THE PUNCHSPORT REPORT FOR JUNE 2024
THE PUNCHSPORT REPORT FOR JUNE 2024
It's going to be a busy, chaotic month.
Congratulations on making it to June, the halfway point of the year. I hope you enjoyed our sleepy, sedate schedule last month, because we are suddenly sprinting. Between a fully packed UFC month, the next phase of the Professional Fighters League season and the reminder that Bellator, ONE and Rizin still exist, we have twelve goddamn MMA events in thirty days this month, and if you, personally, do not watch every single one of them, you will make Scott Coker cry.
THIS MONTH'S PUNCHSPORTS EVENTS
IS THERE ANY NEWS
ART JIMMERSON - AUGUST 4, 1963 - MAY 8, 2024
Art Jimmerson was a boxer, and that is why mixed martial arts had to consume him.
It's an accepted fact of the industry that while the UFC eventually grew into an actual sporting organization, it started as an infomercial for Gracie Jiu-Jitsu. The talent search wanted credible, accomplished fighters--but not enough so that it stood a particularly measurable risk of upsetting the Gracie apple cart. There was no chance of breaking into the American market without demonstrating jiu-jitsu's effectiveness against America's dominant combat sport of boxing, and Art Jimmerson was the man they wanted.
It feels disrespectful to describe Jimmerson in that mid-tier category, but it's not wrong. He was 29-5, he was ranked at Cruiserweight by the International Boxing Federation, and he had an upcoming match with world champion Orlin Norris scheduled just two months later.
He also had absolutely no idea what mixed martial arts was. Jimmerson was unaware of the rules right up until "Big" John McCarthy explained to him, the day of UFC 1, that Gracie was going to take him down and break his arm. Not only was this a thing Jimmerson had no defense for, it would jeopardize the biggest fight of his career.
There were theories for years about why Art Jimmerson wore one single boxing glove in his one and only MMA fight. Some thought it was an attempt to make his right hand more devastating, some that it was meant as a visual symbol for his boxing background. It wasn't until a 2013 MMAMania.com podcast interview with UFC 1 producer Campbell McLaren that the real story came out: Jimmerson wore one glove so the referee could see him tap out with his ungloved hand.
For a man with only one fight in the sport, his place in its history is surprisingly important. He was the first time America ever saw Royce Gracie or Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, he was the first public example of how easily a talented boxer could be taken apart by a grappler, and he was the first person to tap out in a televised UFC bout--back when it was so unknown as a quantity that the referee wasn't even sure if he could stop the fight.
Jimmerson saved his arm and his title fight, but he got knocked out in four rounds and he never climbed the mountain again. Like so many before him, he hung on too long: In October of 1994 he was 31-6, but by his retirement in 2002 he was 33-18. He never abandoned boxing, and in the wake of the UFC's mainstream breakout he embraced the goofy nature of his sole appearance and even became the boxing coach for one of the UFC's earliest company gyms.
He never got to the top, but he left a pile of bodies in his career and he made MMA history in his one and only shot in the spotlight, and his example introduced a new sport to a new generation. He leaves behind a boxing record of 33-18 and an MMA record of 0-1.
There's this funny story about World Wrestling Entertainment and their first-ever trip to the extremely lucrative world of sportswashing. Apocryphally, the first time the WWE put on one of their now-routine propaganda shows for the government of Saudi Arabia, its money men requested a number of their favorite wrestlers be on the show, including The Ultimate Warrior and Yokozuna. This was problematic, because they had been dead for four and eighteen years, respectively.
Anyway, the UFC is promoting a big show in Abu Dhabi and Nick Diaz is back.
Nick Diaz, who has not won a professional fight since 2011, was last seen getting dismantled by Robbie Lawler three years ago and supposedly has persistent money problems, will be fighting Vicente Luque, the #14-ranked Welterweight in the world.
For the record, I stopped doing Retirement Corner as a monthly feature because no one escapes anymore.
Almost ten years after banning all fighter sponsors because the UFC wanted more money and more control over their fighters seeing Condom Depot logos everywhere made the sport seem too unserious for Dana White's preferences, the UFC announced a new lucrative sponsorship deal with Aires Tech, the makers of fine, fine stickers and/or tiles with tiny discs of silicon in them that protect your body from harmful electromagnetic radiation create 42-foot spheres of protection to save your cerebral bioelectric activity from the influence of cellphones scam scared people out of their fucking money.
I say this way too often about a sport I love, but seriously, fuck this sport.
WHAT HAPPENED IN MAY
The short month began with UFC 301: Pantoja vs Erceg, the company's May 4 return to Rio. It wasn't their best card on paper, but it was, ultimately, pretty fun. Down on the early prelims Alessandro Costa slept Kevin Borjas in two rounds, Ismael Bonfim shut out Vinc Pichel and Dione Barbosa took a close decision over Ernesta Kareckaitė, but star credit went to Maurício Ruffy, who made his UFC debut by crushing Jamie Mullarkey in one round. On your regular prelims, Drakkar Klose beat Joaquim Silva, Myktybek Orolbai outwrestled Elves Brener, Iasmin Lucindo dominated Karolina Kowalkiewicz, and Joanderson Brito kicked Jack Shore's leg in half. On the main card, Caio Borralho knocked out Paul Craig, Michel Pereira mauled Ihor Potieria in under a minute (including an illegal backflip kick, which is a hilarious sentence), Anthony Smith choked out Vitor Petrino, and returning legend José Aldo dominated top fifteen fighter Jonathan Martinez. Your main event was an awful close fight, but ultimately, experience and grit saw Alexandre Pantoja retain his Flyweight Championship against Steve Erceg.
The next week, we were off to St. Louis for UFC on ESPN: Lewis vs Nascimento on May 11. This was a less good card. On your prelims: Veronica Hardy narrowly beat JJ Aldrich, Charles Johnson got the upset over Jake Hadley, Trey Waters won a big, fun slopfest with Billy Goff, Tabatha Ricci turned back the returning Tecia Pennington, Esteban Ribovics kicked Terrance McKinney's head off in thirty seconds, and Chase Hooper choked out Viacheslav Borschchev. On the main: Waldo Cortes-Acosta won a hilariously bad Heavyweight fight with Robelis Despaigne, Sean Woodson won a tentative decision against Alex Caceres, Diego Ferreira got a comeback knockout over Mateusz Rębecki, Carlos Ulberg dropped Alonzo Menifield in twelve seconds, and Joaquin Buckley outwrestled Nursulton Ruziboev, then ruined it by using his postfight to call out Conor McGregor, only to be confused when everyone spent the rest of the month laughing at him. In your main event, Derrick Lewis notched yet another knockout victory after stopping a thoroughly outmatched Rodrigo Nascimento in three rounds.
The next week saw another chance for PFL to throw breadcrumbs in the cell where it keeps Bellator, as Bellator Champions Series 2: Mix vs Magomedov 2 came to us on May 17 from the Accor in Paris. Asaël Adjoudj dropped Bruno Fontes in two rounds, Aspen Ladd made a 145-pound comeback by outworking Ekaterina SHakalova, Mike Shipman made Steven Hill quit between rounds, Mansour Barnaoui choked out Yusuke Yachi, and Slim Trabelsi got a 30-27 over Louis Sutherland. On the part of the card at least three people watched, Archie Colgan beat Thibault Gouti with 10-8 ease, Yves Landu had a much harder split over Jonas Bilharinho, Costello van Steenis scored a Von Flue choke over Gregory Babene, and superstar Cédric Doumbé came back from his foot-splinter loss by punching out Jaleel Willis in one round. In your main event, Bellator Bantamweight Champion Patchy Mix notched a controversial split decision over Magomed Magomedov, who, arguably, should be wearing gold right now.
And we ended things on a quiet note with May 18 and UFC Fight Night: Barboza vs Murphy, which was one of the UFC's weakest on-paper cards in awhile. Once again, down below: Vanessa Demopoulos yet again won a split decision 90% of the media scored against her, Alatengheili dominated Kleydson Rodrigues, Ariane Carnelossi was en route to a loss when Piera Rodriguez got herself disqualified for repeatedly and blatantly headbutting her, Abus Magomedov ground Warlley Alves down with ease, Melissa Gatto managed to stop Tamires Vidal thanks to an awkward pause when Vidal tried to call a foul over getting punched in the breast, Oumar Sy choked Tuco Tokkos out in a round, and Tom Nolan knocked out Victor Martinez. Up top: Angela Hill got her first finish in years after choking out Luana Pinheiro, Adrian Yanez pounded out Vinicius Salvador, who took about fifteen unnecessary punches in the process, Themba Gorimbo dominated Ramiz Brahimaj, and Khaos Williams knocked out Carlston Harris in a minute and a half. In your main event, Lerone Murphy outboxed Edson Barboza and pitched a near-shutout in the process, despite almost getting knocked out in the first round.
WHAT'S COMING IN JUNE
A long, long month, and we kick off immediately on June 1 with UFC 302: Makhachev vs Poirier. It's a Lightweight title fight card, and that means it's not so bad. Preliminary highlights include Nyamjargal Tumendemberel vs André Lima, Mickey Gall vs the near-Maddalena-upsetting Bassil Hafez, Niko Price vs Alex Morono, Grant Dawson vs Joe Solecki, and César Almeida vs Roman Kopylov. But the main card is the big deal here, and it's a sizable one: Randy Brown vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos, Jailton Almeida coming off his first UFC loss by taking on Alexander Romanov, Kevin Holland facing Michał Oleksiejczuk, Sean Strickland and Paulo Costa having a comedic insufferability contest, and in your main event, Islam Makhachev defending the Lightweight championship against Dustin Poirier. Top contender fight? No. Fun fight? Sure.
On June 8, we get PFL Europe 2. There has been a lot of discussion of how Bellator's acquisition would impact the PFL, and this is the true Bellator legacy: A gigantic Eurocard with 15 booked fights, 30 booked fighters, and exactly one Wikipedia page between them. Thrill to Khurshed Kakhorov vs Bondo Kikadze. Chill to Dean Garnett vs Ayton De Paepe. No one will be seated during Ben Woolliss vs Maher Belkhadir. And make sure you don't dare miss the main event: which will see British Women's Super-Middleweight Boxing Champion Savannah Marshall making her mixed martial arts debut against the 1-2 Mirela Vargas. Get fucking excited.
