I've seen like two different youtube videos on this exact topic come out today, so I guess that's my sign that I'm supposed to do this post today specifically. It goes without saying that I'm not copying what everyone else is saying, just being honest with what I want to see. Also, I'm not ranking them from 1-10, just putting the number 10 on things to keep things clean. As with everyone else, I'm not including fights that are already booked because a few of those would definitely be high on my list of want to see. Let's get into it.
1. Valentina Shevchenko Pursuit of Double Champ Status
I list it this way because I assume that we will be getting Pena vs Nunes II first. I don't care who wins that fight, I want to see Valentina get the opportunity to become double champ after. Valentina has been absolutely dominating her competition for basically every fight she's been in that involved the title and hasn't even been mentioned as a candidate to try for double champ status. Israel Adesanya won the interim title, won the unification bout, then had 2 successful defenses before getting a chance to move up. Valentina won the title and has 6 defenses and still no signs of a second chance in sight. Whether it ends up being the trilogy with Amanda or a fresh fight against Julianna Pena, she deserves it and I want to see it.
2. Sean O'Malley vs Cory Sandhagen
Yea, I know, but a man can dream can't he. If we get 4 Sean O'Malley fights in 2022, I don't think it's impossible to see this fight happen and who wouldn't want to see it. Two of the most exciting and creative strikers in the entire sport and happen to reside in the same division fight it out? Sign me up for that.
3. Alexander Volkanovski vs Max Holloway Part III and Beyond
So, part three isn't booked yet, so technically I didn't break my own rules, but we do all know it's coming at some point, so maybe I broke the spirit of the rule. However, I say potentially beyond part three and I mean that. Now, if Volkanovski wins again, that's going to be a really hard bridge to cross for Max to get to a part 4, but I don't think it should be an automatic no. If Max works his way back to the top again then why should he not get another shot. The same applies for if Max wins, even though I think Volk would get another shot much more quickly and easily. If Max Holloway and Alex Volkanovski are the 2 best and most deserving featherweights on the planet for a title shot, they should get that fight until someone else earns that opportunity. I don't care if that means we get Volk vs Max 8 times, if that's the best fight at 145 lbs then why would we want to see anything else?
4. Henry Cejudo Return
Even though his "King of Cringe" persona really does annoy me more than it probably should, I can't help but to want to see him return. Henry is an amazing competitor and athlete who I want to see go against the best at any number of weight classes. I don't think he'll come back to 125, but to see him jump back in to challenge the winner of the Moreno/Figueiredo trilogy would give them another huge fight coming off of that trilogy finishing itself out. Coming right back to a title shot at 135 would be much more difficult as the injury to Aljamain Sterling kind of has things back logged a little, but Cejudo would be in a number one contender's fight with Dillashaw potentially. We could also see Cejudo try to climb a new mountain and give featherweight a run and given the way that division is kind of looking for someone after it's own trilogy finishes up, I think there could be a spot for him. I just want to see what he can do before he really calls it a career.
5. The Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz Trilogy
Can we stop messing around and just make this fight, please? We've waited long enough. This is a fight everyone wants, including the athletes. The fighters want it, the fans want it, and that means money, which means the UFC wants it. I don't understand why we haven't gotten it yet and it would be criminal if Diaz leaves the UFC and we never get to finish this one out.
6. Khamzat Chimaev vs Gilbert Burns
This one might seem a little weird, but I definitely want to see it. If you're a returning reader, you know my opinion on Burns is that he's been sitting on his ranking for awhile now. If he's just going to sit around in the top 5, he has to fight at some point. I guess the UFC could just reward him and eventually give him a rematch with Kamaru Usman, but that would be so disappointing. I wasn't a huge fan of when they made Colby wait, but then he was so inactive and then got the rematch for almost no reason. He could've gotten the immediate rematch but then he fought once over 2 years to get the title shot, but that was after giving Usman his toughest test. Burns got finished in the 3rd round, so I don't think he should get the same treatment. Putting the explosive and powerful Burns with the powerful and explosive Chimaev is everything fans are looking for. Burns BJJ prowess provides and interesting counter to Chimaev's dominant wrestling as well.
7. Jorge Masvidal vs Colby Covington
This fight should almost make itself. With the bad blood between these two, this would sell easily. Masvidal sells by himself and honestly, so does Colby to a lesser extent. These two are former training partners and friends who have since turned enemies and this fight just promises violence. Everyone wants to see this and we could see these two be coaches on another season of TUF before they fight potentially.
8. Israel Adesanya vs Darren Till
Now, I'm not overlooking Robert Whittaker because he is my actual favorite fighter, but this doesn't have to be a title fight. Adesanya obviously wants to fight Till, he's said his name multiple times now. This would be an awesome fight between two high level strikers who are also both tough guys. I want to see this fight happen because that would mean that Darren Till has really turned his career around as well. Till is sliding and seeing him with Adesanya would mean a good win streak for him.
9. Glover Teixeira vs Jiri Prochazka
Part of me wants to see this as soon as possible and part of me is afraid to see it. Prochazka is one of the fighters who intrigues me the most because I still don't fully know what he's capable of. He's a joy to watch and is quite an interesting individual. I don't want to see Glover get hurt too bad like what happened to Dominick Reyes, but I don't think Glover just gets run over in this one. He's too good all around to just get bulldozed by Prochazka in my opinion and I can't wait to see this match up.
10. Jon Jones at Heavyweight
This is kind of an easy one, but I just have to see it at least once. We know it will come against Francis Ngannou, Cyril Gane, or Stipe Miocic. To see Jon fight one of those three guys in any form is enough to peak my interest, but to see it for a title only adds to the hype. We all know I'm not the biggest fan of Jon as an individual, but I'm not going to act like I wouldn't watch him fight again and if we're being honest, you're not going to miss it either. He's in the GOAT conversation and this would go a long way in making his case with a win or would sort of humanize him with a loss. We just need to see this.
Those are my 10 fights than I want to see next year. Some of them aren't specific fights like Jon and Cejudo, but they have options. What do you guys think? Which one are you most looking forward to? Did I miss any good ones? Did I have any that you think are not that great? Leave any and all comments below. As always, thanks for reading and have a good one.
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