Analyzing the UFC’s 205-pound division and the matches that should be made
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Daniel Cormier decided to chase history in his pursuit of the heavyweight title, becoming the second double champion in UFC history.
Regardless of the success and notoriety that has come to DC, he has been adamant that he wants to retire before his 40th birthday in March of 2019. While DC says that he wanted to go back down to light heavyweight division and defend his title, it was announced before UFC 232, that he would relinquish the belt and continue to defend the heavyweight championship against Derrick Lewis; which he managed to retain. The move up appeared to leave the light heavyweight division in a scramble to find a new top guy. A division that may have appeared to be losing exciting talent, now has plenty of hype heading into 2019.
“Daddy’s home,” as the king of light heavyweight returns to his throne. Jon “Bones” Jones faced off against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 232 to win back the belt he never officially lost. Jones returns just in time to bring stardom back to a division that was starting to look barren in the talent pool. Jones is not the only hope coming into the division after he regained the title, as there is plenty of hype surrounding some old faces in some new places, and some of the same guys that seem to always stay relevant. What could also be interesting is the callout from Jones after his victory. After defeating The Mauler, Jones called out DC to show that he is the true king at 205-pounds. Jones may be the only fight that could get DC back into the light heavyweight division, and one of the best alleged “rivalries” in MMA may be reignited before Cormier decides to call it a career.
After UFC Fight Night in Hamburg, Germany, there were some new faces in top contender discussions. Corey Anderson won an easy decision where he dominated Glover Teixeira in each round. Anderson out-struck Teixeira throughout the fight while also amassing seven take downs to Teixeira’s none. The results of this fight landed Anderson with a fight against Ilir Latifi, on the UFC 232 card. Anderson and Latifi went the distance where Latifi looked to run out of gas. Anderson was able to outlast and out-strike Latifi in a match that stayed mostly standing. Anderson showed great cardio and the ability to use a different game-plan from his traditional wrestling dominant showings. Anderson went on to call out Anthony Smith who is on a hot streak of his own.
Smith beat Shogun Rua in fantastic knockout fashion at UFC Fight Night in Hamburg, Germany. The fight was over shortly after it began with Smith knocking Shogun out, just outside of the one-minute mark in the first round. Smith also had recently stepped up to fight after a quick finish of former champion Rashad Evans, just weeks prior. Smith went on to call out Alexander Gustafsson after his win and although the Gustafsson fight made sense, Gustafsson was pulled from UFC 227 due to a minor injury. Smith continued his busy trend with another win vs Volkan Oezdemir via submission in October. He has looked promising since making the move to light heavyweight, and has managed to put him into the talks of top contenders before the end of 2018.
An even newer face in the light heavyweight division is the man who ultimately sent Smith packing from the middleweight division, Thiago Santos. Santos made his own statement with a back and forth fight that won him performance of the night against Jimi Manuwa at UFC 231. A second matchup between Santos and Smith in their new division could be on the horizon in 2019. Maybe Corey Anderson gets his wishes in what would be an incredible title eliminator fight vs Anthony Smith? It is also important to make note that Jan Blachowicz is on a four fight win streak and Dominick Reyes is on a 9 fight winning streak, stats that cannot be left out of the top contender discussions. The idea of Luke Rockhold moving up to light heavyweight has been tossed around and could prove to even further deepen the contender list. There are plenty of fights at 205-pounds that should have fight fans excited, as the UFC prepares for the new year on ESPN.
Read which matchups would make the most sense in the UFC’s light heavyweight division.
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No one wants Jones. Its pretty obvious why. He is a matchup nightmare for everyone. I think we are in for a long run of Jones crushing people after he takes care of business with DC. Who do you see having the 155 lb belt at the end of 2019???
I personally think Jones will hold the belt all year. I also don’t see him moving up to heavyweight anytime soon. I see the DC rematch happening mid-to-late next year and I see Jones fighting Anthony Smith sooner than later.
The 155-pound belt is a tough one! I don’t see Khabib holding the belt all year though. If not McGregor, then I see Poirer holding the belt for some reason. We know McGregor vs Khabib 2 is going to happen, so we’ll probably see Tony vs Dustin. Tony leaves his chin up too much in my opinion and will get knocked out by Poirer. But I’m torn! Who do you think will hold it? I expect a Max Holloway debut at lightweight soon too… So the possibilities are truly endless in this division!