Three Fights We’d Like To See in 2023

2022 Is coming to a close which means that we have come to a whole new set of dates of fightnights, Pay Per View and other exciting things in the MMA world such as hopeful new seasons of The Ultimate Fighter and another season of Dana White’s Contender Series. We’ve put a list together of top fights we want to see in the UFC and hopefully Dana White is paying attention because we have some good ones picked for the Upcoming year.

Michael Chandler vs Conor McGregor

Michael Chandler has a not so good record in the UFC, but everytime the former Bellator Champ steps foot in the UFC Octagon he puts on an electric performance we think a showdown with Mystic Mac would be a great fight for both of these guys as they both put on performances in the cage (not so stellar as of late for McGregor though.) It would make sense that these two would fight at some point they talk trash they stylistically are a mismatch with Chandler being a great wrestler and Mcgregor Being a stellar striker in his prime. This would sell ppv buys and I’d love to see it. If this matchup didn’t work out, we’d like to see McGregor take on Jorge Masvidal.

Dustin Poirier vs Colby Covington

Dustin Poirier is getting over a recent case of staph infection, but when the former interim champ is done with treatment for the nasty case on his foot we’d like to see him fight the loudmouth Colby Covington who is also a former interim Champion. I think this fight would bring a lot of eyeballs to the UFC Octagon with Poirier being the good guy everyone loves while Covington is the classic heel goofball that many people despise. We think that poirier would have the upper hand in this fight as he has proved once again that he is one of the most entertaining fighters on the UFC Roster

Valentina Shevchenko vs Zhang Weili

Valentina Shevchenko is one of my favorite fighters too watch in the UFC Octagon. She is a great striker who puts on amazing performances in the women’s Flyweight Division. Shevchenko has defended her belt seven times, with all but one of those performances being in dominant fashion. Shevchenko a solid Mixed Martial Artist and we’d love to see her fight two time Women’s strawweight champion Zhang Weili. We love watching the 115 pound queen, Weili fight each time she steps into the octagon she brings the fight, who could forget her two performances against Joanna Jędrzejczyk, which were epic.

What’s Next For Dustin Poirier After UFC 281?

It was good to see Dustin Poirier return to the UFC Octagon where he was born to be. Poirier put himself at the front of the pack for Lightweight title contusion but we don’t think a title will be next for the Louisiana native but we do have some fights we’d like to see Poirier fight. The first fight we’d love to see Justin Gaethje take on Porier in the Octagon. One other opponent that would make for an interesting fight is high level Grappler Beneil Dariush. This is a long shot, but we’d love to see Poirier move up and fight Colby Covington, the pair hate each other and it’d make for high drama.

We’d love to see Porier fight Gaethje, and so does Gaethje who said in an interview before Chandler and Poiriers fight at UFC 281 “Ideally, Poirier beats Chandler, I’d like to fight Poirier. I mean, he beat me. That’s one win I’d like to get back. It was Fight of the Year, Fight of the Decade — Fight of a Couple Years, probably. That was a hell of a fight. That’s ideal” we certainly agree that this would be fireworks just like Porier’s fight with Chandler. It’d be a great fight to watch because Gaethje is a human highlight as his nickname implies because it’s true this would be a great fight.

One fight that makes sense for Louisiana’s Poirier is a matchup between him and Beneil Dariush. Dariush is coming off a win against Mateusz Gamrot at UFC 280 in October he is riding an amazing eight fight win streak which I think Poirier could snap in the UFC cage. But it would definitely be super competitive as Dariush and an amazing grappler who much like poirier is a Brazilian Jiu jitsu Black Belt, but he is on another level in grappling in terms of Grappling for MMA as Dariush in that division is up their with guys like Charles Oliveira.

Another good fight would be a matchup between Colby Covington and Poirier. The smack talk would be epic. This would be a move up for Poirier, but I think the diamond could manage this matchup very well. Covington is a wrestler and is quite boring; he barely backs up his smack talk in the cage with his lackluster striking and boring wrestling style and was almost cut by the promotion till he turned heel. Poirier on the other hand is a top tier fighter who will bring the fight to Covington. Just remember Poirier’s only two losses in the last six years were to Charles Oliveira and Khabib Nurmagomedov are two of the best Lightweights of all time.

These are some fights that would make sense for Dustin Poirier after his win against Michael Chandler at UFC 281. We can’t wait to see what comes next for the Diamond.