But stay tuned for later that day, when ONE grudgingly promotes a mixed martial arts main event: ONE 167: Stamp vs Zamboanga. This was going to be the start of ONE's Summer of Stamp, as they'd booked both of their Women's divisions entirely around their would-be star, but right at the end of May she got injured and will miss the rest of the year. Whoops! Now you've got grappling champion Kade Ruotolo's MMA debut against Blake Cooper and Itsuki Hirata's contendership bout with Victória Souza--and four kickboxing/Muay Thai bouts, with the highlights including Liam Harrison vs Katsuki Kikano, Rodtang vs Denis Purić, and your replacement main event sees Tawanchai defending the Flyweight Muay Thai title against Jo Nattawut. There is also, of course, one solitary submission grappling match between Mikey Musumeci and Gabriel Sousa, because ONE's grappling division is real.
But we're not done yet! This very, very long day ends with UFC on ESPN: Cannonier vs Imavov in the evening. This is currently the longest card the UFC has promoted in months, with 14 scheduled bouts, but an awful lot of them are bangers. Julian Marquez vs Zach Reese! Eduarda Mourda vs Denise Comes! John Castañeda vs Daniel Marcos! Brunno Ferreira committing human murder against Dustin Stoltzfus! Brad Katona vs Jesse Butler headlines the prelims, but hell, it should be fine. The main card is a bigger mix: Charles Radtke vs Carlos Prates, Thiago Moisés vs Ľudovít Klein, Miguel Baeza vs Punahele Soriano, and Raul Rosas Jr. vs Ricky Turcios in their months-delayed showdown. Your co-main event is the probably-depressing Dominick Reyes vs Dustin Jacoby, and your main event is the rankings-bizarre #4 Jared Cannonier vs #8 Nassourdine Imavov, in what could plausibly be a title eliminator anyway.
But we're not fucking done yet. For the hardcore night owls, the weekend doesn't end until Rizin 47 bright and early on June 9. With just weeks to go there are still only six fights announced, but they're pretty solid. Kazuki Tokudome vs Sho Patrick Usami, Spike Carlyle vs Kyung-pyo Kim, Mikio Ueda vs Przemyslaw Kowalczyk, Karshyga Dautbek vs Tetsuya Seki, and a Bantamweight title eliminator between Kleber Koike Erbst and Juan Archuleta rounds out the card. But your main event is a grudge match, as newly-crowned Rizin Flyweight Champion Kyoji Horiguchi, uh, ditches the Flyweight division to avenge his Bantamweight loss to Sergio Pettis. Sure!
After a few days to recover from the marathon, it's finally time to resume the 2024 PFL season proper. PFL 4 comes to us live on June 13, and it represents the Heavyweight and Women's Flyweight divisions. In your Women's fights, you have: Melissa Balic vs Kristina Katsikis, Saray Orozco vs Sumiko Inaba, Juliana Velasquez vs Lisa Mauldin, Ilara Joanne vs Shanna Young, Taila Santos vs Jena Bishop, and, because the matches have to be booked for convenience rather than competition, Liz Carmouche has another Bellator rematch against Kana Watanabe while knockout queen Dakota Ditcheva gets some massive matchmaking favoritism against Chelsea Hackett. At Heavyweight, we have Gökhan Saricam vs Danilo Marques, Oleg Popov vs Marcelo Nunes, Denis Goltsov vs Sergei Bilostenniy, Daniel James vs Tyrell Fortune, and in your main event, another Bellator rematch, this time between Valentin Moldavsky and Linton Vassell.
Two days later, June 15 brings us UFC Fight Night: Perez vs Taira. This is an almost all-small-people fight card; there's one Middleweight bout (although André Muniz just pulled out, so Ikram Aliskerov is currently awaiting a replacement) and one Welterweight bout between Josh Quinlan and Adam Fugitt, and every other fight is at 145 or below. Shayilan Nuerdanbieke vs Melk Costa, Josefine Knutsson vs Julia Polastri, Jeka Saragih vs Westin Wilson (poor, poor Westin Wilson), Jimmy Flick vs Nate Maness, Carli Judice vs Gabriella Fernandes and Tagir Ulanbekov vs Joshua Van round out the prelims; your main card, as of now, is Brady Hiestand vs Garrett Armfield, Asu Almabayev vs Jose Johnson, Douglas Silva de Andrade vs Miles Jones, Timothy Cuamba vs Lucas Almeida, and in your main event, Alex Perez puts his recently-won contendership on the line against Tatsuro Taira.
The next week brings us another three events in a two-day period, and it starts on June 21 with PFL 5. This time around, we've got the second set of fights in the Lightweight and Light Heavyweight divisions. Up at 205, your brackets include an alternate bout between Karl Albrektsson and Andrew Sanchez, Sadibou Sy vs Tom Breese, Antônio Carlos Júnior vs Alex Polizzi, Dovletdzhan Yagshimuradov vs Simon Biyong, Rob Wilkinson vs Josh Silveira, and in your co-main event, Impa Kasanganay vs Jakob Nedoh. At 155, you've got Anthony Romero vs Sergio Cassio, Adam Piccolotti vs Michael Dufort, Gadzhi Rabadanov vs Elvin Espinoza, Brent Primus vs Solomon Renfro, Patricky Pitbull vs Bruno Miranda, and in your main event, Clay Collard vs Mads Burnell.
June 22 gets us two oddly-timed, internationally-themed events. First you've got Bellator Champions Series 3: Jackson vs Kuramagomedov, which comes to us live from Dublin, Ireland. Not gonna lie: This is probably the weakest neo-Bellator card thus far. 1 had multiple championship and contendership matches, 2 had Yves Landu, Cédric Doumbé and a Patchy Mix title fight. 3 has Olena Kolesnyk vs Sara Collins, Sinead Kavanagh vs Arlene Blencowe, a huge gimme fight as newly-signed Paul Hughes faces Bobby King, and a main event featuring Jason Jackson defending the Welterweight title against Ramazan Kuramagomedov, which is a very interesting fight that I don't think anyone cares is happening.
Later that day--depending on broadcast time, anyway--we're off to Saudi Arabia for the latest in sportswashing, UFC on ABC: Whittaker vs Chimaev. The UFC originally tried to book their SAudi money show with a weak card and the KSA told them to come back when they were serious, and to be fair, this card is pretty fucking serious. Down on your prelims: Xiao Long vs Lee Chang-ho, Kang Kyung-ho vs Muin Gafurov, Nasrat Hqparast vs Jared Gordon, Rinat Fakhretdinov vs Nicolas Dalby, Abu Azaitar vs Denis Tiuliulin, Farid Basharat vs Montel Jackson and Magomed Gadzhiyasulov vs Brendson Ribeiro. On your main card: Muhammad Naimov vs Melsik Baghdasaryan, Shara Magomedov vs Joilton Lutterbach, Kelvin Gastelum vs Daniel Rodriguez, Johnny Walker vs Volkan Oezdemir, Sergei Pavlovich vs Alexander Volkov, and in your main event, Robert Whittaker vs Khamzat Chimaev.
Next week's June 28 closes the second half of the 2024 PFL season with the Featherweight and Welterweight divisions. Your 170-pound matchups include Zach Juusola vs Luca Poclit, Don Madge vs Neiman Gracie, Goiti Yamauchi vs Andrey Koreshkov, Murad Ramazanov vs Shamil Musaev, Brennan Ward vs Magomed Umalatov, Logan Storley vs Laureano Staropoli, and a special, non-tournament matchup between Lorenz Larkin and Alan Dominguez. At 145, you've got Jordan Olivier vs Isaiah Hokit, Tyler Diamond vs Jose Perez, Ádám Borics vs Brett Johns, Kai Kamaka III vs Pedro Carvalho, Enrique Barzola vs Timur Khizriev, Bubba Jenkins vs Gabriel Alves Braga, and your main event, Brendan Loughnane vs Justin Gonzales.
And the month comes to a close with one more UFC, and it's the one they're banking on everyone caring about : UFC 303: McGregor vs Chandler. This is The Big Conor Card, so they've just sort of thrown a bunch of stuff at the wall. Michelle Waterson-Gomez vs Gillian Robertson! Charles Jourdain vs Jean Silva! Cub Swanson vs Andre Fili, a fight I would swear has already happened but I am wrong! Mayra Bueno Silva vs Macy Chiasson, Rei Tsuruya vs Carlos Hernandez, Andrei Arlovski vs Martin Buday, I am just saying names here but at least most of them are recognizable if you watch the product. Your top fights include Joe Pyfer vs Marc-André Barriault, Ian Machado Garry vs Michael "Venom" Page, Jamahal Hill vs Carlos Ulberg, and, of course, Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler, with so many PEDs (allegedly!) involved it's now happening at Welterweight.
CURRENT UFC CHAMPIONS
Heavyweight Champion, 265 lbs
Jon Jones - 27-1 (1), 0 Defenses
Very few things in combat sports reach the crossroads of awe-inspiring and unfathomably frustrating as Jon Jones. In 2020, Jon Jones notched the third defense of his second light-heavyweight championship reign after an exceedingly contentious decision against Dominick Reyes, only to abdicate the title because the UFC wasn't paying him enough, and he was bored of 205 pounds and wanted to move up to heavyweight like he'd been planning to for nearly a decade, and he needed more time to cement his place as not just one of the sport's greatest pound-for-pound fighters, but one of its biggest pound-for-pound pains in the ass. On September 23, 2021, Jon Jones was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame; on September 24, 2021, he was arrested (for the fifth time!) after his daughter called the police on him for beating her mother, during which he antagonized the police and, inexplicably, headbutted a police car. Because this is Jon Jones, of course, the primary charges were dropped, he paid $750 for the hood of the police cruiser, and got a stern warning to stay out of trouble, young man, because there is a money-powered reality-distorting field around Jon Jones whereby nothing matters. After a year of rumors, and after the unconscionable firing of heavyweight champion Francis Ngannou, the UFC gleefully announced Jon Jones vs Ciryl Gane to fill the vacant heavyweight throne. Did it matter to the matchmaking that there were more deserving candidates? Of course not, because it's Jon Jones: He deserves the spot for his earlier success. Did it matter to his public appearances that when last we saw him he was arrested for beating his fiancee? Of course not, because it's Jon Jones: He was, if anything, more up his own ass with self-righteousness than ever before. Did it matter to the fight that he hadn't competed in more than three years and looked terrible at the time? Of course not, because it's Jon fucking Jones. Ciryl Gane looked too nervous to use footwork let alone throw anything, and he should have been, as Jones effortlessly threw him to the canvas and choked him out in two minutes. The longest-running, most dominant and yet most persistently annoying show in mixed martial arts is back. And in the most predictable thing possible, some bullshit happened, he got injured, he's going to be gone for at least eight months, and the UFC is not only not stripping him of the title like they've done to everyone else, they've already gotten out ahead of themselves and made clear that when he comes back, he will be fighting Stipe Miocic, not whoever the interim champion is at the time. Funny, that.
