A new year brings new fights, but some of the proposed matchups ahead for 2024 don’t exactly make the most sense.
Perhaps the shining example, for better or worse, is the UFC’s plan to stick to having the heavyweight champ Jon Jones’ next fight be against Stipe Miocic. The fight scheduled for UFC 295 was scrapped due to a Jones injury that will likely have him sidelined until Q4, led to the creation of an interim title that Tom Aspinall won.
But the UFC wants to overlook Aspinall’s piece of gold, and forgo unifying the title at the next opportunity? Red card!
As has been the recent trend in the UFC, whenever a fighter wins a title, they want to jump to the next division to capture a second quickly. Chasing title defense records seems to be a thing of the past, with a few exceptions.
In 2023, we saw featherweight champ Alexander Volkanovski attempt to win lightweight gold twice and come up short. Heading into 2024, multiple champions including Islam Makhachev, Leon Edwards and Alex Pereira have expressed a desire to move up to the next weight class to chase champ-champ status.
Which of these ideas prompted by the promotion or the fighters worthy of a yellow or red card?
That’s what we asked our “Spinning Back Clique” panel of Brian “Goze” Garcia, Mike Bohn and Danny Segura, who tackled the topic with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia.
Check out their conversation above, and don’t miss this week’s full episode below.
“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel at noon ET. You can also find each episode on your favorite podcast platforms – including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more – on Tuesday mornings.
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