Fighter Profile: Paulo Costa

MMA has many entertaining figures in the sport with many who share memes and jokes, but none are as funny as UFC Middleweight Paulo Costa. The Brazilian is not only funny but has the skills to back up his internet hijinks in the cage sporting an impressive 13-2 record with losses in his last two outings. He hopes to get into the win column when he fights again at UFC 278 in his first outing of the year.

Costa was born April 21st, 1991 in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brazil he is the youngest of two siblings. Costa was an athlete growing up playing soccer and taking up Muay Thai. He’d later try Jiu jitsu but would quit the art when his father would pass away. Costa would later return to the sport, and would eventually gain a Black Belt in the art, the hardest belt to achieve in any martial art. But Costa had one thing that set him apart from other grapplers who move to MMA and that was his hands.

Costa made his Professional MMA debut in Febuary 2012 when he faced off against Teo Esteves for the MMA Total Combat promotion. He’d win the fight by TKO (head kick and punches.) He’d then face Ademilson Borges winning the fight by TKO (head kick and punches.) In his next bout Costa would face Fábio Moreira; he’d win this fight by TKO (punches.) He’d then win his next four of five fights by Knockout.

Costa would make his UFC debut in March 2017 against Garreth McLellan he’d win the fight by TKO (punches.) He’d then face Oluwale Bamgbose winning with a second round TKO. Johny Hendricks would be next for Costa and by no big surprise Costa would win the bout via TKO. He’d then beat Uriah Hall and Yoel Romero, before getting a title shot. Costa would get his title shot at UFC 253 when he faced off against Middleweight legend Israel Adesanya. He’d lose this fight and his next outing against Marvin Vettori.

We can’t wait to see what Costa does in the Octagon next.

UFC 278 Preview

Photo Courtesy of Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC/GETTY

UFC 278 Is a few weeks away and it is absolutely stacked. The first fight of interest is a matchup between José Aldo and Merab Dvalishvili. This fight will immediately be followed up by the funniest MMA fighter on the Internet Paulo Costa who will be facing off against Luke Rockhold. The Main event will be a title fight between Kamaru Usman and 19-3 Leon Edwards which is a rematch between the pair, who first faced off in December of 2015.

José Aldo is tough as nails and was at one point considered to be the best UFC Featherweight of all time. And if you look at all of Aldo’s losses were to killers like Petr Yan, Max Holloway, and Alexander Volkanovski. Aldo has won his last three and hopes to make it four wins a row. He is set to take on Merab Dvalishvili who is riding a seven fight win streak holding a 14-4 MMA record. The Georgian has a background in Wrestling, khridoli, Sambo and Judo.

If you don’t follow Paulo Costa you probably should. The Brazilian is one of the funniest men in MMA and talks shit on the internet. The Jiu Jitsu Black Belt has a 13-2 record and is on a two fight losing streak, but hopes to get back into the win column when he faced off against Luke Rockhold. Rockhold is also a Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu who has a 16-5 record with all of those loses coming against tough opposition like Michael Bisping, Vitor Belfort, and Jan Błachowicz. This fight is a banger.

The main event is really something to behold, a rematch seven years in the making. Kamaru Usman wasn’t the Champion back then, but now he is and the 170 pound title is on the line. Since their last meeting Edwards has gone without a loss and he hopes to get revenge from his loss against Usman with a win against the 170 pound champion.Usman looks to add another title defense to his resume when he fights against Edwards. Usman is phenomenal in the UFC Octagon with a perfect promotional record and an overall 20-1 record.

UFC 278 is a great card and will be live on ESPN+ PPV. It’s sure to be a night of great fights.

What’s Next For Amanda Nunes After UFC 277?

Amanda Nunes and Julianna Peña put on a Fight of the Year candidate at UFC 277 when they faced off in their second meeting. In this piece we’ll go over some of the options that Dana White and the UFC Matchmakers have for the greatest women’s fighter of all time. Could a third fight with Peña be in the cards? Could a fight with Valentina Shevchenko be in order? Or Could a matchup with someone in the Defunct Featherweight division be next for Nunes?

Peña has gone toe to toe with the GOAT multiple times now and has a 1-1 record against the champ. I think the promotion would love to make a third fight as it would definitely be a money maker, but I don’t know if it will be next for the Champ. In the seven rounds that the pair have faced off against each other Nunes has won six of them, making one think with how lopsided the fight was, is it really needed as there’s other fighters in the division that deserve a crack at 135. So I think that rematch will happen again but not right away.

Fans would love to see a matchup with Valentina Shevchenko. Since their last meeting Shevchenko has gone on a crazy title reign at 125 where she’s literally cleaned out the division much like the way Nunes did at 135 and 145. Shevchenko is 0-2 in her matchups with Amanda Nunes, but they both have run out of people to fight so it would make sense that Dana White would make this fight as it would make money and when two champions fight its something very special the fans would love to see.