Interim Heavyweight Champion
Tom Aspinall - 14-3, 0 Defenses
The UFC's Heavyweight division got itself into a weird spot in 2007. Randy Couture was the rightful, reigning, defending champion, but he and the UFC had a dispute that stretched out more than a year. The UFC couldn't strip him--it would have made it easier for him to get out of his contract--so they made an interim title. By the time Randy came back they had already made big plans for him and Brock Lesnar, but the interim title had gotten wrapped up in The Ultimate Fighter 8 (jesus christ) and it, too, had to be defended, meaning there were two championships being defended simultaneously: The Undisputed Championship, which was the 'real' belt despite being held by a guy trying to leave the company and contended for by someone with only two victories in the sport, and the Interim Championship, which was being fought over by the actual, legitimate top contenders. At UFC 295 on November 11th, 2023, Tom Aspinall, the rightful #4 contender, fought Sergei Pavlovich, the rightful #2 contender, for a new interim championship. And he won. On two weeks' notice! Aspinall's been one of the most promising heavyweight prospects in the world for years, his only loss in the UFC came from his knee tearing itself apart fifteen seconds into a fight, and he went toe-to-toe with one of the scariest punchers in the history of the sport and knocked him flat in just barely over a minute. He is, indisputably, the real deal. And now he gets to be the interim champion of a Heavyweight division in which the real champion, Jon Jones, is going to be out injured well into next year and, the UFC has made clear, will be returning to defend his title against Stipe Miocic, who by that time will have been on the shelf for 3+ years and will be going on 42. So congratulations, Tom. You're the real Heavyweight champion, and to prove it, you're defending your title before Jon Jones. Aspinall gets his injury rematch with Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 on July 27.
Light-Heavyweight Champion, 205 lbs
Alex Pereira - 10-2, 1 Defense
Conflicting things can be simultaneously true in this sport. It is true that Alex Pereira was brought into the UFC as a 3-1 rookie based on his history as a kickboxer rather than his accomplishments in the sport. It is true that he was fast-tracked to a title shot against the primary focus of that history, megastar Israel Adesanya, after beating just three fighters, none of whom had any hope of testing his grappling. It is also true that he rendered that discourse ultimately irrelevant by not just beating but stopping Adesanya in his title shot anyway, in the process becoming the fastest Middleweight to go from debut to champion since Anderson Silva. It was more or less an open secret that he wasn't going to stay there: Being bigger than most Heavyweights in the UFC, the weight cut to 185 was always a short-term thing. Luckily for the UFC, he got knocked out by Adesanya and gave him the title right back on his way up to 205. Once again, he got fast-tracked, this time by happenstance. A split decision victory over Jan Błachowicz made Pereira a top five contender, and when Jamahal Hill was forced to vacate his title thanks to an ankle injury--and the previous champion, Jiří Procházka, was back from his own title vacation and injury--Pereira was slotted right back into championship place. They met at UFC 295 on November 11th, and after two back-and-forth rounds, Pereira punished a Jiří who dared to grapple by elbowing his skull until he briefly stopped moving. The commentary and audience thought it was an early stoppage, but Jiří Procházka didn't, so fuck 'em. It is true that Alex Pereira has fought seven UFC fights without having to fight an actual grappler, and that was an intentional choice by matchmaking. It is true that getting the chance to win championships in two weight classes within just two years and seven fights in the UFC is not a thing that happens to most fighters. But it is unavoidably true that Alex Pereira is a two-division champion and no one can take it away from him. After none of the UFC's other ideas worked out, Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill became the main event of UFC 300, and after weeks of talking endless rafts of shit, Hill got knocked out in the first round. Alex Pereira is the first man to successfully defend the Light Heavyweight championship against a Light Heavyweight fighter since February of 2020.
Middleweight Champion, 185 lbs
Dricus du Plessis - 21-2, 0 Defenses
Middleweight's fucking wild, man. Generally when a belt changes hands repeatedly in a short period of time you can blame injuries and strippings and title vacations, but recent history has simply been a case study in how goddamn weird things can get at 185 pounds. As of this writing (February 1, 2024) we've had five separate Middleweight champions in less than fifteen months. Divisional king Israel Adesanya dropped the belt to his nemesis Alex Pereira, Adesanya dropped Pereira himself in an immediate rematch, and in one of 2023's bigger upsets, Adesanya lost his belt to human exclusion zone Sean Strickland. But that shot, initially, didn't belong to him: It belonged to Dricus du Plessis. Dricus joined the UFC in 2020 as one of the international scene's best prospects--a two-division champion in his native South Africa's Extreme Fighting Championship, a Welterweight champion in Poland's Konfrontacja Sztuk Walki, and a finishing machine who'd never gone to a decision in his life. The spotlight of the UFC gave him two new reputations: For one, as an exceptionally awkward-looking fighter who could appear shaky and exhausted and still easily knock anyone out, and for two, as a guy with real uncomfortable feelings about his homeland. Shortly after his debut Dricus du Plessis began making comments about becoming the first "real" African champion in the UFC, citing the way fighters like Kamaru Usman, Israel Adesanya and Francis Ngannou had left the country, and, boy, there's just no way to get around the topic that isn't gross as hell. But du Plessis knocked #1 contender Robert Whittaker dead, so it didn't matter. He was in pole position. And then he lost it, because he wanted more than a month to prepare for a world championship fight and the UFC decided that just wouldn't fly. A fully-trained du Plessis stepped into the cage against his replacement and now-champion Sean Strickland on January 20 at UFC 297, and after a close fight and a split decision, du Plessis brought the belt back to South Africa just like he promised. The UFC would really like to make good on their initial du Plessis/Adesanya plans, but we'll see if they can work it out.
Welterweight Champion, 170 lbs
Leon Edwards - 22-3 (1), 2 Defenses
It took half a decade to get the world to notice, but everyone sees Leon Edwards now. "Rocky" came from the kind of circumstances sports movies are made of--a poor kid from Jamaica who moved to England, lost his father to gang violence, nearly lost himself to it as a teenager and found a healthy outlet for his anger in mixed martial arts. Edwards made his debut in 2011 as a prime example of the modern generation of fighter, cross-trained from the beginning in every discipline, and in just three years he was the welterweight champion of Britain and off to the UFC. Entering 2016, Leon had suffered the first true loss of his career--he was 10-3, but one of those losses was a DQ for an illegal blow and the other a coinflip decision that could easily have gone either way--at the hands of the newly-crowned Ultimate Fighter 21 winner, Kamaru Usman, making his debut as an official UFC competitor. It took ten fights without a loss for Leon to get his rematch. The UFC seemed especially resistant to his title contendership, pushing him down in favor of the ostensibly more marketable UK star in Darren Till and booking him against numerous other contenders and gatekeepers while repeatedly elevating less deserving fighters to the championship. He wouldn't have gotten it at all, in fact, had Jorge Masvidal not gotten arrested. On August 20, the UFC acquiesced and granted the clear #1 contender his shot at the championship, and at revenge against Kamaru Usman--and after getting dominated for three and a half out of five rounds, with the commentators openly opining on the likelihood that he had given up, with just fifty-six seconds left in the fight, Edwards uncorked a headkick that shocked the world and knocked Kamaru Usman out for the first time in his career. The rubber match was inevitable, and once again, Edwards opened as an underdog, and once again, he proved everyone wrong. Instead of a last-minute comeback Leon simply shut Usman down for the majority of the fight, stuffing eleven of his takedown attempts, outstriking him in four out of five rounds and landing an absolutely wild 75% of his strikes in the process. It was an incredible performance against one of the greatest welterweights of all time, marred only by Leon losing a point for fence grabs. The decision was unquestionably his, and now legitimized as the champion of the world, Leon found himself dealing with the UFC's bullshit insistence that his first defense came not against the top contender, but rather, the UFC's favorite bigot, Colby Covington. Edwards dominated him and sent him away 4-1, finally ending the bullshit. After years of trying as hard as possible to avoid it, the UFC has finally relented and given Belal Muhammad his long-deserved title shot--it'll be Leon vs Belal 2 at UFC 304 on July 27.
Lightweight Champion, 155 lbs
Islam Makhachev - 25-1, 2 Defenses
Destiny has come. When Islam Makhachev made his UFC debut in 2015, Khabib Nurmagomedov, considered by most to be the #1 contender and soon to be the best in the world, swore up and down that Makhachev, not him, would be the best lightweight champion of all time. Coming from him, the praise made sense: Khabib and Islam have trained together since they were children growing up and learning to wrestle in Makhachkala. Islam learned under Khabib's father, trained with Khabib's team and even made the pilgrimage to America to join Khabib at the American Kickboxing Academy. And then, two matches into his UFC tenure, Islam got knocked the fuck out in the first round by the little-known Adriano Martins, who hasn't won a fight in the six years since. Even as Makhachev racked up wins, the memory of his loss and his wrestling-heavy approach to his fights let people cast doubts on him. Sure, he's good--but he lost, so he's not as good as Khabib. Islam Makhachev, as his trainer tells it, never wanted to be Khabib. He loves fighting, but he doesn't love the spectacle or the glory or the attention. So when, after ten straight wins, Makhachev was picked to challenge Charles Oliveira for the vacant title he never truly lost, a lot of folks just weren't quite sure what to think. Sure, he was an incredible wrestler, but Charles Oliveira is a submission wizard, and sure, he's on a ten-fight streak, but he hasn't fought a single person actually IN the top ten, and Oliveira represents a huge, dangerous step up as a man who's been destroying some of the most accomplished lightweights in the sport's history. Analyst opinion was split right down the middle; the fight, as it turned out, was nowhere near that competitive, and the only analyst who was entirely correct was Khabib. Islam demolished the former champion, outstriking him, taking him down at will, controlling him in the grappling, and ultimately dropping him with punches and choking him out in the second round. His first defense was a different story. Islam faced featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at UFC 284 on February 12th in a rare best-of-the-best, champion vs champion match, and this time, his team's prediction of domination was thoroughly incorrect: It was a pitched battle that ended with Makhachev visibly exhausted and Volkanovski pounding on his face. Islam took an extremely close decision and the divisions will remain separate, but his aura of invulnerability has been thoroughly punctured. Or, at least, it was. In one of those funny moments of sport deterioration, his title defense against Charles Oliveira got scratched thanks to Oliveira busting his eyebrow in training, and on less than two weeks' notice the UFC ran Makhachev/Volkanovski 2, and with no hype, no marketing and no time to prepare, a visibly depleted Volkanovski got dropped by a headkick in the first round. Islam will finally defend his Lightweight title against a Lightweight when he faces Dustin Poirier at 302 on June 1.
