2021 has finally dawned, with the hope and promise that this year will be the turnaround from 2020 that we’ve all so desperately needed. That’s true for all walks of life, but especially in mixed martial arts. In 2021, we look forward to the return of roaring crowds, some really exciting fights that have been scheduled for the first months of the year, and even more of the bizarre shit this beautiful sport constantly gives us.
So as we prepare for the year to come in mixed martial arts, I’ve written down some New Year’s resolutions that I hope to see some of the important organizations and people in the sport adopt this year. Happy New Year, everyone!
UFC: Cool it on the superfights
Just days before the end of 2020, the UFC finally announced a fight that has been heavily rumored for months: a champion vs. champion superfight between middleweight king Israel Adesanya and new light heavyweight champ Jan Blachowicz in March. Really, after everyone danced around it for so long, it was about goddamn time.
The fight has been talked about seemingly since the moment UFC 253 ended back in September: that was the night Blachowicz knocked out Dominick Reyes to win the vacant title, followed by Adesanya’s virtuoso performance in a title defense against Paulo Costa. And let me emphasize this, because I think both things can be true. I think this is probably going to be a great fight, and I’m very excited to watch it. But also, my first reaction to seeing this fight announced was to groan and say to myself, “Is this really necessary right now?”
To me, superfights between reigning champions should only happen when both titleholders don’t have any challengers who merit their immediate attention. You’ve got to clear out your space a little bit. That’s certainly not the case with Blachowicz, who only just won the title. It’s a little more the case with Adesanya, but still not completely.
Both fighters have very apparent deserving challengers right now at their weight class, who have waited their turn and won the fights they need to win. For Blachowicz, it’s the unkillable Glover Teixeira, who’s won five straight and came from behind to beat Thiago Santos in November in a fight that catapulted him to the top of the contender list. And for Adesanya, it’s a rematch with Robert Whittaker, who’s continued to look world-class after losing his belt last year.
In my mind, winning a title in one weight class shouldn’t be a free golden ticket to an immediate title shot in another weight class. But the problem is we’ve seen quite a few of these fights in recent years, whether it was Conor McGregor moving up to lightweight, Daniel Cormier to heavyweight or Henry Cejudo to bantamweight. Jon Jones may get an immediate heavyweight title shot soon as well. Those may make for fun fights, but I don’t think it’s good for the sport as a whole. When you burn out all those matchups, what’s left?
This spate of superfights is indicative of the failings of the UFC promotional machine, which hasn’t produced a real mainstream star since McGregor. Names like Ronda Rousey and Brock Lesnar aren’t around anymore, and while the UFC is flush with great fighters, it has by and large failed to turn them into big-money draws. There’s no reason that a fighter like Adesanya – young, engaging, marvelously talented and undefeated – shouldn’t be a household name on his own, without having to go fight for another title. But that hasn’t happened, in large part due to UFC president Dana White’s insistence on promoting the UFC brand over any of the individual fighters.
So to sell pay-per-views, you hotshot book fights like Adesanya vs. Blachowicz, which does not need to happen for quite some time yet. Let them develop. Let things breathe. Put some real, honest effort into promoting them as the champions they are. Let’s be real here: does any average schmo really know who the hell Jan Blachowicz is right now? Let’s start working on that. And then, once that’s done, a fight like this will mean so much more.
UFC: Give the flyweights their due
Speaking about the failings of the UFC promotional machine, let’s talk about the flyweight division. Ever since the 125-pound division was added nearly a decade ago, Dana White hasn’t seemed particularly interested in promoting or acknowledging the flyweights at the same level as the rest of his weight classes. Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johnson had one of the great title runs of all time from 2012-18, and he was grumbling about his pay and exposure up until the day he finally lost the title. And when he dropped the belt to Henry Cejudo, the UFC couldn’t send him packing fast enough. It was quite telling.
For the last couple years, the flyweight division has been seemingly hanging on the brink of dissolution, starting with a the infamous Flyweight Purge of 2018. But at the beginning of 2021, the 125-pound weight class is all of a sudden in better shape than maybe it has ever been. The division has an exciting champion in Deiveson Figueiredo who’s finishing off a Fighter of the Year 2020, and brings the absolute violence every time he’s in the cage. That’s not even close to being all.
Figueiredo finished 2020 with a Fight of the Year contender draw against Brandon Moreno last month, setting up what should be a thrilling rematch at some point in 2021. That fight could very well end up being the most anticipated fight in UFC flyweight history. What’s more, the division is absolutely spoiling with young contenders. I’m telling you, it’s full to BURSTING. Out of the top 10 in the official UFC rankings, only Joseph Benavidez is older than 30.
That includes fighters with all kinds of disparate styles: powerful Eastern European grapplers like Askar Askarov, BJJ aces like Rogerio Bontorin, and wild scrappers like Brandon Royval. All of this at the fastest division in the sport. 2021, and beyond, should be so much goddamn fun to watch the flyweights.
So it pains me to see Figueiredo, coming off the best year of his career and having singlehandedly rescued UFC 256 by taking the Moreno fight on three weeks’ notice, openly lament this week about how he doesn’t feel valued enough by the UFC and how he hasn’t gotten pay-per-view points after headlining two straight.
