Roundtable: What's the No. 1 can't-miss event left on the UFC's 2023 schedule?
01/10/2023 14:00
The UFC is saving the best for last.
Five championship fights are on deck for the final quarter of 2023, along with a bevy of intriguing clashes that could have far-reaching implications for contenders and careers.
We can all breathe a sigh of relief knowing that Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic and Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington are finally scheduled, guess whether the Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira and Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Royval rematches will end any differently than their first meetings, and chuckle at Jiri Prochazka and Alex Pereira meeting in the UFC's third vacant light heavyweight title fight in 12 months.
But what event is most worth your money? What fight is most likely to deliver the goods? And what non-title fights have the chance to steal the show? Join MMA Fighting's Shaun Al-Shatti, Steven Marrocco, Alexander K. Lee, and Jed Meshew and as we sort out a loaded UFC slate.
Meshew: In terms of what event is most worth my money, I really think there's only one answer: UFC 296. As it stands right now, the final pay-per-view event of the year is a three-Meshewlin Star masterpiece on paper, and only half the fights have been announced.
Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington is not the fight anyone deserves, but setting aside how insane it is that Colby is getting this shot, it's still a great fight. Covington is going to bring the pressure, and Edwards is going to stuff his takedowns and clang his head around the cage, just like he did to Kamaru Usman in the rematch.
Alexandre Pantoja and Brandon Royval are two of the 10 most exciting fighters currently competing MMA, with both riding streaks of performance bonuses. And oh yeah, their first fight was bananas. Sign me the (Mike) Heck up for that.
Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett is a moral travesty and a disgrace of the highest order. But given how ridiculously funny this year has been, Ferguson is probably going to overcome his deep washedness and upset Pimblett, strangling the UFC's next golden goose. Many people will be deeply pleased to see "El Cucuy" not suck for the first time in years, and I personally may never stop laughing if this happens. So there's that.
And then we've got Shavkat Rakhmonov taking on Stephen Thompson and Vicente Luque vs. Ian Machado Garry. Both of those matchups are also arguably cruel bits of booking, but the fights themselves are U.S.D.A. certified bangers. Rakhmonov has a 100-percent finishing rate and may be the best welterweight alive, while Machado Garry legitimately looks like the next big thing at 170 pounds, and he's about to fight an All-Violence All Star. Yes, please.
Of course, this event is still months out, so the MMA Gods can always muck things up proper. But on paper, this event is head and shoulders above a title fight rematch with minimal support (294), an MSG card headlined by two dudes with one combined fight in the past three years, and a bevy of 0 Meshewlin Star events as ESPN+ fodder.
Al-Shatti: Depth, shmepth. We're not trying to win an NBA championship here. We're talking about the most marquee fights of the most marquee stretch of 2023, and that's why UFC 295 is the obvious (and correct) answer to this thought exercise.
For real, y'all — have you seen what sits atop the billing for MSG?? Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic and Jiri Prochakza vs. Alex Pereira is not only the best headliner of the year-end slate, it's easily the best one-two punch on a pay-per-view for all of 2023.
"But Shaheen!" I can already hear you protesting, "Stipe is 41 years old and hasn't fought since March 2021! He's going to get smashed!" And you know what? You're probably right! But also ... who cares? November's main event is realistically the least compelling matchup the UFC could've given us for Jon Jones' first heavyweight title defense, but Miocic is also the least important part of this equation. The actual intrigue is Jones, because while that man may walking around wearing a UFC strap, we still have NO ACTUAL IDEA what a heavyweight Jon Jones even looks like! January's Ciryl Gane fight showed us nothing.
UFC 295 may be the last glimpse we ever get to really have a sense of what kind of damage one of the greatest fighters of all-time could've done in the big-boy division. Regardless of whether Jones wins in two minutes again or goes the full five rounds with Miocic, the chance to unpack that sort of historical data instantly makes it meaningful and significant.
And that's without me even mentioning the co-main.
Good lord, that co-main.
Jiri Prochazka vs. Alex Pereira is the single wildest, most unpredictable, and all-out best scrap left on the 2023 calendar. That's as guaranteed of a Fight of the Year contender on paper as we've ever seen. The levels of ultraviolence these two dudes are capable of ... hell, I get chills even thinking about it. Two monstrous behemoths who embody chaos and carry the Death Touch in every limb — nah, this is a matchup straight out of Mortal Kombat. If I could pick only one fight to watch this quarter, it's this one, without a second of hesitation.