Featherweight Champion, 145 lbs
Ilia Topuria - 15-0, 0 Defenses
The king is dead, long live the king. Everyone paying attention knew Ilia Topuria was a special sort of prospect all the way back in 2020, but it wasn't until he destroyed Ryan Hall that the rest of the world noticed. A man who is equal parts German, Georgian and Spanish, Topuria established himself immediately as a force to be reckoned with: An undefeated wrecking machine with a strong wrestling game, a thoroughly solid grappling game, and the combination of terrifying knockout power and the sheer confidence to use it that can only come from having never lost a fight. Which was tested, thoroughly, when Topuria went up to Lightweight on short notice, fought a man in Jai Herbert who was half a foot taller than him, nearly got knocked out twice, and proceeded to recover, regroup, and fold Herbert in half with a punch in the second round. Suddenly, his prospect status was proven. Not only was he good, he was capable of dealing with adversity. Within the year he'd become the first (non-exhibition) fighter to ever beat Bryce Mitchell after ragdolling him and choking him out, and by the end of 2023 he'd dominated Josh Emmett, proving both his place at the top of the Featherweight contendership ladder and his ability to go five full rounds without falling over. His ascension couldn't have come at a better time. Alexander Volkanovski, one of the greatest champions in UFC history, was finally beginning to show signs of wear--somewhat unfairly, as those signs came from an incredibly inadvisable last-minute fill-in 155-pound fight against Islam Makhachev--but getting knocked out is getting knocked out, and when you've only been beaten once in a decade, getting knocked out in one round makes people ask difficult questions about your age, longevity, and durability. When Volk and Ilia met at UFC 298 on February 17, almost every question people had was, in fact, answered. Can Volk outwork Topuria? Absolutely; he won the first round handily and was dancing around him. Can Ilia keep himself in check? Completely; knowing just how good Volk was, Ilia was uncharacteristically patient and measured and didn't get himself in any real trouble in the first round while he figured out what he wanted to do. Can Alexander Volkanovski stand up to Ilia Topuria's punching power? Buddy: No one can. Three and a half minutes into the second round Topuria successfully trapped Volkanovski against the cage with his footwork, and one combination later, Volkanovski was on the floor. Ilia Topuria's destiny has come. He's the Featherweight champion. And he has, of course, already sworn to try to become a double champion within his next two fights.
Bantamweight Champion, 135 lbs
Sean O'Malley - 18-1 (1), 1 Defenses
The house always wins. I have spent years being mad about Sean O'Malley. Very few people get the red carpet rolled out for them without having some other previous success to draw on, but Dana White seemingly hand-selected Sean O'Malley as The Guy back in 2017 when he won a contract on the second-ever episode of the Contender Series, and from the second he first stepped into the octagon, he was treated like a Big Fucking Deal. His matchmaking was favorable, his marketing was endless, and even when he fucked up--getting his leg broken against Andre Soukhamthath, pissing hot for ostarine and missing a year, getting knocked out by Marlon Vera--the UFC was there to pick him up and keep pushing him up the ladder. He went from fighting regional fighters and flyweights to a top ten matchup, and when that match ended with him poking out Pedro Munhoz's eye, he was catapulted into a title eliminator against the #1-ranked Petr Yan, and when he got one of the year's worst decisions against Yan, he was allowed to sit on his hands for almost a year to wait for a title shot against a champion who was given three months and no injury recovery time to prepare. Is it fair for me to dislike Sean O'Malley for decisions the UFC made? Absolutely not, and I don't blame him for them whatsoever. Fortunately for me, Sean O'Malley also has a great love of making public hot takes like "here's my power ranking of my female coworkers by how fuckable I think they are" and "publicly avowed rapist Andrew Tate is a great guy I want to co-promote and advertise with" and "convicted child molester Tekashi69 is my homeboy" and "I have an open relationship with my wife where I get to bang other people but she doesn't because I'm the man" that make me feel deeply, thoroughly at peace with disliking him for other reasons. But none of that means he isn't a hell of a fighter or he didn't absolutely fucking flatten Aljamain Sterling with a picture-perfect counterpunch in their title fight. Did he deserve the shot? Not even a little. Did he prove he belongs at the top? Undeniably. However much of a shithead he may be, he's the champion of the goddamn world. Just in case his status as a marketing favorite had not been made abundantly clear, the UFC announced he will have his first title defense not in a rematch with Sterling, or a meeting with top contender Merab Dvalishvili, or even a bout with the streaking Cory Sandhagen, but--of course--a rematch with Marlon "Chito" Vera, the #6 contender on a one-fight win streak who knocked O'Malley out back in 2020. O'Malley dominated him, won a clear shut-out, and then called out Ilia Topuria, because weight classes are for chumps.
Flyweight Champion, 125 lbs
Alexandre Pantoja - 28-5, 2 Defenses
Sometimes, you just have someone's number. Brandon Moreno spent years fighting through a quadrilogy with Deiveson Figueiredo, and unfortunately for him, he had another trilogy waiting for him the second it was over. Alexandre "The Cannibal" Pantoja was Moreno's personal bogeyman, a man who'd fought and beaten him twice. But one of those fights was an exhibition on The Ultimate Fighter, and the other was against a Moreno with five less years of evolution and growth. Surely, a third fight in 2023 would be different. And it was--unlike the previous, one-sided dominations it was a fight-of-the-year candidate that took both men to their limit and led to a split decision--but its ending was not. Alexander Pantoja scored a third victory over Moreno, and with it, after sixteen years of competition, he finally became the clear, unequivocal best in the god damned world. Which was made even more poignant when he used his post-fight interview to ask if his absentee father was proud of him--and was made even more irritating when he also revealed that despite having eleven fights in the UFC at the time, he was paid so little that he'd been part-timing as a Doordash driver just to make ends meet right up until 2022. The idea that one of the absolute best fighters on the planet, after years and nearly a dozen fights in the world's biggest, most profitable fighting organization, would need to take on a gig-economy job to make money is outright offensive, and in a better world, it would have launched a furor. In this one, all we can do is be happy he's got the belt and will, hopefully, make some actual fucking money. His first title defense came against Brandon "Raw Dawg" Royval as the co-main event to UFC 296 on December 16th, and it was a wild affair with a couple scary moments, but Pantoja emerged victorious and notched the first successful defense of the title in three years. His next contender is, in all likelihood, the winner of the Brandon Moreno/Amir Albazi fight this February--or it would have been, until Albazi got injured. The UFC promoted a Moreno/Royval 2 showdown in hopes of scoring a Moreno rematch, but Royval won, so the UFC decided to forget the whole goddamn thing and book Pantoja against the #10-ranked Steve Erceg on May 4. It was a spirited fight, but Pantoja's experience ultimately got him the decision.
Women's Bantamweight, 135 lbs
Raquel Pennington - 16-8, 0 Defenses
The throne is once again full. Amanda Nunes left a gaping void in the world of women's mixed martial arts when she retired last Summer, and it took the UFC seven months to do something about it. The Women's Featherweight title? That's just gone, man. The patient could not be resuscitated. There's still life in Women's Bantamweight, though, and with Nunes gone and Julianna Peña injured, there was only one sensible match to make. Raquel Pennington should have gotten her title shot more than a year ago. "Rocky" is one of the UFC's longest-tenured women, at this point--her debut came more than a decade ago as a runner-up on The Ultimate Fighter 18 (jesus christ)--and the millstone weighing down her championship aspirations was the fact that more than five years ago she had a title fight, and it saw Amanda Nunes just beat her to a pulp. Despite being on the division's longest winning streak at the start of 2023, this loss was commonly cited as reason enough to deny Pennington the shot, and given that she's a generally affable, no-nonsense fighter with a grinding wrestling style, she is, categorically, the UFC's least favorite kind of person, which meant getting passed up over and over and having to settle for serving as a backup challenger for Irene Aldana--whom Pennington had already beaten. But with the top prospects out and Aldana having just gotten beaten even worse by Nunes than Raquel had, there was nowhere left for the company to hide. Mayra Bueno Silva had established herself as one of the division's most dangerous fighters after tearing apart Lina Länsberg's knee and nearly popping Holly Holm's skull out of her head with a ninja choke, and there were quite a few hoping she'd stop Pennington in her tracks when the two met at UFC 297 on January 20, but they were gratifyingly incorrect. Pennington outwrestled Silva, escaped her submission attempts, outstruck her 265 to 96, and finally, on a night where the UFC loudly celebrated bigotry, sexism and homophobia, took the belt home to her wife. Raquel's the first post-Nunes champion, and godspeed to her. The UFC is almost certainly waiting to see if either Peña gets healthy or the newly-signed Kayla Harrison beats Holly Holm to figure out what's next for Raquel.
Women's Flyweight, 125 lbs
Alexa Grasso - 16-3-1, 1 Defense, Sort Of
Every once in awhile someone gets to shock the combat sports world, and in 2023, it's Alexa Grasso. The UFC has been high on Grasso since she left Invicta for her company debut back in 2016--she's been one of the most consistently featured fighters in ANY women's division, be it her time at strawweight or her move up to flyweight--but her two bids at the top of the mountain at 115 pounds met with disaster, once in Tatiana Suarez handing her the only stoppage loss of her career and once in Carla Esparza outwrestling her to a decision, and watching her manhandled by 115-pound fighters left the world doubting her 125-pound chances. But thanks to her solid boxing and her ever-improving ground game she ran up a four-fight winning streak, and when the UFC announced that she'd be taking on divisional queen and one of the greatest of all time in Valentina Shevchenko, the collective fan reaction was a unanimous "sure, okay," because Valentina disposing of people was a generally accepted phenomenon and she needed a warm body. The first round was a slight surprise, with Grasso stinging Shevchenko on the feet, but as so often happens, by the fourth round Valentina had taken over the fight, was ahead on every judge's scorecard and looked poised to cruise to her eighth title defense. And then, she was struck down by the bane of the sport: Spinning shit. Backed into the fence, Shevchenko did what she does entirely too often--a spinning back kick--and in the half-second she was turned away Grasso leapt to her back, dragged her to the floor, and became the first person to ever submit Valentina Shevchenko. Alexa Grasso, after years of work, is the Women's Flyweight Champion of the World. A rematch was inevitable, and it came at UFC Noche on September 16th, and, like everything does, it ended in controversy. After an incredibly close fight that the media had split almost cleanly down the middle, the judges ruled the contest a split draw. Which wouldn't be crazy--were it not for said draw hinging on Mike Bell, who is typically one of MMA's most reliable judges, giving Grasso a completely, utterly inexplicable and inexcusable 10-8 score in the final round, without which Valentina Shevchenko would have won a split decision. So Grasso did not win, in the end, but she did defend her title, technically. But good news: We’re running it back again. Grasso and Shevchenko are the coaches of The Ultimate Fighter 32 (jesus christ), so this Summer, it’s fight #3.
