1. What is your blurb review of UFC 320?<\/p>\n
Heck: Showed that when you give us a bit of a breather \u2014 like six weeks between PPV cards \u2014 it makes people miss you. Overdelivered.<\/p>\n
Lee: Two of the best pound-for-pound fighters of this era reminded us why they\u2019re two of the best pound-for-pound fighters of this era. Oh, and JIRI F\u2019ING PROCHAZKA.<\/p>\n
Meshew: Alex Pereira defies convention. Merab Dvalishvili defies physics. Jiri Prochazka defies all logic and reason.<\/p>\n
2. What is next for Alex Pereira?<\/p>\n
Heck: Whatever the hell he wants!<\/p>\n
While this fight built in anticipation for me the closer we got to Saturday, I, at no point, felt there wasn\u2019t a single ounce of pressure on Pereira heading into this rematch with Ankalaev. If he won, he got revenge and could move to heavyweight. If he lost, so what? He can move up to heavyweight and have fun fights. Very few fighters have that luxury.<\/p>\n
Pereira running over Ankalaev was so impressive, and didn\u2019t even break an ounce of sweat doing it. \u201cPoatan\u201d is done with 205, in my opinion, and now he can fight Jon Jones, or Tom Aspinall, or go to Zuffa Boxing for a cup of coffee. He is truly in a unique position, one we haven\u2019t seen anything close to since Conor McGregor.<\/p>\n
Lee: A long-awaited title defense against Carlos Ulberg!<\/p>\n
OK, that\u2019s probably not even in the top 5 of Pereira\u2019s most desired options, which the UFC is likely to give some weight to, given Pereira\u2019s spectacular performance and star power. But if it were up to ol\u2019 AK Lee, then Pereira would stick around at 205 pounds for at least one more title defense against the clear-cut No. 1 contender.<\/p>\n
Even though Ulberg isn\u2019t a household name, the same could be said of Khalil Rountree, and when he got his shot at Pereira, all he did was give us one of the most brutal fights of 2024. Doesn\u2019t Ulberg deserve a chance to have that kind of moment?<\/p>\n
Martin: It sure sounds like the UFC wants to keep Pereira at light heavyweight, and considering he already has two finishes over Jiri Prochazka, it\u2019s looking more and more like Carlos Ulberg might actually get his opportunity at becoming champion.<\/p>\n
Now, as impressive as Ulberg has been since suffering his lone loss in the UFC, he\u2019s primarily a striker, and that\u2019s like playing in traffic on a highway going against Pereira. Sure, he might survive or even cause a crash or two, but there\u2019s a good chance he ends up as road kill.<\/p>\n
But the real question becomes how much time Pereira might miss with his foot injury. If he actually sits out for a while, Pereira might find himself in a position where he could finally test the waters at heavyweight. Whether that\u2019s Jon Jones or Tom Aspinall, Pereira is probably a far more enticing option than the current crop of contenders out there vying for the same opportunity.<\/p>\n
Meshew: Jon Jones and the White House. Any other answer is ludicrous.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m on the record that I thought the Pereira-Ankalaev rematch was silly, because the outcome didn\u2019t matter. If Alex won, he should move to heavyweight, and if he lost, he should move to heavyweight. But the UFC went ahead with it anyway, and Alex won, reestablishing his aura. Now the only reasonable use of that aura is not to fight Carlos Ulberg, but to bring the appropriate level of spectacle to the UFC White House card.<\/p>\n
UFC White House is going to be the most outlandish spectacle in the history of the sport, and it needs fights commensurate with its stature. That doesn\u2019t mean title fights, it means superfights. Outrageous, bizarre, megafights that will attract all levels of fandom. Sure, Ilia Topuria vs. Islam Makhachev is the kind of fight that MMA fans will love. But Jon Jones vs. Alex Pereira is the kind of fight that your mom and her book club will even hear about.<\/p>\n
For well over a year, Jones has been trying to fight Alex Pereira, and now the path is clear. Jones is no longer the heavyweight champion \u2014 so no issue with him not fighting Aspinall \u2014 and Pereira can simply vacate his belt and let Jiri and Ulberg square off for it. Everybody wins.<\/p>\n
3. Can anyone dethrone Merab Dvalishvili?<\/p>\n
Skill for skill, I still see Umar Nurmagomedov as the most complete fighter in the bantamweight division, and even his loss to Dvalishvili this past January hasn\u2019t changed that. He was simply outpaced and outworked by a guy who we\u2019re pretty sure is not human; it happens. Now, there\u2019s no magical elixir that\u2019s going to give Nurmagomedov a gas tank to match Dvalishvili\u2019s, but working on better conservation of energy and a strategy geared toward definitively winning just one more round, those are achievable goals. I\u2019m taking Nurmagomedov in the rematch (assuming he gets past Mario Bautista, anyway).<\/p>\n
Now, do I think he can beat Dvalishvili twice when the trilogy is inevitably booked? Let\u2019s cross that bridge when we come to it.<\/p>\n
Heck: Nope \u2014 at least, anyone that\u2019s on the UFC roster currently.<\/p>\n