Sure, there are deeper cards left in 2023, but pay-per-views are remembered for who closed out the show, not who opened the night. And in that regard, UFC 295 is without equal.
Marrocco: These days, the UFC really only has to try to stack events twice a year: July, for International Fight Week, and December, for the end-of-year card. When the rest of the year's pay-per-view lineup is must-watch, it feels more like good fortune than design.
That's why UFC 296 stands out to me. In a year of top-heavy cards, the December pay-per-view feels (so far) very well-balanced, with five fights of very legitimate intrigue on the main card. You could call it an end-of-year going-out-of-business sale for the UFC's old guard, with no less than three veterans — Ferguson, Thompson, and Luque — facing off with the next generation of stars. All of them have a penchant for exciting fights, and all are no longer at their competitive peaks, rolling out the red carpet for Pimblett, Rakhmonov and Machado Garry, respectively, to level up in their respective divisions.
Pimblett vs. Ferguson is totally a guilty pleasure; I don't want to see Ferguson fight anymore — period — for his long-term health. But since I have no control over that, I'll eagerly watch to see if the MMA Gods are tempted enough by what appears to most an obvious setup to upend the UFC's plans.
It's this trio of fights that compels me as much or more than the title fights at the top of the event. As Jed mentioned, Covington's title shot is an eye-roller, and Belal Muhammad is far more deserving. Like Muhammad, Edwards seems to get the short end of the stick in his career, and yet he continues to fight his way through less-than-ideal circumstances. It will be amusing if he thumbs his proverbial nose at the UFC with a win. But of course, I have no rooting interest in this.
Of all the matchups on the card, Pantoja and Royval's flyweight title fight has the least overt agenda. So I'll enjoy that just because they're two of the best at 125 pounds, and they're bound to put on a hell of a fight.
Even without the rest of the card, UFC 296 is far and away the must-see event.
Lee: Look, I'm biased when it comes to Pimblett vs. Ferguson. It's well-documented that I predicted, nay, manifested this fight happening on a long-ago episode of MMA Fighting's matchmaking podcast On to the Next One. And while I wish I could use these powers for good, these things just don't work that way, I'm sorry to say. I didn't make this fight happen, I am simply the vessel through which this fight chose to enter our world.
You want to get really nuts? See all those title fights? All those contender fights? I would sacrifice all of them to ensure that Pimblett vs Ferguson happens. It is such a bizarre curiosity to me, with stakes that nobody can seem to agree on (does Pimblett gain anything with a win over a fading Ferguson? Is Ferguson, one of the UFC's most dedicated soldiers of the past decade, being sent to the slaughter? If Ferguson beats Pimblett, then was all of this pointless?), that the only way to settle debate is to see it actually play out. None of you believe me, but we'll all lose something if this fight is canceled for some reason. And when it's finally resolved, just remember who to thank. Or blame.
I also predicted at the beginning of the year that Royval will finally fulfill his destiny and make 2023 (sigh) "The Year of the Raw Dog," so I'm personally invested in his rematch with Pantoja is well. Rarely am I right about anything, so this would be a nice feather in the cap.
Yet as great as UFC 296 and UFC 295 are, with two spectacular title fights at the top of each, the championship bout I'm most invested in from a skill-for-skill standpoint is still Islam Makhachev vs. Charles Oliveira at UFC 294.
It's true, in their first meeting, Makhachev dominated Oliveira and nobody would be surprised if he did it again. But this falls into the category of a rematch that I don't expect to be the same as the first, because I picked Oliveira the first time and I still believe that we didn't see the best version of him. Of course, the best version of him might still get smeshed by Makhachev, but I'm glad we're getting a second chance to find out.
Add in the return of Khamzat Chimaev, some sneaky contender bouts featuring Muhammad Mokaev, Magomed Ankalaev, and Ikram Aliskerov, and a few fan-friendly bangers (Blindado Silva, anyone?) and I think fans will find that UFC 294 is more than just an appetizer for the two big year-enders.
