2021 has been a busy year for the UFC. Year-to-date, the organization held eight numbered Pay-Per-View (PPV) events, with 12 title bouts. Of those, the reigning champions defended their titles six times, the belts changed hand four times, and a vacant or interim belt was crowned on two occasions. This is not to mention the almost weekly Fight Night events, totaling 28 shows for the year and bringing the all-time count to 575 (!) with last weekend’s UFC on ESPN 30.
Here’s a look at the five most interesting fights scheduled in the UFC for the remainder of the year. These fights are sure to be exciting, possibly even more so you partake in online betting on some of your favorite fighters. Three of these five are title bouts, three are rematches, one is a top contender bout and one fun nostalgic matchup to boot.
[#1 WW] Kamaru Usman vs [#2 WW] Colby Covington
This is the currently scheduled UFC matchup I am personally looking forward to the most. Kamaru Usman will be looking to defend his UFC (and lineal) Welterweight title for the fifth time, which will tie for second place with Matt Hughes for most title defenses in the division. Usman and Colby Covington previously met in the Octagon in 2019, with Usman stopping Covington with strikes in the fifth round in what was an absolute barn-burner of a fight. Usman seems to have only improved since then, defeating Gilbert Burns as well as taking two wins over Jorge Masvidal. His most recent win over Masvidal was a thunderous knock out that shocked many fans. Covington in the meanwhile only fought once, dominating and stopping former champion Tyron Woodley. It remains to be seen how much has Colby improved his overall game and how he will deal with Usman’s ever evolving striking this time around. We will find out in November, close to two years since their first matchup.
[#52 WW] Robbie Lawler vs [NR] Nick Diaz
Another welterweight rematch – but this one comes an incredible seventeen years after these two were first locked together in a cage. This matchup is not for a title, not even for bragging rights… just pure nostalgia for old school MMA fans. Former champion Robbie Lawler has been around the block a few times, and is definitely in the twilight of what has been an amazing career. Lawler lost his last four bouts, only winning once since dropping the title to Woodley. This may be the final fight for Robbie, and an opportunity to avenge a loss from when he was just starting out his UFC career. His opponent, Nick Diaz, has not been active in recent years: Diaz last fought in 2015, and has not had his hand raised in over a decade. It’s not clear why Nick decided to make a return to MMA at this point in his life, or what he has left in the gas tank against an opponent who has been in active competition. Can Diaz repeat the outcome of their first meeting, or will the inactivity be too much to overcome?
[#1 LHW] Jan Blachowicz vs [#3 LHW] Glover Teixeira
In the post-Jon Jones light-heavyweight division, we have a matchup between two old war horses: reigning and defending champion, 38-year old Jan Blachowicz will be taking on the challenger, 41-year old Glover Teixeira. Both men have experienced somewhat of a late career peak. Blachowicz turned away the middleweight champion Israel Adesanya in his first title defense after taking the vacant belt when he knocked out Dominic Reyes. Jan is on a five-fight win streak and so is Glover Teixeira, who clawed his way back into title contention despite seemingly taking a beating in almost every fight, before pulling off a comeback. These two are not the kind of fighters to talk trash about their opponents, in fact you would be hard pressed to find a matchup with more mutual respect than these combatants have shown to each other. Glover will be seeking a taste of the gold before he retires, while Jan looks to continue establishing himself as a legitimate successor to Jones’ throne.
[#3 LW] Justin Gaethje vs [#7 LW] Michael Chandler
I was going to write about the upcoming lightweight title fight between champion Charles Oliveira and Dustin Poirier, but since that fight was still not finalized at the time I included the top contender matchup instead. The winner of this bout will almost certainly face the Oliveira-Poirier winner some time in 2022. Both men came into the UFC after a stint as champions in smaller leagues: Gaethje was the WSOF lightweight title holder, while Chandler has been a three times former Bellator champ – even though he didn’t hold the belt at the time of his move to UFC. Gaethje went 5-2 in UFC prior to receiving a shot at Khabib Nurmagomedov. Chandler won his UFC debut against Dan Hooker, then was immediately thrust into a shot at the vacant belt against Oliveira. Both men came up shorts in their bid for UFC gold, and now one will get a chance at redemption with a victory. This is somewhat of a classic wrestler-vs-striker matchup – even though Gaethje has solid wrestling credentials of his own and Chandler has plenty of power in his hands, I have a feeling that they will stick to their preffered tactics with the stakes so high.
[#1 BW] Aljamain Sterling vs [#2 BW] Petr Yan
Last but not least, we have another rematch for a title, and another fight between the two top ranked fighters in their division. Their first fight ended in controversy when Petr Yan landed a knee to a downed opponent which left Aljamain Sterling unable to continue, and made him the first man to win a UFC title by disqualification. Sterling received plenty of flak from the fans for playing up his injuries after the illegal knee, and taking the “easy route” to the title. Some of the criticism may be warranted, as Yan was dominating the fight prior to the DQ. However Yan has no one but himself to blame for his mistake. Let’s hope that he does not repeat it, and that Sterling is able to better deal with his extremely well-rounded opponent this time.