Saturday night showed me that nobody is beating Merab in a bantamweight UFC fight unless he is fighting into his 50s. I really dove into the fight vaults of both Dvalishvili and Sandhagen in the lead-up to the fight, and my conclusion was, stylistically, Sandhagen had the best chance to dethrone Dvalishvili \u2014 and even then, I couldn\u2019t fully pull the trigger on making the pick. In the first round, Sandhagen looked exactly the way I thought he could, and then he got thumped in Round 2, and then Merab\u2019d over the next three rounds.<\/p>\n
I think Umar Nurmagomedov will eventually win the bantamweight title, but he won\u2019t do it against Dvalishvili. He had his best chance in the first meeting when Merab was nowhere near 100 percent, and had the deck stacked against him, and Dvalishvili somehow still got it done. The only person dethroning Dvalishvili is the man himself \u2014 either through vacating for another challenge or retirement.<\/p>\n
Martin: The short answer is probably not, but the MMA answer is that anything can happen, so you just never know.<\/p>\n
That said, Umar Nurmagomedov still exists, and he gave Dvalishvili his toughest fight in recent history. If Nurmagomedov can bounce back with a win over Mario Bautista in a few weeks, he\u2019s right back in the hunt for a potential title shot. The UFC eyed Nurmagomedov as a potential star, as seen by his rapid rise up the ranks, but he came up short in his first bid against Dvalishvili.<\/p>\n
It might be worthwhile to let Nurmagomedov get a couple of fights under his belt before booking that rematch. If he gets through Bautista, maybe throw him in there with the winner of Sean O\u2019Malley vs. Song Yadong (assuming that one happens) and then set the stage for an epic rematch with Dvalishvili.<\/p>\n
Outside of that, Dvalishvili is going to have to just get absolutely caught looking because stylistically, he\u2019s a nightmare for every single 135-pound fighter in the world.<\/p>\n
Meshew: I\u2019m with AK on this one. Umar Nurmagomedov is the only guy I view as having a decent chance \u2014 as we just saw with Pereira, just because something happened in the first fight doesn\u2019t mean it will happen again in the second \u2014 but you still have to favor Merab if they fight again soon.<\/p>\n
Along those lines, I also stand with Damon. Merab is about to be 35, and the cliff can come quickly in MMA. Anderson Silva looked unbeatable until he wasn\u2019t. Same for B.J. Penn, and Fedor Emelianenko, and a whole host of other people.<\/p>\n
And I\u2019ll also say there\u2019s another guy out there that people are sleeping on who could have a chance: Mario Bautista. I am an avowed Bautista hater, but he\u2019s been undeniably effective, and even though he should\u2019ve lost to Jose Aldo, the same can be said of Merab. If Bautista beats Umar in their upcoming fight \u2014 a tall task \u2014 I will legitimately be interested in seeing him get his shot at the champ.<\/p>\n
4. How awesome is Jiri Prochazka?<\/p>\n
Heck: Jiri was always in the top-three, but he\u2019s now officially my favorite fighter to watch in the history of the sport.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve now watched Prochazka vs. Rountree three times, and I had so much fun every single time. Prochazka is a lunatic, and watching him try to navigate this fight with a super tough opponent in each of the three rounds was an adventure. In Round 1, we thought maybe he blew his knee out because he was slipping and sliding, and not moving well \u2014 and, of course, the moment where Rountree hit him clean and he got super pissed off with a scream. Round 2, Prochazka turned into Cody Garbrandt when he was fighting Dominick Cruz; jabbing, footwork, head movement, dancing around like a butterfly on steroids.<\/p>\n
And then Round 3 began, and he went full-on wacko, and it was incredible. In fact, check out Jed and I\u2019s real-time reaction.<\/p>\n
Prochazka may not wear UFC gold again, and I truly don\u2019t care. The man is a combat treasure, and one of the saddest days of my life watching and covering this sport is when Prochazka decides he no longer wants to do it. Until then, enjoy the spectacular ride!<\/p>\n
Lee: So awesome that there was no doubt in anyone\u2019s mind he was capable of doing exactly what he did to Rountree in Round 3.<\/p>\n
Many fighters would have been content to coast to a loss and move on to the next one after falling behind on the cards against an elite opponent, but not Prochazka. He chose to go full ka-razy with five minutes to go, daring Rountree to match him punch for punch, even knowing Rountree\u2019s own history of devastating knockouts. Didn\u2019t matter. Prochazka once again trusted the spirits to guide him (and his fists to his opponent\u2019s chin), and he was not led astray.<\/p>\n
Unless your name is Alex Pereira, you\u2019re not beating this guy right now.<\/p>\n