Women's Strawweight, 115 lbs
Zhang Weili - 25-3, 2 Defenses
Are you really surprised? There's a long tradition of underestimating unlikely champions in mixed martial arts, particularly when they're not the fan-friendliest in style or personality, from Michael Bisping to Frankie Edgar, only to have those demeaned champions remind the world that they didn't reach the peak of their divisions by mistake. Many of the wise, studied scribes of the sport warned the foolish masses against assuming the same about Women's Strawweight Champion Carla Esparza: She was no pushover, they said, and Zhang will have real trouble. And then, come fight day, we unwashed masses pulled them from their ivory towers and forced them to run in the streets amongst the mud and filth so they, too, could feel the unburdened joy of being, because Zhang Weili, as basically every fan had assumed, did, in fact, beat the absolute tar out of Carla. It wasn't particularly close: Carla got outlanded 37-6, hurt several times on the feet, and choked out just a minute into the second round. The inexplicable, season-long Cookie Monster subplot is over, Zhang Weili is now a two-time world champion, and things are back as they should be. What comes next, however, is tricky. Carla was blown out, so a rematch is out of the question. Rose Namajunas, the only person in the UFC to beat Weili, is a likely candidate--but after her disastrous performance against Carla, it remains to be seen how much faith the UFC has in her. Jéssica Andrade has a claim, but she's splitting time between 115 and 125, and probably needs to pick a weight class if she wants a shot. So the UFC solved the problem by picking Amanda Lemos. In a surprise to no one, Zhang absolutely dominated Lemos, outstriking her 296-29, smashing her to the tune of multiple 10-8 rounds, and winning a very, very wide decision. The next step was a China vs China championship showdown against Yan Xiaonan at UFC 300, and Yan did better than some expected--which is to say she won a round while also arguably getting choked out once and TKOed once, and ultimately, Zhang took a lopsided decision again.
NOTABLE CHAMPIONS ACROSS THE WORLD
Y'know what? I'm not doing new ONE pictures this month. I'm just not, man. ONE isn't promoting any goddamn MMA championships. With Stamp Fairtex out injured, ONE doesn't currently have a single MMA championship fight scheduled in the next six months. I'll resume caring when they do.
ONE Heavyweight Champion, 265 lbs
Anatoly Malykhin - 14-0, 0 Defenses
ONE Light Heavyweight Champion, 225 lbs
Anatoly Malykhin - 14-0, 0 Defenses
ONE Middleweight Champion, 205 lbs
Anatoly Malykhin - 14-0, 0 Defenses
Nothing is real, and we are all a part of the great dream. Anatoly Malykhin, a Master of Sport and international champion wrestler, took to MMA in 2016. Five years later, at the tender professional age of 8-0, he was in ONE. Two fights later, he was the interim Heavyweight champion. ONE's mixed martial arts divisions have always been slim at best and ephemeral at worst, but above 185 pounds, the air got real, real thin. Arjan Bhullar, the actual 265-pound champion, was having contractual issues with ONE and didn't want to fight. In another universe, Malykhin fought other Heavyweights and carried the torch for ONE's big boys. In this one, he dropped to 225 pounds in 2022 and just beat the absolute shit out of double-champ Reinier de Ridder, taking his title in the process. But he was still the 265-pound champion, and he still wanted to unify the belts, and thus, in June of 2023, he mauled a finally-present Bhullar to become the undisputed Heavyweight champion. In another universe, he defended either of these titles, lending credibility to ONE's divisional depth. In this universe, ONE didn't have any divisional depth, and thus, on March 1, 2024, Anatoly dropped to 205 pounds to, once again, beat the shit out of now single-champ Reinier de Ridder. ONE immediately began astroturfing as much marketing as they could behind the idea of having the first major triple champion in mixed martial arts history, and like all good marketing, that is, technically, true. But he got there by beating the same guy twice, once at a weight class recognized by no other major organization on Earth, and now rules over three divisions with almost no one in them. Anatoly Malykhin is a legitimately good fighter, but it's a shame there's no one who can help him prove it.
ONE Welterweight Champion, 185 lbs
Christian Lee - 17-4, 0 Defenses
ONE Lightweight Champion, 170 lbs
Christian Lee - 17-4, 0 Defenses
It took three tries, but by god, Chatri gets what Chatri wants. Christian Lee, the male half of the first family of ONE Championship and its homegrown golden boy, was very mad about losing his lightweight championship in a controversial decision to Ok Rae Yoon last year. He demanded the decision be reviewed and overturned and his championship reinstated. Unsurprisingly: This did not happen. After months of complaining and just shy of a year of waiting, the two had their long-awaited rematch and Lee left nothing to chance, knocking Yoon out in six minutes to reclaim his belt. Having finally retrieved his title, Lee, being a responsible champion, proceeded to immediately challenge ONE'S 185-pound champion, Kiamrian Abbasov, for his title, a move that was definitely in no way influenced by ONE's repeated attempts to get his sister Angela Lee double-champion status. Fortunately for Christian, Abbasov horribly botched his weight cut: He came in overweight, lost his title on the scale, and was visibly depleted in the fight. Which is particularly lucky, because Abbasov beat Lee senseless in the first round to the point that a standing TKO would not have been an unreasonable stoppage. But whether from his failed weight cut or simply from punching himself out, Abbasov was exhausted by the second round, and Lee mounted a gutsy comeback and ultimately stopped him with ground-and-pound in the fourth round. After three attempts, ONE has succeeded in getting two belts on a Lee. Unfortunately, it was followed by tragedy. After the passing of his younger sister Victoria, Christian took the whole of the year to, understandably, grieve. ONE planned his comeback for February of 2024, but, y'know, that clearly did not happen.
ONE Featherweight Champion, 155 lbs
Tang Kai - 16-2, 1 Defense
Tang Kai has been flying under the radar for some time, and in hindsight, that was clearly a mistake. He made his professional debut as a 20 year-old collegiate wrestler and won a rookie featherweight tournament in China's WBK (after investigating, we THINK it's World Battle Kings), but his stylistic limitations became apparent when he moved up to Kunlun Fight--and stopped fighting rookies. Dominant decision losses to ACA standout Bekhruz "Ong Bak" Zukurov and Road to UFC runner-up Asikeerbai Jinensibieke made Kai's weaknesses too apparent to ignore, and he made the tough call to commit to his dream, pack up his life, and move away from home to start training with real fight camps, most notably Shanghai's Dragon Gym and Phuket's legendary Tiger Muay Thai. It's worked out quite well: He hasn't lost a fight in five years. Three knockout wins in China's Rebel FC got ONE's attention, and since debuting with the organization in 2019, Kai has soundly defeated everyone in his path. He claims his wrestling base makes him impossible to take down and he proves it by using it almost entirely defensively, vastly preferring to bludgeon his opponents on his feet. His fight against Thanh Le, while blistering and difficult, was proof: He evaded every takedown attempt, widely outstruck him, dropped him with punches and leg kicks alike, and took the belt he's held for two years. And then, absolutely nothing else happened. It took ONE almost a full year to book another match for Tang Kai, and it was just an instant rematch with Thanh Le with no fanfare, and it was delayed by eight full months thanks to an injury. So after more than a year and a half without a fight, Tang Kai finally fought Thanh Le again, and this time, he knocked him out in three rounds. Congratulations, Tang Kai: You are back at square one.
ONE Bantamweight Champion, 145 lbs
Fabricio Andrade - 9-2 (1), 0 Defenses
The second time was the charm. When Fabricio "Wonder Boy" Andrade joined ONE Championship back in 2020 he was a virtual unknown in the mixed martial arts world, a 20-3 kickboxer but only a 3-2 mixed martial artist who'd been fighting out in the regional circuit of China. His association with Tiger Muay Thai put him on ONE's radar, and his visible striking skills despite being just 21 at the time made him interesting enough for a developmental contract. Said contract proceeded to develop into Andrade going on a five-fight winning streak that only got more dominant as he met tougher competition, and three straight first-round knockouts punched his ticket to the championship picture. His first appearance in the spotlight, unfortunately, went a touch awry. First, bantamweight champion John Lineker lost his title on the scale after missing weight, meaning only Andrade was eligible to become champion, and he was well on his way to doing so before hitting Lineker with an errant strike to the groin so hard it shattered his cup, and with the fight not yet halfway complete, it had to be rendered a No Contest. It took four months to get to the rematch, and it was much more closely contested, but after four rounds Lineker threw in the towel, his face having been punched too swollen to continue. Fabricio Andrade is 25 and a world goddamn champion. He promptly skipped away from MMA completely and faced Jonathan Haggerty for ONE's Featherweight Kickboxing Championship on November 3rd, where he was immediately destroyed. Haggerty wants an MMA fight next.
ONE Flyweight Champion, 135 lbs
Demetrious Johnson - 31-4-1, 0 Defenses
The king has returned. Demetrious Johnson's 2019 debut with ONE Championship was essentially scandalous. "Mighty Mouse" had long been a fan favorite of the lighter weight classes, a 5'3" combat machine who had been going the distance with world champions like Kid Yamamoto and Dominick Cruz while still working a day job in a warehouse, but it was only in 2012 when he dedicated himself to mixed martial arts as his full-time job that he became a star. He won the UFC's flyweight tournament and became its inaugural champion, and his talents are the reason a division that has existed for a decade has only had five champions--three of whom came in the last two years after he left. By 2018, Johnson had one of the longest winning streaks in the UFC, was the all-time recordholder for championship defenses in the UFC and had recorded some of the most outstanding finishes in the history of the UFC. By 2019, he was out of the company. Johnson and the UFC never got along--or, to be blunt, Johnson was one of the few publicly calling the UFC out on its bullshit. When he won the flyweight title and became a world champion while only getting paid $23k/23k he let it be known, when the UFC cut sponsorship money in the Reebok era he noted the raw deal it gave the fighters, and when Dana White tried to force him to take fights up at bantamweight by threatening to kill the flyweight division if he didn't, he told the world. After Henry Cejudo beat him in a razor-close coinflip decision and took the bargaining leverage of his championship away, it was over in a heartbeat. Dana White personally disliked him enough that he traded him to ONE Championship in exchange for their welterweight champion, Ben Askren. Johnson proceeded to immediately win ONE's flyweight grand prix, but took the first stoppage loss of his entire career in his shot at Adriano Moraes and his world championship and engendered a thousand MMA thinkpieces about if his time as a top fighter was over. A year and a half later, he got his rematch, and on August 27 at ONE on Prime Video 1 he returned the favor, handing Moraes his own first stoppage loss after knocking him out with a flying knee. The trilogy match was inevitable, and on May 5th, Johnson beat Moraes by a comprehensive decision, ending the story--and maybe his career. He says he's not sure if he's coming back yet. Fingers crossed.
