The heavyweight division has been stagnant for quite some time but is about to be rejuvenated at UFC 321 in Abu Dhabi this weekend!
Former Interim heavyweight champion Tom Aspinall was elevated to undisputed champion after defeating Curtis Blaydes in July of 2024 and the subsequent retirement of Jon Jones.
He will take on former interim champion Ciryl Gane will have his opportunity to become undisputed champion when he takes on Aspinall in the Main Event.
Zhang Weili vacated her Strawweight championship in search of a flyweight strap and that has left the belt open for either Mackenzie Dern or Virna Jandiroba in the Co-Main Event at UFC 321.
There are a bunch of quality fights taking place right across the card and our UFC best bets for the entire main card can be found below.
It has been a tremendous rise in the heavyweight division for Englishman Tom Aspinall after making his debut in the UFC in 2020.
The only loss on his UFC resume through nine fights was a TKO against Curtis Blaydes whn he suffered a knee injury in the very first round.
He returned from a lengthy break with three KO victories, all coming in the very first round.
The interim heavyweight strap was his with a victory over Sergei Pavlovich, and with Jon Jones refusing to challenge him, he eventually defended that belt against Curtis Blaydes in a rematch.
Cyril Gane entered the UFC at a similar time to Aspinall and had an equally impressive rise through the ranks.
He won his first seven fights in the promotion which included an interim title when he defeated Derrick Lewis.
He had two more chances to win UFC gold but lost both to Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones but has bounced back to win his last two in a row leading into this fight.
There is no doubt that Aspinall has the speed and grappling advantage in this fight but Gane has proven a difficult opponent to hold down on the canvas.
And he has a fair amount of power himself.
Jon Jones only wants to return if he can get a fight with Alex Pereira, so this opens up the heavyweight division for both these men who will be eager for the division to be more active.
As are the fans.
I’m expecting fireworks in the early stages of this fight but should it get out of the first round, we may see a more calculated contest.
The hype is real around Tom Aspinall but I do think a large portion of that is because he has been inactive and therefore his aura has grown.
Cyril Gane has proven himself at the top end of the division for many years and the fact we are getting three times the price, has me leaning that way.
Take Zhang Weili out of the women’s strawweight division and it starts to look a little thin.
Mackenzie Dern has been imprinted in the top 5/10 of the division for the majority of her UFC career but she has won only half of her last eight fights inside the octagon, and she has never faced the former champion.
She has earned this shot at UFC gold after back to back wins including an arm bar submission win over Amanda Ribas.
These two women have fought before.
Dern was victorious over Jandiroba in December of 2020 via unanimous decision in Las Vegas.
Like Dern, Jandiroba is a former Invincta Strawweight champion and comes into this title fight on the back of five consecutive wins.
This includes an arm bar submission win over Amanda Ribas.
Mackenzie Dern is an extremely dangerous submission artist and she will be looking to take this fight to the canvas whenever possible and that is my tip on how she becomes champion.
Undefeated through his first 18 professional MMA fights, Umar Nurmagomedov rose to the top of the Bantamweight divisions in quick fashion.
It took him six straight wins in the UFC to earn a title shot against Merab Dvalishvili but he fell short, losing via unanimous decision.
Mario Bautista is having his 13th fight since making his UFC debut in 2019 and brings an eight fight winning streak into this number one contender fight.
This includes wins over Jose Aldo, Ricky Simon and Brian Kelleher.
It is in fact the third longest winning streak in UFC Bantamweight history.
I’m convinced whoever wins this fight will do so via points so it is imperative that Bautista can defend the many takedowns that are sure to come his way if he is to be successful.
I don’t think he will.
There is always one sneaky fight on the card that will ultimately slip under the radar when it has banger written all over it.
This is that fight.
Two heavyweights with awkward styles but both can end the fight in an instant.
Alexander Volkov had his four fight win streak ended in December last year at the hands of Ciryl Gane in a fight that was not unanimously agreed upon by all three judges.
Making his pro MMA debut way back in 2009, Volkov has had a storied and successful career and has been in the top 15 for the majority of his UFC career which started in 2016.
He has knockout wins over Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem and Jairzinho Rozenstruik and was comfortably beating Derrick Lewis in a title eliminator before being knocked out in the final 11 seconds back in 2018.
Jailton Almeida has his own impressive resume.
As a BJJ black belt, and one of the best grapplers we have ever seen in the heavyweight division, he has five submission wins in the UFC since making his debut in 2021.
His only loss was a KO loss to Curtis Blaydes last year.
At six foot four, Volkov’s height doesn’t pose as big a problem as it does for others but the reach advantage may cause some issues.
He also has longer limbs to control into a submission.
It’s a fascinating contest that is sure to be exciting either way but I’m predicting we get out of the first round.
Alexsandar Rakic was on his way to the top of the division until a knee injury halted his progress against Jan Blachowicz in 2022.
He was sidelined for over two years because of that injury and was thrown straight back into the wolves against Jiri Prochazka and Magomed Ankalaev.
He lost both fights.
Azamat Murzakanov is an undefeated Russian who won a UFC contract through Dana White’s Contender Series in 2021 and has now won five fights in the octagon.
11 of his 15 career pro wins have come via KO/TKO and a win would catapult him into title contention.