We are slowly approaching that date: the biggest UFC event of all time – UFC 300. April 13th, 2024.
With the return of one of the biggest prospects in MMA – Bo Nickal (fights Cody Brundage), a featherweight debut for Aljamain Sterling (vs Calvin Kattar), massive lightweight contest between Charles Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan and a juggernaut light-heavyweight bout between Jiri Prochazka and Aleksandar Rakic, UFC is starting to build a good base for their event of the year! We’ve also potentially got two former champs colliding, in the bantamweight division, as Cody Garbrandt takes on Deiveson Figueredo!
Everybody’s been looking at the absolute banger that is the UFC 299 card and we are wondering: What does the UFC have to do, to top that one?! Here, we’ll take a look at potential headliners for that historic PPV card, as we are left with some interesting options on the table.
Leon Edwards (c) vs Belal Muhammad – Welterweight Championship Bout
This is the one that’s definitely looming on the horizon. We are just waiting for it to be announced. The shenanigans are (probably) finished and the rematch of the infamous first bout is upon us.
No one knows how that fight would’ve gone the first time around if it wasn’t for the eye pokes. Although it looked like Edwards found his range early, stunned Muhammad briefly and made him think about engaging. The truth of the matter is: Muhammad is unbeaten in 10 fights and the champ hasn’t lost in over 8 years (a 13 fight unbeaten run). This is a fight between the absolute elite of the welterweight division!
Muhammad has been waiting for a long time and even though he isn’t the most loved character in most people’s eyes – that Gilbert Burns performance (more than anything) solidified his rightful shot at the 170lbs strap. The champ said he’s looking to stay active, so let’s get these two elite tacticians, on massive unbeaten runs, to go again and finally decide who’s better!
Poatan vs Adesanya – Fight number… Who knows?
Yes, you’ve read that correctly! One of the most epic rivalries in modern MMA and one of the biggest in the history of combat sports can and will most certainly get another chapter in the story.
Israel Adesanya (interviewed by Derek Chisora at the ‘Day of Recognition’) has spoken and said that people are naive to believe his original statement, in which he claimed he’ll take a long, multi-year break from the sport. Just recently, he added that the return will for sure happen this year, but he doesn’t know exactly when and where.
This fight sells itself in an instant, it doesn’t need any extra words. Being that the UFC has most divisional champions already booked or in plan, e.g. Jones vs Stipe Miocic, they’re in grave need of a huge announcement like this. It may come unexpected to a lot of people, as Adesanya would be returning sooner than most people expected, but it has “HEADLINER” written all over it.
Tom Aspinall vs Alex Pereira – Poatan’s cryptic tweet
Just before the end of last year, Alex Pereira had tweeted a mysterious equation that read: “30+300 = 3”. This left us all wondering… Is he really moving up to try and get 3?
No one has ever dared to go that high and get three belts. Conor McGregor talked about it and at one point it could’ve happened, but not one person was near this accomplishment in the UFC. Alex would potentially challenge the current interim champion of the heavyweight division – Tom Aspinall. Either way, this would be an unprecedented chance for a UFC athlete.
Even when looking at the whole of MMA, no one had succeeded in winning the triple crown. In recent times, Patricio “Pitbull” (in Bellator) and Salahdine Parnasse (in KSW) had opportunities in their respective title matches to become the first ones in history and have fallen just short of it.
It’s important to state that, if we count Dominick Cruz’s days before the WEC and UFC – the man truly has 3 weight classes conquered, as he had become Total Combat lightweight and featherweight champion, before going to WEC.
Pereira added to this mystery, saying that he had a dream of these numbers and the equation. So, he thought he would go on social media and let the fans help him solve what it actually means.
Alexa Grasso vs Valentina Shevchenko 3 – To settle the score, finally
In the biggest upset of 2023, Alexa Grasso defeated the seemingly untouchable champion that was Valentina “Bullet” Shevchenko. After six title defences and looking to extend the domination, Shevchenko was met with a huge surprise, as one mistake cost her that championship.
In retrospect, after their two fights in 2023. – a lot of people forgot that almost no one gave Grasso even the slightest of chances, before their first bout. It is certainly one of the biggest upsets that we’ve ever seen in the sport of MMA. In the rematch, the fight ended in a controversial draw, with fans being split as to who was the true winner of their second encounter.
As we got the info that UFC Atlantic City will have a five round title-eliminator bout between #2 Erin Blanchfield and #3 Manon Fiorot, it was clear that Shevchenko and Grasso will go at it one last time, to determine the ultimate queen of women’s 125lbs division. This wouldn’t be the first time a monumental, stacked UFC PPV event was headlined by a female title fight, as UFC 200 had Miesha Tate defending her title against Amanda Nunes.
Dricus Du Plessis vs Israel Adesanya – The Battle for Africa
Their beef is very well documented and it isn’t entirely off the table that these two meet up in the main event of UFC 300. “Stylebender” is arguably UFC’s biggest star currently (not counting Conor McGregor) and as we’ve pointed out above: he has confirmed that he’ll return this year!
Given the fact that Dricus du Plessis is fighting on January 20th against Sean Strickland and has the opportunity to win the middleweight belt – Adesanya is surely licking his chops and following as the situation unfolds. Well, just imagine they are all healthy and ready in time for 300 and we get a press conference with Adesanya, Du Plessis, Manel Kape and Kai Kara-France, together on stage. Wouldn’t you be entertained, ladies and gents?
As UFC 299 looks to be the most stacked card in recent memory, UFC 300 has enormous expectations from fans and viewers. A huge, important fight is needed to top this card, but we’ll also get a lot of bangers to go with it. Dana and co. are surely cooking something spicy!