ONE Strawweight Champion, 125 lbs
Joshua Pacio - 22-4, 0 Defenses
It's been a difficult couple of years for Joshua Pacio. "The Passion" stands as a true veteran of ONE Championship, having made his debut--and his first, unsuccessful attempt at winning the Strawweight title--all the way back in 2016. Pacio established himself as both a fan favorite and a solid promotional favorite for the company, and when he lost his second bid for the title against Yosuke Saruta in 2019, ONE, in a trick they'd become very friendly with over the years, gave him an instant rematch anyway. Pacio knocked Saruta out in the rematch and became easily the greatest 125-pound champion in ONE history, ultimately defending the title three times--including a trilogy match against Saruta. By 2022, Pacio was a crown jewel for ONE's lineup. Which is when he promptly got wrestled into paste by UFC cast-off Jarred Brooks. Rather than having him defend the title, ONE booked Brooks into grappling matches, and in the meantime Pacio fought and defeated undefeated prospect Mansur Malachiev to earn himself a rematch. Multiple delays ensued, but on March 1, the Brooks/Pacio rematch finally came. Fifty-six seconds in, Pacio attempted a standing kimura on Brooks, who hoisted him off the ground, suplexed him, and knocked him out. Unfortunately, this was a problem. Under ONE's ruleset, slams that land headfirst are illegal. ONE has been regularly criticized for this--less for the rule itself as for ONE's tendency to selectively enforce the rule, using it to benefit fighters they would like to succeed. ONE, of course, denies this vehemently. However you draw your own conclusions, at the end of the day Jarred Brooks was disqualified, and thus, by DQ, Joshua Pacio is now a three-time Strawweight champion. He almost immediately announced he has torn his ACL and is out for the next year. Congratulations.
ONE Women's Strawweight Champion, 125 lbs
Xiong Jing Nan - 18-2, 7 Defenses
Xiong Jing Nan dreamed of lifting weights. She'd enjoyed sports as a child, and when China started its national push for Olympic supremacy she began training heavily in hope of joining the national weightlifting team. But then she met aspirants for its boxing team and fell in love with the idea of living out a martial arts movie and getting to hit people for fun and profit and she never looked back. She turned pro in 2014 and immediately became a standout, going 9-1 in China's Kunlun Fight promotion with wins across three separate weight classes. What made her truly dangerous wasn't one-punch power, but the ability to break her opponents with constant pressure striking, scoring TKOs with combinations stretched out across dozens of consecutive, unending strikes. The story was no different when she moved to ONE in 2017, and she was strawweight champion within two fights. ONE's women's MMA divisions have been its most stable, each having had exactly one champion, and they were so dominant that they inevitably had to fight each other--and, hilariously, traded wins back and forth in the process. 115 lbs champion Angela Lee went up to 125 to challenge for Xiong Jing Nan's belt but Nan stopped her with body kicks in the fifth round, and half a year later Nan dropped down to 115 to challenge for Lee's belt only for Lee to choke her out with twelve seconds left in the fight. Xiong has notched three successful title defenses since, which set her up for her greatest challenger yet: Angela Lee, again, apparently. Despite ONE's best attempts, Xiong successfully defended her title against Lee again, nearly finishing her in the first round and ultimately winning a decision. An entire 364 days later, she had her next fight: A special rules match, with MMA gloves but only punches and no takedowns or clinching allowed, against Muay Thai champion Nat "Wondergirl" Jaroonsak. Half a year later, her next fight was finally announced, and it is, of course, defending her title against ONE postergirl Stamp Fairtex as the company attempts, once again, to make a double champ at Xiong Jing Nan's expense. Why are we even pretending anymore.
ONE Women's Atomweight Champion, 115 lbs
Stamp Fairtex - 10-2, 0 Defenses
It was slightly awkward when Seo Hee Ham and Stamp Fairtex were booked to meet at ONE Fight Night 14 in an interim atomweight title match, given the longstanding rumors of Angela Lee's retirement, and boy, it didn't get any less weird when ONE, which clearly knew what was going on, had Angela Lee announce that retirement just minutes before said match, which was promptly changed to an undisputed championship bout. But that's just part of how ONE rolls, as is their blatant attempts at favoritism, and boy, Stamp Fairtex is their most successful case study thus far. ONE signed her back in 2017 as a Muay Thai stadium champion, and within one fight in ONE she was their Atomweight Kickboxing Champion, and within two fights she was their Atomweight Muay Thai champion. Is this a statement about how quickly they push people they want or how thin their divisions can be? The answer, as always, is Yes. But none of that stopped Stamp from being really fucking good at fighting, and as she transitioned to mixed martial arts she ran up a great record--with the sole exception of a two-fight series with Alyona Rassohyna, where she tapped out in the first and attempted to deny it, then won a real close split decision in an immediate rematch. ONE did not feel the need to book a rubber match, for some odd reason. Stamp won the 2021 Atomweight Grand Prix, got her shot at Angela Lee, and got choked out for her troubles, but a year and two wins later, she was good to go for another championship showdown. It wasn't easy--Seo Hee Ham dropped Stamp in the second round and, for some mysterious reason, when recapping the round, ONE chose to highlight Stamp's offense and not show it--but she stopped Ham with body shots in the third round, and in doing so became not just the undisputed champion, but the first person to ever actually knock Ham out in a fight. (Before you say it: No, Ayaka Hamasaki doesn't count, that was a corner stoppage.) ONE has their new star, and she's a hell of a striker. They immediately booked the rest of their championship year around her, setting up fights with Denise Zamboanga and Xiong Jing Nan regardless of what happened in the first, and as always before a fall, Stamp immediately got injured and will miss the rest of the year. Fuck off, ONE.
Rizin Lightweight Champion, 156 lbs
Roberto de Souza - 16-3, 2 Defenses
Roberto "Satoshi" de Souza is trying to become the new Gegard Mousasi. On April 17 he had the chance to avenge the only loss of his career, a half-knockout half-injury against "Hollywood" Johnny Case back in 2019, and he succeeded in emphatic fashion, climbing Case's back, locking him in an inverted triangle choke and eventually forcing an armbar. He's now 14-1 and inarguably one of the best lightweights outside of the UFC, but unlike most of the other fighters to bear that title, he has made it clear he has no interest in changing that. Where the A.J. McKees and Michael Chandlers of the world want to test free agency and notoriety, Roberto de Souza is happy in Japan, both because his Rizin pay is fairly lucrative and his entire family jiu-jitsu business is based in the country. This is admirable, but it's also a little unfortunate: Rizin really only has around a dozen lightweights under contract, and "Satoshi" has already beaten a third of them. He may be waiting for a Spike Carlyle or a Luiz Gustavo to work their way into contention, but the Rizin ranks hold few surprises for him at this point. It was thus of particular interest when the main event for the New Year's Eve Bellator x Rizin card was announced as Roberto de Souza vs AJ McKee--a test of where Souza ranks with the rest of the world's competition. Unfortunately for him and Rizin, the answer was "under them." He positionally threatened McKee and was able to land some solid strikes in the final round, but was otherwise controlled and lost a decision. On May 6th, Satoshi beat Spike Carlyle in a fantastic fight--but it was a non-title fight, because Japanese promoters are still real scared of their own belts. Satoshi fought Patricky Pitbull at Bellator x Rizin 2 on July 29th--in another non-title fight, naturally--and took the first definitive beating of his career, getting utterly outclassed and ultimately stopped on leg kicks in three rounds. He fought Keita Nakamura at Rizin Landmark 9 on March 23 and put in one of the best performances of his career, battering K-Taro to a TKO in just 1:43--but because this is Japanese MMA it was, of course, a non-title fight, so it doesn't count as a title defense.
Rizin Featherweight Champion, 145 lbs
Chihiro Suzuki - 13-3 (1), 1 Defense
Chihiro Suzuki has had a very fortunate year. Suzuki rose to Rizin's notice not through MMA, but after winning Japan's KNOCK OUT Super Lightweight Kickboxing championship. He made his Rizin debut six months later--and got knocked out in twenty seconds. He spent the next two and a half years simultaneously rounding out his MMA game and annually defending his kickboxing gold, and by 2023, he was one of Rizin's top Featherweight contenders, more than ready for his shot at Kleber Koike Erbst's Rizin championship. And--he got armbarred in three minutes. However, hilariously enough, Erbst lost his belt on the scale after missing weight, meaning the title was vacant and the fight, by Rizin rules, was a No Contest, so Suzuki didn't even technically lose. He then proceeded to get the biggest break of his career. At Bellator x Rizin 2 on July 30th, 2023, despite having just lost a five-round fight to Sergio Pettis a month prior, Patrício Pitbull was thrown onto the card against Suzuki on four days' notice--and Suzuki not only beat him, he became the first person to ever knock out Bellator's GOAT. Rizin immediately booked Suzuki in against new champion Vugar Keramov for their debut in Keramov's home country of Azerbaijan, and Keramov looked poised and powerful and was in the process of ragdolling Suzuki like he does everyone else--and Suzuki caught him with an upkick on the jaw and punched him the rest of the way out from his goddamn back. Chihiro Suzuki, you are Rizin's new star. Hold onto it as long as you can and pray they don't book a Kleber rematch. He defended his title for the first time at Rizin 46 on April 29 by stopping Masanori Kanehara in one round.
Rizin Bantamweight Champion, 135 lbs
Kai Asakura - 21-4, 0 Defenses
Rizin's Bantamweight title is snakebitten as hell, and, somehow, so is Kai Asakura. Kyoji Horiguchi was the first man to win it back in 2018, and a year later he gave it up, having been too injured to compete--in part thanks to fighting while injured and being defeated by, in fact, Kai Asakura, but only in a non-title fight. Asakura was a lock and a favorite to win the vacant belt that December--so he got immediately knocked out by Manel Kape. Manel Kape left Rizin for the UFC, leaving the belt once again vacant, and Kai won it after knocking out Hiromasa Ougikubo, meaning Kai was not only the champion, but he also got his rematch with Kyoji Horiguchi--only this time, Kai was defending his belt, and could finally show Horiguchi it wasn't a fluke! And then Horiguchi knocked him out in three minutes, and then the belt went into torpor for two whole years, after which Horiguchi gave it up to go be a Flyweight instead. Luckily, Rizin knew this was coming, so they booked a Bantamweight Grand Prix to crown a successor, with the explicit intention of crowning Kai Asakura. And he made it to the finals! Where he got revenge-stomped by Hiromasa Ougikubo, who then went on to lose badly to former Bellator champion Juan Archuleta, who became Rizin's first American titleholder. Archuleta was oddly at home in the pomp and circumstance of JMMA, and he promised big things for his future, and then he came into his New Year's Eve match sick, missed weight by six pounds, lost his belt on the scale, and thanks to Rizin's rules, was left with a fight where not only was he ineligible to win the title, he was ineligible to win the fight. And as sick as he was, he probably shouldn't have fought anyway! But he did, and Asakura dropped him in two rounds. Thus, for the second time, Kai Asakura is the best Bantamweight in Japan. I beg him not to walk under any dangling pianos.
