The State of the UFC's Heavyweight Division - exploring some interesting questions

Welcome to our Community
Wanting to join the rest of our members? Feel free to Sign Up today.
Sign up

CagesideTribune

Active Member
Jan 9, 2018
11
26
In the aftermath of the most anticipated UFC heavyweight championship fight of all-time, we are left with a grim-reality. The adrenaline and excitement quickly fades into the revelation that we are now left without a legit title contender. At a time when we are blessed with the greatest heavyweight champion ever, in Stipe Miocic, the flow of worthy challengers has come to a trickle. The truth is, Francis Ngannou is still the man with the best shot of defeating Miocic. Remember, before last night, none of Miocic’s championship fights had gone past the 1st round.

Fabricio Werdum is probably the next man up, but does he deserve a chance to win back the belt which he relinquished to Stipe Miocic at UFC 198? Since losing the belt, Werdum has beat Travis Browne by decision, dropped a majority decision to Overeem, and beat a last-minute fill-in, Walt Harris, by submission. In his most recent bout, Werdum turned in a decent performance — nothing more, nothing less — to beat Marcin Tybura by unanimous decision, after 5 mostly uneventful rounds.

Has he done enough to earn the title shot? I’d say no — however, in the barren-landscape of the UFC’s heavyweight division, he is the likely #1 contender. Regardless, it seems that this next year will be a turning-point for the division — a changing of the guards, per say. Veterans such as Werdum, Overeem, and Hunt seem to be on the way out. Derrick Lewis, Marcin Tybura, Alexander Volkov, and Curtis Blaydes are all on the brink of earning a title-shot. We also have a group of promising fighters who debuted last year — Marcelo Golm, Tai Tuivasa, and Junior Albini — all prospects to keep an eye on. Also, don’t forget about Junior Dos Santos, who is still only 33-years-old. Let’s explore some of the interesting questions which surround the aging heavyweight division:

Continue reading here: The State of the UFC's Heavyweight Division
 

Hwoarang

TMMAC Addict
Oct 22, 2015
4,004
6,086
It's the elite Heavyweight division. It's hard to rack up a big streak as when the big boys through down it's often a flip of a coin. Werdum, Overeem and Sea-level Cain all have a good chance of beating Stipe.
 

CLINTK9

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2015
331
528
stipe vs cain is what i want to see. no need to give cain warm-up fight. he fights best after layoffs anyway
werdum needs to rematch hunt (would love werdum vs barnett if he comes back)
ngannou vs black beast
if struve beats AA, then do struve vs reem. struve wins that then stipe rematch as they got a story for that one
wheres big ben? browne vs rothwell is fight we never saw
tybura vs blaydes and either of them vs tuivasa and any of these 3 vs black beast would be fun.
JDS vs volkov or hunt2 would be good.
they need to sign minakov (maybe alexs E), esp with russia event coming this year
 

ECC170

Monster's 11,ATM 2,Parlay Challenge,Hero GP Champ
Pro Fighter
Jan 23, 2015
14,570
23,912
Minakov needs to sign with the ufc and quit bullshittn
 

CLINTK9

Well-Known Member
Oct 20, 2015
331
528
they should kept meathead, mir and sigend kharitonov when they had the chance too.
 

ender852

TMMAC Addict
Jan 31, 2015
14,033
13,442
stipe vs cain is what i want to see. no need to give cain warm-up fight. he fights best after layoffs anyway
werdum needs to rematch hunt (would love werdum vs barnett if he comes back)
ngannou vs black beast
if struve beats AA, then do struve vs reem. struve wins that then stipe rematch as they got a story for that one
wheres big ben? browne vs rothwell is fight we never saw
tybura vs blaydes and either of them vs tuivasa and any of these 3 vs black beast would be fun.
JDS vs volkov or hunt2 would be good.
they need to sign minakov (maybe alexs E), esp with russia event coming this year
Rothwell and jds are serving suspensions
 

nuraknu

savage
Jul 20, 2016
6,246
10,756
Minakov needs to sign with the ufc and quit bullshittn
I thought Minakov was still under contract with Bellator, but they won't pay him enough, so he fights in Russia where they aren't honoring the contract. Is that not true?