Sports
What’s Going on with the UFC Heavyweight Division?
Always a big fan favourite in any combat sport, the UFC heavyweight division often holds the biggest respect for some of the strongest men on the planet to compete against each other. It wasn’t all that long ago where the UFC heavyweight was the talk of the town for the UFC too as perhaps the most active division with some of the most exciting fights to boot, but I have since slowed, and the previously active division is mostly lying dormant – so what’s going on?
(Image from thescrap.co)
There is a big fight on the way as defending champ Francis Ngannou will face the 10-0 challenger in Ciryl Gane in January, with both coming off some big wins and confidence at an all time high for Gane it will certainly be a huge fight particularly if it’s able to return to the UFC home of Vegas, also home to some of the biggest entertainment facilities in the world like the MGM which has been finding success with online alternatives like BetMGM welcoming lots of punters for these upcoming UFC heavyweight fights – the inactivity previously had been due to Ngannou taking a much-needed break to visit family and spend time at home leading to the interim fights after such a short period.
Other delays came as former champ Stipe Miocic seemed unwilling to fight anyone other than Ngannou for a rematch following the loss of his own title, this on its own put the UFC heavyweight division into a bit of a holding pattern. There aren’t too many other names in the top 10 that have been too active too – Derrick Lewis has been the most active until his recent loss to now interim champ Ciryl Gane, Rozenstruick has had some mixed results and a couple of losses in the past three, and Blaydes had already fought twice this year with no planned fight just yet.
There is of course the elephant in the room too – Jon Jones. There had been a lot of hype building towards his return to the octagon at the new weight, training and weightlifting videos where he looked bigger than ever, but as in typical fashion, some troubles outside of the gym and news that he wouldn’t be able to train with partners and instead private training at home came once again and raises questions of whether or not he will be able to step into the UFC cage again – some of the biggest news in the UFC heavyweight division for a while, coming crashing down once again.
When the top fighters are only fighting once or twice per year, it’s tough to keep things feeling fresh and to keep things going, particularly as there are fighters in other divisions fighting three or four times per year, things will inevitably start to feel staler – movement may start to come, but for now, much of the division seems to be lying dormant.