Rizin Flyweight Champion, 125 lbs
Kyoji Horiguchi - 32-5 (1), 0 Defenses
Well, this was a long time coming. Before Rizin even existed, Kyoji Horiguchi was the consensus #2 Flyweight fighter on the planet. He'd won Shooto's 125-pound title, he'd come to America half to face the best in the world and half because Japan's MMA scene was in a real, real bad place at the time, and by mid-2015, he was 15-1 and ready to fight for a world championship. Unfortunately, said championship was held by Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson, the best Flyweight of all time. Johnson dealt Kyoji his second-ever loss and first-ever stoppage, and it stopped Horiguchi's dream of being the best, but it also opened him up to becoming a star. A year later he was out of the UFC, back home in Japan, and, immediately, one of Rizin's top attractions. But Rizin didn't have a 125-pound division--so he settled for just winning is 135-pound belt instead. When Rizin began cross-promoting with Bellator, he went and took their belt, too, just for good measure. But his strength of schedule and his own injuries caught up with him: He ultimately vacated both belts without ever recording a title defense. By the time he came back in 2021, things had changed. He'd been knocked out for the first time in Kai Asakura back in 2019, but he was fighting hurt and on short notice, so that was excused. When Sergio Pettis knocked him out in his 2021 return fight, it was a warning; when Patchy Mix dominated him in his first match in the Bellator Grand Prix of 2022, it was a sign. Horiguchi needed to be back at 125. Bellator opened a Flyweight division more or less just for him, and at Bellator x Rizin 2 in the summer of 2023, Horiguchi faced Rizin star Makoto "Shinryu" Takahashi to crown the company's inaugural champion--and the fight ended in a No Contest after Horiguchi poked Shinryu in the eye twenty-five seconds into the first round. And then Bellator got sold and stopped operating as an independent entity. Whoops! Rizin decided to just make the goddamn belt themselves, and on New Year's Eve of 2023, Horiguchi and Takahashi had their rematch, and this time, Horiguchi choked him out. Eight years after his first attempt, Kyoji Horiguchi has a Flyweight world championship. His first act as a 125-pound champion? Taking a June 9 fight against Sergio Pettis at 135 pounds.
Rizin Women's Super Atomweight Championship, 108 lbs
Seika Izawa - 13-0, 1 Defense
All hail the new queen. After years of reigning as Japan's best atomweight, the legendary Ayaka Hamasaki fell not once but twice to the rookie Seika Izawa. A 24 year-old who was pushed into judo as a child by a frustrated mother who was tired of her constant fighting with her brothers, Izawa discovered a love for grappling that led her to win junior championships in judo, wrestling and sumo alike. She would still be pursuing judo had the pandemic not shut down much of its competitive scene, but fortunately, mixed martial arts is a terrible sport run by monsters who don't care about things like deadly diseases, which made it a tempting professional prospect. Four months after her formal MMA training began Izawa was winning fights in DEEP, less than a year after that she was DEEP's strawweight champion, and one year later she was dominating one of the best women's fighters in history on Rizin's New Year's Eve special. As Japanese organizations tend to do, frustratingly, the fight was a non-title affair, meaning Izawa had to come back and do it again on April 17. After a scary moment where Hamasaki almost stole an armbar, Izawa resumed her wrestling domination and formally took Rizin's atomweight championship. As entirely fresh blood, the world of Rizin's talent is open to her--but that also means she's got a real, real big target on her back. Rizin's Superatomweight Grand Prix was both a big coming-out party for Izawa and a series of opportunities to look shockingly mortal: She had a fair bit of trouble with Anastasiya Svetkivska in the semifinals before ultimately submitting her, but her berth in the finals against former rival Si Woo Park proved the toughest fight of her career, ending in a split decision victory she easily could have lost. Seika was supposed to face Miyuu Yamamoto at Rizin 42, but after Yamamoto had to pull out with an injury, Izawa was instead scheduled to face...the last person Yamamoto beat, the 5-3 Suwanan Boonsorn, at DEEP Jewels 41 on July 28. Izawa choked her out, shockingly. It took more than an entire year, but Izawa finally had a title defense against the 8-4 grappler Claire Lopez, and Izawa scored the fastest championship victory in Rizin history, choking her out in just barely one minute. Seika scored one more win on New Year's Eve, choking out Miyuu Yamamoto in her retirement bout, and while it was an honor, it does sort of emphasize the problem with Seika's position. She's unquestionably the best Atomweight in the world, but the last real top fighter she faced was more than a year ago. Will Rizin bring her real competition, or are they trying to simply build a star? And what IS real competition at Atomweight? She choked out Si Yoon Park at DEEP JEWELS 44 to add yet another win and belt to her credit, but the Rizin title wasn't on the line, so she's still only got the one defense.
THE BELLATOR CHAMPIONSHIP GRAVEYARD
Bellator Heavyweight Champion, 265 lbs
Ryan Bader - 31-8 (1), 3 Defenses
Ryan Bader is the greatest Bellator Heavyweight Champion of all time, and on a dairy farm somewhere in Wisconsin, Cole Konrad feels a pang of regret. Bader made his name as the winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Nogueira vs Mir all the way back in 2008, but his UFC career proved to be one of Sisyphean torment and humiliation that included, somehow, impossibly, being the only man to lose a UFC fight to Tito Ortiz during his last six years in the company. Bader left for free agency and Bellator in 2016 and became its light-heavyweight champion on his first night with the organization, and just two years later he became its first-ever simultaneous double-champion after knocking out the legendary Fedor Emelianenko and taking the heavyweight title. Bader would go on to lose his 205-pound crown, but Fedor never forgot his 35-second drubbing at the American wrestler's hands, and for his retirement fight, he demanded a rematch. Thus it was that the entire mixed martial arts community watched with bated breath as on February 4th, 2023, Fedor Emelianenko walked into the cage one last time and promptly got the absolute crap beaten out of him again. Ryan Bader remains undefeated at heavyweight. He was to defend his title against Linton Vassell at Bellator's series finale-sounding Bellator 300, but Vassell got injured and, as Bader himself put it in a reddit post, Viacom is done with Bellator and didn't want to pay for a replacement. Ryan Bader is the best heavyweight champion outside of the UFC, and it's anyone's guess if he'll still be champion of anything by January. He also, unfortunately, got his shit completely wrecked by Renan Ferreira in thirty seconds, making him the one and only Bellator fighter to lose at PFL vs Bellator.
Bellator Light-Heavyweight Champion, 205 lbs
Corey Anderson - 18-6 (1), 0 Defenses
Corey Anderson has been passed over by the sport so many times, but now, finally, his day has come. His success as a college wrestler led him to Ben Askren, and Ben Askren actually tricked him into trying mixed martial arts, and getting outsmarted by Ben Askren might still be the worst loss of his career. Anderson burst into the UFC as the champion of The Ultimate Fighter 19 back in 2014, and as a big, strong, undefeated 5-0 wrestler, he looked like a genuine championship threat. He was, of course, immediately knocked out by Gian Villante, and if you do not know or remnember who that is: That's the point. This sort of derailing became the story of Anderson's career, and by 2017 he had been knocked out twice in a row and was considering retirement. Instead, he launched into a fantastic, four-fight winning streak that included effortlessly destroying the UFC's big hype project Johnny Walker, giving Anderson a #5 ranking and a title eliminator against Jan Błachowicz, whom he'd beaten back in 2015. Unfortunately, this time Jan knocked him out--and despite being 4 for his last 5 and unequivocally one of the best 205-pound fighters in the world, the UFC released him because they didn't want to market a wrestler. Anderson went to Bellator, joined the 2021 Light Heavyweight Grand Prix, knocked out Ryan Bader in less than a minute and made it to the tournament final against reignning, Bellator-undefeated champion Vadim Nemkov--and he almost won. But at 4:55 of the third round, an inadvertent headbutt busted Nemkov's eye, and a doctor ruled him unable to continue. If the fight had lasted five more seconds it would have gone to a technical decision, and Anderson would have won the $1 million tournament purse and his first world championship. Instead, he got nothing, and Nemkov beat him in a rematch seven months later. It took a year and a half and Nemkov's own move up to Heavyweight for Anderson to get another chance, but at the first-ever PFL-owned Bellator Champions Series event on March 22, 2024, Corey Anderson wrestled Karl Moore for five excruciating rounds and won that god damned belt. His future as a titleholder will depend on PFL's commitment to the Bellator brand.
Bellator Middleweight Champion, 185 lbs
Johnny Eblen - 15-0, 2 Defenses
There's an old combat sports tradition whereby a champion isn't really a champion until they defend their title. Gegard Mousasi has been established as the best middleweight outside the UFC that, despite the one-sided nature of their fight, Johnny Eblen's victory over him was treated as an aberration rather than the passing of a torch. It didn't matter that Eblen was undefeated, widely considered one of the absolute best by his cohort at American Top Team or that he'd dropped Mousasi on his face with his bare hands, the world needed verification. On February 4th at Bellator 290, they got it. Fedor Emelianenko's team was intending to pull one big, beautiful night of success out of the ether for their leader's retirement fight, but it was not to be: Vadim Nemkov had to pull out of the card thanks to an injury, Fedor himself was crushed for the second time by heavyweight champion Ryan Bader, and middleweight hopeful Anatoly Tokov was competitive for the first couple of rounds but was subsequently washed out by Eblen's overwhelming assault. Johnny Eblen is a defending champion now, and as things always seem to go, the conversation changed overnight from his being overrated to his being better than everyone in the UFC. This mindset only grew again after Bellator 299 on September 23rd, as Eblen faced Fabian Edwards, knocked him out in the third round, and nearly got into a post-fight brawl with his brother, UFC champion Leon Edwards. Eblen admits he has no idea what his future is or if Bellator will still be around, but he's considering a move to light-heavyweight with Vadim Nemkov leaving the division wide open. Eblen had a scare against Impa Kasanganay but ultimately won his PFL vs Bellator bout.
