MMA fans who have seen recent posts on social media by Jon Jones know that he is almost ready to compete in the heavyweight category.
He said he weighs around 240 kilograms, and at 6 feet-4, the former UFC light heavyweight champion is looking to wrap more muscle per frame. It should be ready to compete in a few months in the desired form, but shouldn’t it?
While a fight for the heavyweight championship for Jones, who is probably the greatest mixed martial artist ever, makes sense, the image of the division’s title is somewhat blurred.
Champion Stipe Miocic is expected to defend against top competitor Francis Ngannou, possibly in March, but that fight has not been made official. Would Jones be willing to take another fight in the meantime when he joins a new division?
Meanwhile, Tony Ferguson is another great veteran whose future is unclear.
Ferguson saw the end of 12 fights against Justin Gaethje in May and was called up by Charles Oliveira at UFC 256 on December 12th. Suddenly, the guy who couldn’t lose had problems even winning a round in 2020.
Ferguson is no longer in the title picture. He is simply a fighter looking to get back on track. But at 36, is it too late for Ferguson to become a dominant force again?
The ESPN expert group of Ariel Helwani, Brett Okamoto, Marc Raimondi and Jeff Wagenheim discusses these topics and more, breaking down what is real and what is not real.
Real or not: Jon Jones will not wait for the winner Stipe Miocic-Francis Ngannou to make his heavyweight debut.
Helwan: He certainly should, and the UFC would prefer that too. It also doesn’t look like Jones is campaigning or itching for a fight before fighting for the heavyweight title.
Here’s the deal: The UFC wants Stipe Miocic to defend the heavyweight title against Francis Ngannou in March. In fact, UFC representatives recently met with Miocic in hopes of ending the title fight. The fight for the title is not yet a closed deal, but that’s certainly what the promotion wants, I’m told.
In a perfect world, the UFC would like the winner of that fight to defend the belt against Jones in the summer, sources said. Now, considering that Miocic has averaged one fight a year in the last three years and Ngannou – through no fault of his own – seems to be fighting for about 30 seconds a year, this should be a welcome plan for everyone. I see Ngannou making that quick change, but historically, Miocic didn’t like it.
However, that’s what the UFC wants. And that’s what he should want. It would be a huge mistake to reserve Jones for a non-champion at this time. If he loses, he will lose the big money fight of Jones who will be looking for a second title. Why risk that, especially since Jones looked human until late and we don’t know how he’ll stand up to the big boys? It’s not worth it. Jones Vs. the winner Miocic-Ngannou is a massive fight. It’s a fight to be made.
Jones Vs. a heavyweight competitor is fun, no doubt, but without an attached belt it doesn’t feel as great.
Book Miocic-Ngannou in March, hope the winner doesn’t get hit too hard and then give Jones the fight for the heavy belt this summer. Just don’t tell Israel Adesanya about this plan …
Real or not: Tony Ferguson’s days as an easy suitor are over.
Okamoto: It breaks my heart to say it, but I really have to go here. Before his fight last week against Charles Oliveira, I, like many others, said it was a crossroads for Ferguson at the age of 36. I said everything is on the line for him at UFC 256. And he was dominated in the fight. How can I come back this week and still call him a lightweight competitor? Now, if Ferguson has a year back in 2021, I will shocked? Not. It’s not as if his skill set has broken or his ability to punch is gone.
Don’t count it completely forward. But now he was dominated in back-to-back fights and was dominated in two very different ways. He was overtaken by Justin Gaethje in May, and severely overtaken by Oliveira in December. And there are so many lightweight weights waiting in the wings to take a place in the top 5 that has belonged to Ferguson for years.
At this point, I think it’s reasonable to say that it will be difficult for Ferguson to keep those guys and keep his place in the knocking order. For some time he has been one of the best weights in the world and nothing that has happened this year has changed my mind about how good he was at that time, but in terms of talking about him at the championship level, Those days may well be over.
Real or not: If Khabib Nurmagomedov fights in 2021, he is more likely to face the GSP than Conor McGregor.
Raimondi: Extremely real. Nurmagomedov was quite clear in this regard. He sees no competitive reason for a McGregor rematch. Nurmagomedov stopped McGregor in the fourth round by submitting in the fight for the UFC title at UFC 229 on October 6, 2018. In his mind, the UFC lightweight champion does not think he has anything more to prove from a sporting point of view against the most big UFC star. Nurmagomedov said the only thing the UFC could offer him to fight McGregor again is a lot of money, but Nurmagomedov has shown countless times that he puts his personal principles above the all-powerful dollar. In many cases, this could be considered a lip service, but not with Khabib.
I think the only fight that would bring Nurmagomedov back to the Octagon would be a legacy against Georges St-Pierre. This has been said many times, but it is true. Come back and listen and read old interviews – from years ago – with Nurmagomedov and his late father Abdulmanap. The Nurmagomedovians placed St-Pierre on a pedestal. Khabib believes that GSP is the best fighter in the history of MMA. With Nurmagomedov now at 29-0, what better way to end a career than to take St-Pierre, the former UFC middleweight and welterweight champion, with the chance to make him a perfect 30?
The only other fight that could have made sense for Nurmagomedov’s return was the unfortunate fight with Tony Ferguson. But Ferguson went 0-2 in 2020 and it doesn’t look like the man wanted to fight Nurmagomedov in the first place. I really think that, at least for now, Nurmagomedov will remain retired, unless the UFC can pull St-Pierre out of retirement for what would be an absolute megafight. Weight wouldn’t even matter.
Real or not: Rose Namajunas will challenge the straw title in 2021 and win it back.
Wagenheim: The first part of this should be serious. Namajunas is the competition no. 1 by weight of straw, the division in which he used to rule. She is in the top 5 in the ESPN women’s pound standings, behind the 115-pound champion Zhang Weili. Namajunas has won four of the last five fights and won in July over Jessica Andrade, the woman who took her belt last year. Namajunas won the title and, according to his fiancée / coach, Pat Barry, told ESPN last week, she wants that shot.
Why did Barry have to go out and declare obviously? As UFC President Dana White had previously told BT BT, “Rose doesn’t want to fight for the title.”
Maybe it was just a communication confusion. Again, just a few months ago, White said that Jon Jones does not want to fight Francis Ngannou after Jones asked for more money to take the artist out. Overturning the scenario to put the athlete on the task is a clever way to unleash social contempt on someone who does not fall in line. Who knows if the UFC boss tried this with Namajuna? Suffice it to say that a lot of contempt will return to White if he chooses to reserve the alternative fight for the 115-pound title, he suggested: Zhang vs. Carla Esparza.
Like Namajuna, Esparza is a former champion. In fact, she won the belt with a victory of obedience over none other than “Thug Rose.” But that came back in 2014. In 2021, even with Esparza in a four-fight winning streak, she is not part of a championship fight while Namajunas goes to the planet, waiting for hers.
So I’ll go back to what I feel is a pretty robust member and predict that Zhang vs. Namajunas will navigate some rough communication waters and it will be a real thing.
And it will prove to be an excellent match for the title, maybe even a classic, like the fight of the year for everyone, Zhang vs. Joanna Jedrzejczyk. It wouldn’t shock me to see Namajunas coming out of the Octagon that night with the belt, but I have to pick Zhang. She’s so solid in every aspect of the game, from skills to weight, and with just five UFC matches in her resume, it feels like she’s scratching the surface of what she can become.