9 Fights I Want to See in 2021
Joanna Jedrzejcyk vs Zhang Weili 2
These two already fought on March 7, 2020 at UFC 248 in what many including myself are calling fight of the year. Weili defeated Joanna via Split Decision in their bout in an ultra competitive contest. There’s not a single fight fan on the planet that wouldn’t love to see a fight with this level of quality. If a fight has 783 strikes thrown in it like this one did, then in my opinion matchmakers need to seriously consider making a rematch happen.
Jon Jones vs Israel Adesanya
These two have been feuding for over a year at this point in time. I can’t even remember who fired the first shot anymore, but the drama between these two has me wanting to see this fight. Some very dark and cruel words have been said on Twitter by both men including the mention of Jon’s late mother. There might be nothing scarier than a motivated and angry Jon Jones who has one of the most impressive resumes in the history of MMA. Israel Adesanya is without a doubt one of the most dangerous strikers in the game and can take out anyone on his best day.
Currently, Israel Adesanya just lost a fight to light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259 on March 6th. Izzy losing this fight against Jan and Jon Jones moving to heavyweight means this fight is doubtfully going to happen 2021 or at all for that matter.
Jon Jones is expected to fight the winner of Stipe Miocic vs Francis Ngannou for the heavyweight title later this year. Even though Izzy was just defeated by Jan there’s still no fight I personally want to see more than this one. Something about real bad blood between fighters just captures my interest.
Francis Ngannou vs Stipe Miocic 2
This fight is one of the more likely fights to happen in 2021 and is a highly anticipated rematch. Francis has been on a tear as of late with 1st round KO victories over Curtis Blaydes, Cain Velasquez, Junior Dos Santos, and Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Stipe Miocic is arguably the greatest heavyweight MMA has ever known and he won the first fight by using his elite wrestling ability. Francis has certainly done more than enough to earn a rematch for the title and is hoping to overcome the challenge set in front of him.
Since winning belt back in 2016 against Fabricio Werdum, Stipe has defeated big names like Alistair Overeem, Junior Dos Santos, and Francis Ngannou. After the Francis fight, Stipe got mixed up in an epic trilogy with the amazing Daniel Cormier. Stipe lost his first fight against DC, but rose like a Phoenix from the ashes to come back and defeat Cormier on two separate occasions. Luckily, this fight is set to happen later this month on March 27th and hopefully nothing goes down to prevent that from happening.
Colby Covington vs Jorge Masvidal
This fight has a great story behind it which could without a doubt sell PPV’s and tickets. The two former friends have talked a lot of trash back and forth in interviews and on social media over the last few years. Both men are top contenders in the welterweight division and the fight could easily result in the winner getting a title shot. This could be the perfect to put on once the UFC can have fans in attendance again.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs Brandon Moreno
These two flyweights already fought each other on the UFC 256 card that happened recently on December 12, 2020. The fight was regarded as one of the best fights that happened in 2020 and nobody would be upset about seeing these two in a rematch. What makes seeing this fight again even more interesting is the fact that the first contest ended in a draw. It appears that we will get to see a rematch between these two in 2021 assuming that neither men have any lingering injuries that delays the contest.
George Saint Pierre vs Khabib Nurmagomedov
Both of these men are seen as the greatest of their respective divisions and seeing the two clash would be super epic. GSP is currently riding a 13 win streak in the UFC with his last victory being for the UFC middleweight championship over Michael Bisping back in 2017. Khabib is also on a 13 win streak in the UFC with his last victory involving him defending the UFC lightweight championship against top contender Justin Gaethje. Seeing these men put their win streaks on the line in an epic clash would make mma fans dreams come true. Sadly, this doesn’t seem likely due to both men currently being retired.
Nate Diaz vs Jorge Masvidal
These two men faced off before in a highly entertaining bout at UFC 244 which took place on November 02, 2019. The fight between these two was a huge deal that the UFC put a ton of effort into promoting. The UFC created the Baddest Mother Fucker belt solely for this contest and even got The Rock to put this newly made belt on the winner. The fight was absolutely epic and contained all the violence that fans expected out of these two. However, their fight ended in between the 3rd and 4th round due to the doctor stopping the fight because of concerns about a cut over Diaz’s eye. The fight for the Baddest Mother Fucker belt ending in a doctors stoppage left a bad taste in a lot of people’s mouths and is exactly why it’d be great to see these two men run it back in 2021.
Jose Aldo vs Dominick Cruz
Back in the day Cruz was the bantamweight champion while Aldo was the featherweight champion. Back when both men were champions there was a ton of talk about getting the two together for a super fight. Now that both men are in the same division and neither has their hands on a title this seems like the perfect fight to make. It’d be so awesome if we could finally see these two men go at it in 2021.
Jessica Andrade vs Valentina Shevchenko
Jessica Andrade is a former straw weight champion who recently has moved up to the flyweight division where Valentina Shevchenko is currently champion. Jessica Andrade just defeated Katlyn Chookagian in her flyweight debut and has proven that she will be a legitimate contender in the division. Jessica’s addition is great for the division due to Valentina being low on contenders because of the way she’s just been dominating everybody. It’s looking very likely that we will get to see this fight since it’s already scheduled to happen on April 24th at UFC 261.
However, with Covid still kicking around it’s impossible to have any confidence in scheduled bouts actually happening. Corona virus has shown us that it’s best not to get too excited for a fight until the date of the contest gets much closer.
Is there any fights not here that you would like to see in 2021? If so let us know in the comments or on social media what those fights would be!