Note to the UFC: This guy is one of the most valuable commodities you’ve got. Give him his damn pay-per-view points. This needs to be the year we resolve to love and cherish our flyweights, and build them up so the division can grow even more. These little men are marvelous. They’re the best little men around. The world needs the chance to see it too.
Dana White: Lower your PPV prices or shut the hell up about illegal streaming
Speaking of Dana White’s various foibles, the egg-shaped UFC president was in the news recently after promising some rando on Instagram a “surprise” for illegally streaming the upcoming Conor McGregor-Dustin Poirier fight. Naturally, this happened shortly after news broke that ESPN will be hiking the prices of UFC pay-per-views, along with the price of the ESPN+ subscription required to legally purchase and view UFC pay-per-views, in 2021.
I think this section pretty much writes itself. As a frequent illegal streamer of sporting events, I can say that most people want to watch stuff legally – illegally streaming things can be a hassle. Streams don’t always stay stable, especially for big events. Sometimes your go-to websites get taken down. (RIP, Crackstreams.) For some reason there’s always a chat box next to the video player with people repeatedly posting Nazi slogans. A lot of times, people will pay a little money for the convenience.
But not when you’re asking people to pay $70 for that convenience, on top of a monthly subscription fee, that number goes down. So either make your PPVs less expensive, or learn to live with the fact that price points like that are going to push people to illegal streaming. It’s just gonna happen. 2021 is going to be about making peace, and understanding. We can all just live and let live.
Bellator: Put together a light heavyweight grand prix
With the UFC promising to shed costs by releasing dozens of fighters over the coming weeks and months, companies like Bellator should be well-positioned to gobble up some big names on the free agent market – that is, if they can afford the price tag.
And despite what appears to be an increasingly tenuous broadcast situation, Bellator has made some splashes over the last few months. The Viacom-owned promotion signed up former UFC title challengers Yoel Romero and Anthony “Rumble” Johnson in December, and one-time top UFC contender Corey Anderson made his debut with Bellator the month before.
Anderson and Johnson are both longtime light heavyweights – Rumble hinted at one point that he was interested in fighting at heavyweight as well, but admitted recently that was only because he had gotten kinda fat since his last UFC appearance – and Romero will be moving up to 205 once he starts with Bellator. You see where I’m going with this?
Although they’ve been de-emphasized since Scott Coker took over Bellator in 2014, tournaments have always been a unique part of the organization’s identity, and still a staple of its programming. Back in the day, Bellator used to run three or four tournaments in different weight classes per season. Now, it’s about one or two big ones per year. The ongoing Featherweight Grand Prix, which was delayed midway through due to the COVID-19 pandemic, should be finished sometime this year. If you’re looking for who should be next, the answer should be obvious.
There’s no better way to feature your big signings, Romero, Rumble and Anderson, while also promoting the stars you already had in-house than a Light Heavyweight Grand Prix. And right now, Bellator looks like it has the depth to really fill something out.
New champion Vadim Nemkov is just 28 years old and looks absolutely legit, and can you imagine how much more legit he would look if he could take out a Rumble or a Corey Anderson and win a tournament of that scale? Behind him, Phil Davis and Lyoto Machida are legit names who would add more credibility – just make sure they don’t fight each other, because no one wants to see that a third time. Liam McGeary has always been fun to watch when he’s healthy. Then you could round it out with a young gun like a Karl Albrektsson, or let middleweight champ Gegard Mousasi, who’s held light heavyweight titles before, move up and make a run.
It wouldn’t be the 16-man spectacular that the featherweight tournament was, but Bellator could put something together with the light heavyweights this year that could be very interesting and effectively feature all its new toys. For Bellator, 2021 should be the year of the 205ers.
Mike Perry: Please get some mental help
We’re doing self-care in 2021, baby. All of us. That includes your favorite mixed martial artists, who suffered in 2020 just as much as the rest of us, if not more. That especially includes UFC welterweight Mike Perry, one of the most completely insane men in the world, who really seems to be going through it.
Perry’s antics over the past few years have ranged from the bizarre and humorous to the violent and downright disgusting. Sometimes you’ll get the “THOUGHT YOU HAD A FRIEND, BOY!” weigh-in antics, or he’ll hire a random guy from Reddit as his cornerman for his fight with Tim Means. Then there’s the other incidents, like the domestic violence allegations, punching out an elderly man at a bar, or frequently using racial and homophobic slurs.
Things got weirder to start off 2021, when Perry posted a video of him bleeding profusely in a random hallway on his Instagram. There was little context as to where he was, or why he was bleeding. He went to the hospital and got stitched up, according to subsequent posts, and is presumably the picture of physical health. But the saddest part was, I was completely unsurprised that Mike Perry was bleeding all over the ground for unexplained reasons.
So in 2021, Mike Perry’s resolution is to finally get the comprehensive personal and mental health assistance he so desperately needs. There was always a talented fighter there, he just obviously needs some kind of support that he’s not getting. We care about you, Mike, as fucked-up as you are. Let’s turn over a new leaf this year.
The Big Fight 