Martin: Immediately after Prochazka scored a comeback knockout against Khalil Rountree Jr. at UFC 320, I texted a member of his team, and the message I got back was a tongue-in-cheek response: \u201cJiri has aged me.\u201d That\u2019s understandable considering the way Prochazka loves to take risks and rarely displays any defense in his fights. It makes for some highly entertaining fights, but Prochazka loves keeping everybody on the edge of their seats.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what makes him guaranteed fun every time he fights.<\/p>\n
Prochazka often throws caution to the wind and just steps into the fire, betting that he\u2019ll torch his opponents before getting burned in return. Rountree found that out the hard way on Saturday night, and there\u2019s a good chance most opponents would suffer the same fate.<\/p>\n
He\u2019s not quite Justin Gaethje when it comes to delivering a pier-six brawl, but Prochazka is incapable of putting on a boring fight, and that\u2019s going to keep him employed until the day he decides to hang up the gloves.<\/p>\n
Meshew: I could write 20,000 words on Jiri Prochazka and still not scratch the surface of what I want to say. But to put it in the plainest language, Jiri has undeniably etched himself onto the Mount Rushmore of Action Fighters. Justin Gaethje and Robbie Lawler are the 1A and 1B of Most Exciting Fighters to Ever Live, and Jiri now joins their ranks as a beautiful violence demigod. Only he\u2019s arguably even better because while Gaethje and Lawler are relatively quiet, mild-mannered guys, Jiri is a crazy person.<\/p>\n
This is a man who got a Master\u2019s degree to improve his brain capacity for fighting<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is a man who only realized that swimming under a frozen lake is dangerous when he was actually doing it<\/a>.<\/p>\n This is a man who unironically blamed his loss to Alex Pereira on the use of Amazonian spirits<\/a>. And THEN wept tears of joy at seeing Alex reclaim the belt<\/a>.<\/p>\n There has never been anyone like Jiri Prochazka in the history of this sport, right down to his ability to be minutes from clearly losing to Khalil Rountree only to simply smash his break-in-case-of-emergency \u201cgo crazy\u201d button and deliver a devastating finish.<\/p>\n There\u2019s a reason why I call him my large adult son, and it\u2019s because he\u2019s the best. I love him like a member of my family, despite having never met him.<\/p>\n 5. Who was the biggest loser at UFC 320?<\/p>\n Heck: While this isn\u2019t the lowest hanging fruit, it\u2019s Patchy Mix for me.<\/p>\n I\u2019ll admit, some of this comes with a little bit of vindication: I always thought Mix was a very good fighter, but I never bought into the \u201cPatchy Mix is the best bantamweight in the world\u201d take that A LOT of people were giving \u2014 including people who work at this here website. He had a superb run in the Bellator bantamweight grand prix, no doubt about it, but the Magomed Magomedov rematch was the exclamation point I needed to see to tell me I had a near-perfect read on the situation. The Mario Bautista fight in his UFC debut saw the train fill up with a lot more people.<\/p>\n Outside of the hardcore fan base, very few knew who Jakub Wiklacz was heading into this fight. Wiklacz is a former KSW champ, and a fun guy to watch, but this was 100 percent a sink-or-swim fight for Mix, and one, stylistically, he matched up really well in\u2026 and then he lost. I scored it 29-28 for Mix on the live watch, but make no mistake, this was NOT a robbery. Now, the former Bellator champ is in UFC purgatory.<\/p>\n No, he will not be cut right now, but the UFC will attempt to milk whatever is left of his name to get other fighters over. Mix is probably going to fight Malcolm Wellmaker next, and then he\u2019ll fight another stud Contender Series contract winner before likely moving on when his contract expires. I feel bad for Mix. I really do. This is one of the painful parts of this crazy sport we love.<\/p>\n Lee: Magomed Ankalaev is never getting a title shot again.<\/p>\n It\u2019s not just that he lost to Pereira, it\u2019s that somehow he gained almost zero cachet (or, perhaps more appropriately, aura) in the seven months since he ended Pereira\u2019s first title reign. You figure the law of transitive properties might have come into play at some point with Ankalaev achieving another level of recognition, but no. It feels like everyone is content to act like that first fight just never happened, and that Ankalaev belongs back in the middle of the contender line. He was on a 14-fight unbeaten streak!<\/p>\n Ankalaev has never had the support of Dana White, the matchmakers, nor the casual MMA fan, and that\u2019s a recipe for irrelevance. He had to wait a long time to finally win the belt, and even though he\u2019s just 33, a baby in the light heavyweight division, it feels like the moment is gone for good.<\/p>\n Martin: Without a doubt, it\u2019s Magomed Ankalaev.<\/p>\n He already had to go on an impossibly long unbeaten streak to get his first title shot, because Ankalaev wasn\u2019t known as the most exciting fighter on the roster despite picking up several finishes in the UFC. To his credit, Ankalaev got a lot more vocal before and after his fights with Pereira, but that still didn\u2019t make him a household name.<\/p>\n