UFC 300 has come and gone and it did not disappoint in the least. For several months, the MMA world had the event circled with extreme anticipation, hoping it would prove to be worth the wait. While it proved to be, any time an event like this passes by, it leaves a bit of “now what?” sentiment.
The UFC brass addressed some of that in the post-fight press conference, announcing the main events to UFC 302 and 303. Islam Makhachev will defend his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier at UFC 302, not to mention Sean Strickland clashing with Paulo Costa in the co-main event. UFC 303 doesn’t appear to be as concrete as Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler are finally expected to finish their business, but nothing with McGregor ever feels like a sure thing anymore. Regardless, it provides something to look forward to.
However, the “what now?” sentiment is one of the things fans love about MMA. We love discussing where the UFC should go next, why we think they’ll do what we believe they’ll do next, and why anyone who disagrees with us is full of it. Perhaps I over-exaggerate with the idea of saying anyone who disagrees with us is full of it, but there’s no doubt those do exist. Regardless, there are several issues to be addressed going forward.
What’s the next challenge for Alex Pereira?
Pereira dealt with Jamahal Hill with far greater ease than anyone could have predicted. Given Hill’s youth, it’s hard to believe he won’t challenge for the light heavyweight title against someday, but he’s out of the picture for now. However, what Pereira has ahead of him next is hard to predict for certain. In fact, the champion didn’t help things out when he declared he wanted a heavyweight challenge at UFC 301 in his native Brazil.
Dana White didn’t appear to be too excited to have Pereira make such a quick turnaround, so I doubt that comes to fruition. Regardless, even if Jiri Prochazka delivered an emphatic victory over Aleksander Rakic, it isn’t entirely clear he’s the proper direction for Pereira to take either. While the general fandom has forgotten about Magomed Ankalaev, he’s sure to let his presence be known. After all, he hasn’t lost a fight since 2018, a stretch of 12 fights. I get that Prochazka is a former champion and his loss to Pereira was controversial... but he did lose to Pereira.
Regardless of whether one believes Prochazka or Ankalaev is more deserving, the UFC has two more than deserving contenders at light heavyweight. Given that, Pereira shouldn’t be looking at the heavyweight division while he still has the light heavyweight title around his waist. The world we live in is full of tradeoffs. There are rewards to being the champion and there are responsibilities to being the champion. When there’s a clear challenger in the wings, I’ve always believed it best for the challenge to first be addressed. Given there are two, Pereira has no business venturing up to heavyweight, at least not yet.
Will Tatiana Suarez finally get her title shot?
I don’t want to make it sound like I’m crapping all over Yan Xiaonan. Yan is fine fighter, worthy of fighting for the title. But was she more deserving than Tatiana Suarez? I would say no. Suarez has never tasted defeat in her career and successfully managed to return from a nearly four-year layoff from a serious neck issue last year with a pair of emphatic victories, including one over former champion Jessica Andrade. Yan also had a win over Andrade, not to mention a win over Mackenzie Dern, but she also had consecutive losses prior to those victories. Perhaps being undefeated doesn’t mean what it once meant.
If I’m being honest, I understand what the UFC was trying to do. They badly wanted to have the China vs. China narrative for Weili Zhang vs. Xiaonan. After all, China is a burgeoning market for MMA and features a population of well over a billion people. If they were to give Suarez a title shot ahead of Yan, there’s no guarantee that fight would be waiting for them. Maybe Suarez beats Weili or perhaps Yan has a fight in between and losses that. The UFC losses their biggest possible marketing boon in China. The opportunity was there for the UFC and they took it. From a business standpoint, I can’t blame them.
Regardless, Suarez represents a stylistic problem for Weili. Weili has been able to fall back on her brute strength time and again in the grappling department. It’s hard to believe she’d be able to get away with that against Suarez, by far the most dominant wrestler the division has seen in its history. That isn’t to say Weili doesn’t have a route to victory; Suarez’s striking has never been dependable and she has never fought five rounds. Regardless, Suarez’s story of overcoming cancer and a career-threatening neck issue on a quest to become champion is easy to market. It’s time to put her in the championship lights.