Worse still, it felt like a sign of things to come. On paper, this was an intriguing event with two title fights, two potential title eliminator bouts, and “Prelims” with some recognizable names. Generally, UFC tries to put its best foot forward on these events in the Middle East, and this card was no exception. Unfortunately, the two divisions highlighted were Strawweight and Heavyweight, a pair of weight classes that have absolutely seen better days.
Seriously, take a second to remember the glory days of both divisions. Not that long ago, the 115-pound class featured a serious handful of prime world-class fighters in Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Rose Namajunas, Jessica Andrade, and Zhang Weili putting on amazing fights and trading the belt around. Since then, three of the four have aged out of the elite ranks, and Weili has been so dominant that she f—ked off entirely to a new division in pursuit of an actual challenge.
Mackenzie Dern is the best Strawweight in the world … really? After she was trounced by a shopworn Andrade and a 38-year-old Amanda Lemos three fights ago? Those losses were brutal and one-sided, and she would surely be the underdog in a rematch of either. Tatiana Suarez is the most interesting Strawweight challenger available and riding a victory, but even she was much better five years ago before injuries took their toll. If you want evidence of clear decline, compare last night’s Dern vs. Jandiroba kickboxing match to the first Joanna “Violence” vs. “Magnum” collision in 2020.
Heavyweight’s decline has been even worse. Genuinely, I ask fight fans: what was the last good Heavyweight fight that went beyond two rounds? The last few years have been quick finishes or absolute slogs. The most recent Heavyweight bout that remained both fun and high-level for multiple rounds I can recall was Daniel Cormier vs. Stipe Miocic 3 or Francis Ngannou vs. Miocic 2 depending on how loose we’re being with the “long fight” criteria.
You’ll notice those are all names from a past era. Even Jon Jones’ jump to Heavyweight didn’t reinvigorate the division, as the inactive champion cruised by Gane, beat up ancient Stipe, and blatantly ducked Aspinall. The Heavyweight ranks were at an absolute standstill for most of two years, and still no new contender emerged despite a wide open path to contention.
Looking for a new Heavyweight prospect? The best we have to offer is Valter Walker, who has heel hooked enough nobodies to convince fans to forget about his dreadful debut loss to Łukasz Brzeski — who’s 1-6 (1) in UFC by the way. Long gone are the days of Antonio Silva vs. Mark Hunt putting on a five-round “Fight of the Year” contender, showcases of grit and skill between two non-champions — that kind of compelling and competitive Heavyweight action quite literally doesn’t exist in the current era.
Last night, likely the four best active Heavyweights on the roster all competed: Tom Aspinall, Ciryl Gane, Jailton Almeida and Alexander Volkov all represent the cream of the crop. The main event ended in a brutal eye poke that disrupted would appeared developing into an actually great Heavyweight matchup from days gone, and the Almeida vs. Volkov title eliminator was one of the worst bouts of the year.
In a vacuum, these disappointments could be waved away. The eye poke could be written off as bad luck, and the boring Almeida vs. Volkov bout could be explained as a bad stylistic matchup since both have scored plenty of finishes. The fights playing out so miserably so close to one another, however, really felt like an indictment on the sport’s progress and the division’s future.
If at least two of the ten divisions are in decline, what does that say about the sport as a whole?