Bellator Welterweight Champion, 170 lbs
Jason Jackson - 18-4, 0 Defenses
Getting in right before the buzzer is one of the best times to get in. Jason Jackson does not win any points for having "The Ass-Kicking Machine" for a nickname, but his successes speak for themselves. Jackson actually had two run-ins with the UFC early in his career--since he got his start training with the short-lived Blackzilians team, he was part of The Ultimate Fighter 21 (jesus christ): American Top Team vs Blackzilians, where he was choked out in the second round. He didn't get invited to the UFC, but two years later he was on the third episode of the Contender Series, which saw him spend the first round mostly cage-clinching before breaking his ankle out of nowhere twenty seconds into the second round. He was in Bellator a couple years later losing a decision to Ed Ruth, and that was about the point the world decided to ignore him. As it turns out: A mistake. His path through Bellator was slow--to the point that he's only had one fight a year for the last three years--but by this year he was on a six-fight winning streak and a sensible opponent for Yaroslav Amosov. Very few people gave him a chance, but having not knocked anyone out since mid-2018, absolutely no one expected him to knock Amosov, the best Welterweight outside of the UFC, the fuck out in the third round. Jason Jackson is, officially, the Bellator Welterweight Champion. He defended Bellator's honor by kicking Ray Cooper III's leg in half at PFL vs Bellator, and he'll make the first defense of his title against Ramazan Kurmagomedov on June 22.
Bellator Lightweight Champion, 155 lbs
Usman Nurmagomedov - 17-0 (1), 2 Defenses
If there's a single, developing throughline of mixed martial arts in 2022, it's the growing power of the Dagestani wrestling brigade. Abdulmanap Nurmagomedov built an army of ultra-grapplers, and after his passing the American Kickboxing Academy's Javier Mendez and Adulmanap's son and protege, the now-retired Khabib Nurmagomedov, unleashed them on the world. Usman, Khabib's cousin (as well as the younger brother of Umar Nurmagomedov, undefeated and ranked UFC bantamweight), took to Bellator in April of 2021 and proceeded to burn an undefeated path through the Manny Muros and Patrik Pietiläe of the world. His style was a little more eclectic--lots of spinning kicks, lots of stick-and-move jabs and stomps to the leg--but the resemblance became uncanny once he inevitably, and easily, ragdolled his opponents to the canvas and generally choked them out in short order thereafter. When he was announced as the #1 contender to Bellator's lightweight title, I was somewhat miffed: He hadn't beaten any top contenders, Bellator had already held a title eliminator and it was won in a crushing thirty-second knockout by Tofiq Musayev, the whole thing smacked of a pathetic attempt to glom onto some of Khabib's mainstream attention. I at no point said that he wouldn't very, very easily win. At Bellator 288 on November 18th, Usman very, very easily won, defeating Patricky "Pitbull" Freire at every aspect of the game and leaving him sans both his championship and one eyebrow. Usman's first fight as champion was both a defense and an entry into the first round of Bellator's Lightweight Grand Prix on March 3rd at Bellator 292, where he met, crushed, and retired former UFC champion Benson Henderson, handing him just the third submission loss of a 17-year, 42-fight career. He faced fellow tournament semifinalist Brent Primus at Bellator 300 on October 7th, and it was as one-sided and yet uneventful as you can imagine. Until Usman failed his drug test. Bellator says it was for medication rather than PEDs and thus he won't be stripped, but the fight's a No Contest and they need a rematch, which seems awfully selective. And then the company got bought, so it was all forgotten anyway. He was supposed to face Alexander Shabily on May 17, but an injury scratched him for the foreseeable future.
Bellator Featherweight Champion, 145 lbs
Patrício Pitbull - 36-7, 2 Defenses
Patrício Pitbull had a weird goddamn 2023. Pitbull has long been the GOAT of Bellator, sometimes to the company's open chagrin--there were definitely times they would have vastly preferred a Pat Curran or a Michael Chandler to carry their banner, and Patrício had this unfortunate habit of not just beating them but making them look like shit. By mid-2021, he was Bellator's dual featherweight and lightweight champion, he was on a seven-fight win streak, and he was a finalist in their Featherweight Grand Prix. And then undefeated rising star A.J. McKee dropped him and choked him out in two minutes. Bellator, clearly, felt they had hit the jackpot and were going to be riding the McKee train for some time, as by their rematch ten months later, McKee was the centerpiece of all of their advertising. It was somewhat awkward when, as he had done to so many before, Patrício took him to a victorious decision that made McKee kind of look like shit, neutralizing his offense in the clinch, jabbing under his range, and grinding away the clock. Bellator pushed for a trilogy, but McKee, pissed off, tired of cutting weight and worried about having it happen all over again, declined and moved up to lightweight. Instead of a big-money rematch, Patrício was left to face top contender Ádám Borics, and the match, while hard-fought, was not particularly entertaining or memorable. Pitbull's next fight was the rare cross-promotional bout, facing Rizin's featherweight champion Kleber Koike Erbst on the New Year's Eve Bellator x Rizin special. It was the only fight on the card that wasn't particularly competitive: He shut Kleber down completely and won a wide decision. There is only one featherweight king outside the UFC--and it's one who had a two-fight losing streak, with one of those fights being a bantamweight loss to Sergio Pettis and the other a lightweight knockout to Chihiro Suzuki that he took on four days' notice, because MMA is silly. Pitbull did, however, become the first Bellator champion to canonically defend a title under their new PFL ownership: He fought Jeremy Kennedy at Bellator Champions Series 1 on March 22 and mauled him in three rounds.
Bellator Bantamweight Champion, 135 lbs
Patchy Mix - 20-1, 1 Defense
It took a long goddamn time, but Patchy Mix is finally getting the credit he deserves. Fans had already singled out Patchy as a uniquely talented fighter by 2019, when he signed to Bellator as the 10-0 King of the Cage Bantamweight Champion who'd submitted almost everyone he faced, but it wasn't really until he choked out Yuki Motoya at Bellator's first co-promotion with Rizin that people really paid attention. Which was unfortunate, because his next fight was a shot at Juan Archuleta for the vacant Bellator Bantamweight Championship and Archuleta schooled him on their feet, ending both Mix's title hopes and his undefeated streak. It didn't help matters when, two fights later, he blew his weight cut for a big Dublin match against James Gallagher. But Mix kept winning, and when he entered the Bantamweight Grand Prix and promptly stormed the bracket by beating Kyoji Horiguchi and choking out Magomed Magomedov, suddenly, people paid attention again. When he fought interim champion Raufeon Stots and knocked him out cold with a knee in less than a minute and a half, people began wondering if maybe he was the real champion and Sergio Pettis, who'd been out for a year and a half and returned to a vanity fight with Patrício Pitbull, wasn't the fake. The two met at Bellator 301 on November 17th, and Mix left no doubt: He outwrestled Pettis and choked him out in the second round. Patchy Mix is, finally, the undisputed Bellator Bantamweight Champion. He defended his title against Magomed Magomedov at Bellator Champions Series 2 on May 17, but as much as I love Patchy, the decision probably should've gone the other way.
Bellator Women's Featherweight Champion, 145 lbs
Cris Cyborg - 27-2 (1), 5 Defenses
Yup. It's 2024 and Cris Cyborg is still out there. For those who don't know, Cris Cyborg was the canonical women's featherweight fighter, a Muay Thai wrecking machine who didn't just beat but brutalized essentially all of her opponents, including ex-Star Wars Gina Carano, and her popularity as a destroyer of humans is the only real reason women's featherweight even exists as a division, to the point that the UFC added it when she was the only actual fighter at the weight class they employed. She was 20-1 (1) when she passed the torch to Amanda Nunes, who slew her in just fifty-one seconds. She took one more fight in the UFC to complete her contract, but left for Bellator almost immediately afterward with uncharacteristic cooperation from the UFC itself--after all, they'd gotten what they wanted out of her. Her first Bellator fight was a one-sided destruction of their featherweight champion, and she's defended it three times since. At this point in Cyborg's career the problem isn't her or her fighting or her age, but simply that there's no one in Bellator for her to fight--after just five fights she's already hitting rematches, having just recorded her second one-sided bludgeoning of a very game but outmatched Arlene Blencowe. Cyborg decided her next fight would be a boxing match, and on September 25 she faced Simone da Silva, a jobber to the stars coming off twelve straight losses who had been knocked out just one month prior. Undeterred, she had her second boxing match on the undercard of December 10th’s Crawford/Avanesyan card, taking a unanimous decision over Gabrielle “Gabanator” Holloway, who is 6-6 in MMA and 0-3 in boxing. After a year and a half of inactivity, Cris Cyborg returned to MMA to defend her title against Cat Zingano at Bellator 300 on October 7th. It lasted four minutes. Cyborg has been open and public about her lack of communication with PFL, and despite being one of Bellator's biggest names, those fences do not appear to be mending.
Bellator Women's Flyweight Champion, 125 lbs
Liz Carmouche - 21-7, 3 Defenses
It took more than a decade and some controversy, but Liz Carmouche got her flowers. "Girl-Rilla" was just as present a figure in establishing women's MMA in the mainstream, but she's the most consistently forgotten because she was the losing fighter in all of those establishing moments. She was a challenger for the early, pre-fame Strikeforce Women's Bantamweight Championship, and was winning on the scorecards before Marloes Coenen choked her out. She was a central part of the inaugural Invicta FC card, and was planned as a title contender before the big show came calling. She became one half of the first women's fight in UFC history, and at one point had Ronda Rousey in a nearly destiny-defying neck crank, but was ultimately submitted in the first round. She's one of two women to ever defeat Valentina Shevchenko, but when given a second chance at the now-UFC champion Shevchenko, she fell short. Despite her powerful wrestling and submission skills, she was eternally denied the top of the mountain. So it was both particularly appropriate and particularly cruel when she finally won a championship on April 22, 2022--in a way that displeased everybody. Standing champion Juliana Velasquez was winning on every scorecard, but Liz Carmouche got her in the crucifix position and landed a number of, respectfully, small elbows, but referee Mike Beltran called a TKO to the immediate chagrin of the entirely safe ex-champion. The controversy made a rematch all but mandatory, and it took Bellator most of the year to do it, but the two met in the cage to run it back at Bellator 289 on December 9, and this time there was no controversy, as Velasquez submitted to an armbar two rounds in. The weirdness didn't stop there: Liz's next title defense against Deanna Bennett also hit the skids, as Bennett missed weight and was thus ineligible to win the championship. Carmouche put it on the line anyway, and fortunately, she choked Bennett out in the fourth round. She defended her title against Ilima-Lei Macfarlane at Bellator 300 on October 7th, and it was one of those fights where friends don't really want to hurt each other--until Ilima got kicked enough that her leg collapsed in the fifth round. Her status as champion is questionable, though--of all Bellator's titleholders, Liz is the only one taking part in this year's PFL season. At PFL 1 on April 4 she beat Juliana Velasquez for the third time. Good job.