should be watching on that card is the fight between Khamzat Chimaev Vs. Paulo Costa. This fight in my opinion should be a number one contender fight in the middleweight division. It has been over a year since we’ve seen these two in action and there is legitimate bad blood between these two. There is no way that this fight is boring.

In November we see the return of the G.O.A.T. Jon Jones Vs. Stipe Miocic. I don’t expect this fight to be as good as advertised because the last time we saw Stipe, he was knocked out cold by Francis Ngannou in 2021. Stipe Miocic is now 41 years old and his last win was against Daniel Cormier in 2020. On the other hand the co-main event is one of the best matchups the UFC could possibly ever make. We see the return of former light-heavyweight champion Jiri Prochazka Vs. Alex “Poatan” Pereira. These two have a style where if you blink, you might miss the knockout. Alex Pereira is one of the greatest kickboxers of all time and Jiri Prochazka has the most unique style we have probably ever seen. When you watch Prochazka you can tell he really embraces the spirit of a mixed martial artist. But Poatan has that touch of death in that left hook, and if that lands it lights out.

To end the year off we finally get to see the long awaited return of Colby Covington Vs. Leon Edwards. Although I believe that Belal Muhammad was deserving of this title shot, I am ok with this matchup. The co-main event we see the newly crowned flyweight champion Alexandre Pantoja Vs. Brandon Royval 2. Pantoja is a a fucking savage who goes for the kill every single second he is fighting. Royval is coming off a 3 fight winning streak to face the last man who beat him. Once again in my opinion I feel like Amir Albanian should’ve gotten this title shot as he just defeated Kai Kara France in a close fight. 

UFC 294-296 should give us fans the memories that we have been given for years. But all these matchups are something only Boxing fans could ever dream of.  This has been one amazing year for the UFC already and it's only going to get better.

Charles Oliveira celebrating after finishing Beneil Dariush. Picture Creds (Sports Illustrated)