Could a matchup at 145 be in the cards for Amanda Nunes. The division has a handful of fighters left on the roster. It seems like it’d be interesting to bring back the division with a new season of the Ultimate fighter where the winner takes on Amanda at the end of the season. White’s done odder things with the series, including adding divisions to the biggest MMA promotion naming champions, this would make sense to fans as they’re probably dying for another season of the Show as it just wrapped its latest season where Nunes coincidentally was a head coach of one of the teams.

These are some possibilities or ideas that would definitely work for the two division champ.

UFC 277 Preview

The UFC is having two interesting PPV cards this month with the second coming up at the end of the month headlined by the rematch of Amanda Nunes vs. Julianna Peña at UFC 277 for the UFC Bantamweight title. The card also features other great bouts including a matchup between Light Heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev and MMA veteran Anthony Smith. Heavyweight Derrick Lewis will also be fighting in a bout with Sergei Pavlovich. The Co-Main event will be a matchup between former Men’s Flyweight champion Brandon Moreno and Kai Kara-France.

A bout between Light Heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev and Anthony Smith is the first fight we’re excited for. Smith who has been fighting MMA for almost a decade and a half has compiled a career 36-16 record and is riding a three fight win streak since going through his last rough patch where he lost three out of four fights. He will be facing Magomed Ankalaev who came into the UFC in 2018 and since losing his promotional debut has not lost since with an amazing 17-1 record. Ankalaev hails from Dagestan and is a wrestler and a master of sport in combat Sambo.

Knockout artist Derrick Lewis will be facing off against Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 277. Lewis who is one of the most active fighters, lost in his last outing when he faced off against Tai Tuivasa at UFC 271. Lewis who hails from Houston is an interesting case as he doesn’t care about titles or glory he cares about knockouts and getting paid and going back to his property and his cars and living peacefully. Lewis is an entertainer and he looks to add to add to his knockout count when he stands across the Octagon against Pavlovich. Pavlovich is a talented wrestler who has heavy hands, with 12 of his 15 wins coming by way of knockout.

The Co-Main Event at UFC 277 is a matchup between former Men’s Flyweight champion Brandon Moreno and Kai Kara-France. Moreno is coming off his title fight against Deiveson Figueiredo where he lost his belt to Brazilian Deiveson Figueiredo. Moreno has an odd looking 19-6-2 record. Kara-France is a formidable opponent for Moreno in his last outing Kara-France beat a then undefeated Askar Askarov. Before that he had a great TKO victory over former Champion Cody Garbrandt. Kara-France hopes to beat another former UFC Champion.

The biggest upset in the MMA world was when Julianna Peña shocked the world and took the Bantamweight title from Amanda Nunes. The pair which are coaches on the Ultimate Fighter will face off again for the Bantamweight title at UFC 277. Nunes is still a favorite on every sports book for the rematch but not as heavy a favorite as she was in the last fight, where Peña showed everyone what a puncher’s chance really means.

Peña did everything she said she was going to do to Nunes, proving that she is a fierce opponent worthy of taking on any fighter in the division. Nunes, who holds her Black Belt in Judo and Jiu Jitsu and can throw her heavy hands, successfully defended the Bantamweight belt five times and won the Featherweight title in the process of defending that belt twice. We shall see if she regains the Bantamweight belt next from current champ Peña.

Three Great UFC Fights Still to Come In July of 2022

Usually we write about three MMA fights we’re excited for during the month ahead, but July is so jam packed with great MMA fights that we really had trouble picking fights we are super excited for, so we decided to look at some great fights during the second half of the month. Dana White and the matchmakers have put together some amazing Cards in the month of July.

Brian Ortega Vs. Yair Rodríguez UFC Fight Night Ortega Vs. Rodriquez July 16th

Brian “T-City” Ortega will make his return to the UFC octagon at UFC Fight Night Ortega Vs. Rodriquez, live from the UBS Arena, in Elmont New York. Ortega was in the fight of the year when he faced off against Alexander Volanovski, where Ortega took significant damage, but almost pulled off a bunch of amazing submissions against the Australian Featherweight Champ. Ortega has the best Jiu Jitsu in the UFC and we hope we get some crazy submission action from Ortega. Across the cage from him will be Yair Rodríguez has a 13-3(1) record and has been mostly inactive with his only fight in the last three years being a loss to Max Holloway.

