Issue 124

January 2015

Fighters Only editor Nick Peet looks forward to a banner year for the UFC’s thrilling featherweight division.

A year ago it was the welterweight division that had us all perched on the edges of our seats. With Georges St Pierre exiting stage left, the rest of the UFC’s 170lb assassins were twitching their trigger fingers in anticipation of a high-noon shootout for the championship belt.

The first nine months of the year were completely dominated by the weight class, and while it quietened down after the summer, the previous performances from the likes of Hendricks, Lawler, Brown and MacDonald had already guaranteed 2014 belonged to them and their peers.

As we enter a new year, things appear destined to go a whole lot smaller in the next 12 months. While the girls at 135lb showed flashes of things to come and arguably the best four 205lb fighters on the planet are destined to make sure January goes off with a bang, I don’t think anybody can look past the featherweight class for sheer excitement in 2015.

José Aldo may have dominated the division for the past five years, but as the clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve, he will have never had such a compelling line-up of potential title contenders ahead of him. He may have fought a few of them before, but that should be no barrier to matching up the Brazilian. Just look at how his rematch with Chad Mendes played out. 

The biggest potential ticket-seller, of course, is Dublin lip Conor McGregor. He has so far talked the talk and walked the walk in his incredibly lucrative UFC career. The Irishman is adamant he’s next in line for a shot at the champion, with a soccer stadium on the Emerald Isle a potential venue. That would be a dream destination that would mean megabucks.

It’s for this reason, probably more so than Conor’s standout performances, that could well see him jump the queue into contention. After all, he’s ranked down at fifth in the official UFC rankings with a fight against overmatched (on paper at least) Dennis Siver scheduled for January. But the UFC gave TJ Dillashaw a shot at 135lb gold against Renan Barao despite his own modest position on the bantamweight challengers list, and we all know what happened there.

The fact that McGregor still hasn’t faced a wrestling-savvy featherweight during his Octagon run is something that hasn’t gone unnoticed with the guys standing ahead of him in the line, but with losses to Aldo on each of their resumes, the likes of Chad Mendes, Ricardo Lamas and Frankie Edgar may have no choice but to step aside and let ‘The Notorious’ have his shot.

They might deserve championship fights before he does, but critically, they would all struggle to generate the kind of international headlines and overwhelming fan attention the Irish idol casually brings to the table. Aldo may well be the champion, but McGregor is the featherweight star.

One thing is for sure, should he get past Siver in Boston, McGregor – whether he starts with Aldo or not – certainly won’t be short of opponents to taunt throughout 2015.

THE WHEEL DEAL

Three years ago this January I was convinced the lightweight division’s next superstar and champion-in-waiting had arrived.

While Benson Henderson was in the final weeks of the training camp that saw him take the UFC belt from Frankie Edgar and Anthony Pettis was still rebuilding after his initial Octagon defeat, Edson Barboza was landing one of the most replayed knockouts in the history of fight sports down in Rio de Janeiro. On January 14th 2012, the Brazilian’s spinning wheel kick KO of hyped British prospect Terry Etim made jaws drop. He was later awarded ‘Knockout of the Year’ at the Fifth Annual Fighters Only World MMA Awards.

However, the wheels came off his title push just four months later when he suffered a shock TKO loss to Jamie Varner in the upset of 2012. In 2013 he bounced back up the rankings with three straight wins to set up a dream match-up with fellow striker Donald Cerrone, but the wheels came off again. This time a stiff jab and quick-fire rear naked choke from ‘Cowboy’ spoiled the party.

Slicing Evan Dunham in half with a body kick in the summer mitigated Barboza’s second career stumble, but he entered November’s contenders match-up with Bobby Green – who was riding an eight-fight win streak dating back to 2011 – as a slight underdog.

By outclassing Green over three rounds Barboza proved that he’s a legit title threat again. I predict there’s much more to come from the Florida-based Brazilian in 2015.