Paddy ‘The Baddy’ Pimblett vs. Jordan Leavitt UFC London July 23rd

Paddy ‘The Baddy’ took the MMA world and internet world by storm when he popped up in the UFC apex last year the MMA star has been in San Diego training Judo and has gone through a spectacular weight loss transformation after a heavy bulk up after his last fight. The Liverpool lad is electric to watch, and always puts on a show. People forget how good Paddy’s amazing Jiu Jitsu is with eight of his victories coming by way of submission. Jordan Leavitt will be Pimblett’s opponent Leavitt is a 10-1 Lightweight who has six submission victories in his short MMA career. This should be an interesting fight between the pair.

Amanda Nunes Vs Julianna Peña UFC 277

The biggest gambling upset in the MMA world was when Julianna Peña shocked the world and took the Bantamweight title from the Lioness Amanda Nunes. The pair which are coaches on the Ultimate Fighter will face off again for the Bantamweight title at UFC 277. Nunes is still a favorite on every sports book for the rematch but not as heavy a favorite as she was in the last fight, we’re Peña showed everyone what a punchers chance really means. Nunes, who holds her Black Belt in Judo and Jiu Jitsu and can throw her heavy hands, successfully defended the Bantamweight belt five times and won the Featherweight title in the process of defending that belt twice. We shall see if she regains the Bantamweight belt next.

Three Great MMA Fights Coming In The Month of June

Photo By: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports

June is already here and Bellator and the UFC have some killer fights coming up in the month of June. The first two are from the biggest MMA promotion’s first PPV in Asia since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. The other fight is a matchup between Bellator Middleweights in a championship bout.

Joanna Jedrzejczyk vs. Weili Zhang UFC 275

Former UFC Strawweight champions Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Weili Zhang will face off in the UFC Octagon at UFC 275 in the rematch of their epic championship bout which has been called the greatest Women’s MMA fight of all time where Zhang inflicted so much damage on Jedrzejczyk that she had a giant hematoma on her head the size of a small Nerf football. It was a major fight for the Division which was only about 6 years old at the time. And got a lot of people that weren’t into the idea of Women’s MMA to actually enjoy female MMA. Zhang has been training with Henry Cejudo in recent camps. It is also rumored that former champion Rose Namajunas has reached out to Jedrzejczyk to help prepare her for the showdown at UFC 275.

Valentina Schevchenko vs. Taila Santos UFC 275

The second fight we’re excited for is a matchup between Flyweight Champion Valentina Schevchenko and Taila Santos for the Flyweight title. Schevchenko has shown mastery in the UFC cage throughout her UFC career with her only two losses of her career coming against Female MMA G.O.A.T. former two division champ Amanda Nunes. Schevchenko’s striking is next level and we think this is a great matchup for the fans as Santos is also a striker growing up in a house with a father who was a Muay Thai coach, she is riding a four fight win streak with wins over ‘Meatball’ Molly McCann, Submission specialist Gillian Robertson and UFC veterans Roxanne Modafferi, and Joanne Wood.

Gegard Mousasi vs Johnny Eblen Bellator 282

Former Strikeforce and UFC veteran Gegard Mousasi will return to the Bellator Cage in a few weeks at Bellator 282 live from Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT. In his last appearance in the Bellator cage Mousasi faced off against a then Undefeated Austin Vanderford and made quick work of the heavily tatted in his second successful title defense which extended Mousasi’s win streak to four wins in a row. Since entering Bellator, Mousasi has an impressive 7-1 promotional record. His opponent Johnny Eblen, much like Vanderford, is undefeated. Mousasi will look to put an end to Eblens run to the top of the Bellator Middleweight division.

UFC 274 Preview

UFC 274 is right around the corner, and the main card is must watch TV. The first fight of the night features MMA veteran and all around badass Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone facing off against another badass UFC veteran Joe Lauzon. The next fight of note is between former interim Champ Tony Ferguson and former Bellator Champ Michael Chandler. Both Ferguson and Chandler are both in need of a win. The Card is then headlined by two title fights the first title fight is between Strawweights former champ Carla Esparza will face current champ Rose Namajunas. The final fight of the night will be between Justin Gaethje and Lightweight Champion Charles Oliveira.

Donald Cowboy Cerrone has made a career out of taking short notice fights and fighting all comers. Some think that this will be Cerrone’s last fight in the UFC cage. Cerrone has had a couple of rough outings over the last three years most notably a Knockout loss to Conor McGregor. Joe Lauzon is on the back nine of his career; he got back in the win column in his last outing when he faced off against Jonathan Pearce winning by TKO. This was after a very rough patch in his career when he dropped three in a row to Stevie Ray, Clay Guida, and Chris Gruetzemacher. It will be Lauzon’s first bout in the UFC since before the Pandemic in 2019.

The next bout we’re really excited for is a matchup between Michael Chandler and Tony Ferguson. Chandler put on one of the best fights last year when he squared up against Justin Gaethje in the UFC Octagon. The pair traded shots for a long time with Gaethje coming up the victor in the end. Chandler is now set to face Tony Ferguson with the pair being on losing streaks both are hoping to get back to their winning ways. Ferguson in his last three outings has faced top tier competition but was unable to secure victories against Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira, and Beneil Dariush. It should be interesting to see who comes out of this matchup with a win.

The final two bouts on this card are title fights. The first being a rematch between Carla Esparza and Rose Namajunas. The pair faced off during The Ultimate Fighter: A Champion Will Be Crowned Finale for the inaugural UFC Women’s Strawweight Championship. Esparza walked away with the belt in their first meeting and will hope to reclaim the title from Namajunas. Namajunas is on her second stint as UFC Champion and hopes to make her second title defense this go around when she faces off against Esparza.

The final bout of UFC 274 is for The Lightweight title and will feature Justin Gaethje facing off with Submission Specialist Charles Oliveira. Gaethje is no stranger to big fights as he is the Former World Series of Fighting Lightweight Champion and is also a former UFC Interim Lightweight Champion he hopes to take Oliveiras belt. Oliveira will do everything in his power to stop this. The Brazilian grappler has been on an awesome ten fight winning streak two of those wins were title fights where he beat Michael Chandler vacant UFC Lightweight Championship. Broke the UFC record for most finishes (17). And a great title defense against one of the best Lightweights in the world Dustin Poirier. This matchup between Gaethje and Oliveira is going to be must-see TV and we are excited to watch how this goes down.

You can catch UFC 274 on ESPN+ PPV on May 7th.

Update: Charles Oliveira missed weight and has been stripped of his UFC Lightweight title and will not be eligible to win the Lightweight title if he is victorious at UFC 274

Fighter Profile: Bryce Mitchell

Bryce Mitchell proved at UFC 272 that he is well on his way to being one of the best fighters in the Featherweight division. Mitchell stepped in the cage and put on a great performance against Edson Barboza. He smothered Barboza much like Khabib did when he faced Barboza in 2017. Mitchell’s ground work is top level and it would be interesting to see him take on someone who’s just as good as him on the ground or a pure striker. Mitchell is exciting to watch and he wears many hats including fighter, farmer, and gun advocate. Mitchell is also a rapper and is skilled in academics earning a degree in economics from Harding University.

Mitchell was born October 4, 1994 Cabot, Arkansas. Growing up he didn’t know his father and was raised primarily by his mother. Mitchell went to Cabot High School where he played basketball and wrestled. Mitchell would place second at the 7A state championships as a junior and fourth at the 6A state championships as a senior. After graduating he’d move to Searcy, Arkansas where he’d go to college and get his degree. He’d eventually start training MMA in Searcy out of Barata MMA. He’d earn his Black Belt in Jiu Jitsu here and would start competing in armature MMA where he held an impressive 5-1 record.

Mitchell would make his professional debut in January 2015 when he faced off against Sheldon Smith. Mitchell would secure his professional win via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke.)Mitchell would then face Jesse Sanderson in May of that year again winning by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke.) Mitchell’s next opponent would be Tony Williams, and no surprise he’d win this again by Submission (Rear-Naked Choke.) He’d then face Chris Culley winning by Submission (Armbar.) Jorge Medina would be next for Mitchell in the World Series Of Fighting promotion; he’d get the victory via Submission (Rear-Naked Choke.) He’d win his next four fights before getting the call to compete on the Ultimate Fighter.

Mitchell would appear on the Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated. On the show he’d win his first bout against castmate Jay Cucciniello before getting knocked out of the show with a loss to Brad Katona. Mitchell faced Tyler Diamond on July 6, 2018 in his UFC debut he’d win by Majority Decision. He’d then face Bobby Moffett in his next outing winning the contest by Unanimous Decision. Matt Sayles would be next for Mitchell, Mitchell would get the victory with an impressive and rare Twister Submission. He’d then fight Charles Rosa and Andre Fili in his next two contests winning both by unanimous decision. He’d then face MMA veteran Edson Barboza in his second most impressive outing, smothering the Brazilian fighter for three whole rounds.

Mitchell has a lot of hype behind him for good reason, his grappling is next level and it’d be interesting to see him face off against a fighter of higher rank like Calvin Kattar or Giga Chikadze.