UFC Vegas 44: No Better Division Than Bantamweight
From all angles, the 135-pound weight class stands out as the best in the UFC at the moment
Saturday’s fight card wraps with a scrap between Rob Font and Jose Aldo that carries legitimate championship ramifications in the bantamweight division, and also further highlights why the 135-pound weight class is the best collection of talent in the UFC at the moment.
Font enters on a four-fight winning streak that includes a first-round stoppage win over Marlon Moraes last December and a masterful effort against former champ Cody Garbrandt in May. The 34-year-old New England Cartel member has nine wins in a dozen UFC appearances, sits at No. 4 in the rankings and is one of the most underrated Top 5 talents on the roster.
Aldo is a legend — a former featherweight champion who has rebounded from a slow start to his move to bantamweight by posting consecutive victories over Marlon “Chito” Vera and Pedro Munhoz. The second of those two efforts was the most impressive, as the 35-year-old Brazilian looked sharper, crisper than he had in recent outings, seemingly turning back the clock to out-land his countryman.
Whomever emerges victorious on Saturday evening won’t be guaranteed a title shot, despite each being ranked in the Top 5, which is unfortunate for them, but underscores the incredible depth of talent and vast matchmaking possibilities that exist in the bantamweight division at the moment.
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Rivals Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan each currently hold championship gold in the 135-pound weight class; the former clutching the title he won by disqualification in March, and the latter gripping an interim belt won a month ago in Abu Dhabi, when Sterling was unable to compete in their rematch and Cory Sandhagen was tabbed as his replacement.
The only reason Sandhagen was selected is because former champion TJ Dillashaw, who narrowly edged out the Elevation Fight Team member in July, was unavailable after undergoing surgery following his return to the Octagon this summer.
Ideally, Sterling and Yan will run it back in a title unification bout in the first quarter of 2022, with Dillashaw taking on the winner of Saturday’s main event in a bout to determine the No. 1 contender, resulting in there being a clearer picture at the top of the division by the end of the summer.
Sandhagen is stuck in the “odd man out” position for the moment, having lost to Sterling, Dillashaw, and Yan, while whomever is vanquished this weekend will slide back to join “The Sandman” outside of the immediate title picture for the moment, giving the weight class a pair of skilled, dangerous figures ready to turn back anyone hoping to advance into the championship conversation next year.
And there are plenty of fighters looking to advance.
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Merab Dvalishvili (above) has won seven consecutive fights to climb to No. 6 in the rankings, capping his run with a wild win over former title challenger Marlon Moraes in September. The 30-year-old Georgian grappler is a teammate and training partner of Sterling, which complicates things a little, but he’s also an Energizer Bunny inside the Octagon — a tireless wrestler with proven toughness and tenacity who will be a challenging matchup for whomever he shares the cage with next.
Marlon Vera earned the biggest win of his career earlier this month at Madison Square Garden, securing a third-round stoppage win over former lightweight champ and perennial title contender Frankie Edgar at UFC 268. He’s officially 8-2 over his last 10, 12-6 overall inside the Octagon, and is set to turn 29 in a couple of days, which is always a little surprising given that he’s been in the UFC for the last seven years, slowly developing and honing his craft to where he feels poised to begin a long stay in the Top 10 next year.
Song Yadong edged out Vera on the cards last Spring and rebounded from his March loss to Kyler Philips with victories over Casey Kenney and Julio Arce, stopping the latter in the second round of their main card clash 17 days ago. Already 7-1-1 in the UFC and positioned inside the Top 15, the “Kung Fu Monkey” turns 24 on Thursday, which means he’s still a couple years away from his physical prime.
Adrian Yanez posted his fourth straight victory inside the Octagon on the last UFC fight card, out-working veteran Davey Grant over three rounds. The 27-year-old Houston native has won eight straight overall, fought very good competition on his way to the UFC, and has shown the kind of technical striking and toughness you like to see from emerging talents as they ready to make a run at the Top 15.
Sean O’Malley has been one of the more talked about up-and-comers since his breakthrough performance on the first season of Dana White’s Contender Series. He’s 6-1 in the UFC, losing to Vera last August at UFC 252 before rebounding with one-sided wins over Thomas Almeida and Kris Moutinho, and is slated to fight next weekend at UFC 269 against…
Raulian Paiva, a former flyweight who debuted in the division with an impressive come-from-behind win over Kyler Philips in July. The 26-year-old is tall for the division with a long reach and sharp boxing, plus he showed in the fight with Philips that he can weather an onslaught and find a way back. If he topples O’Malley next weekend in Las Vegas, expect his profile to explode and his opportunities to be plentiful in 2022.
Kyler Philips has already shared the cage with two others listed here, splitting his bouts with Song and Paiva earlier this year. He’s a fast starter who tends to fade down the stretch, but he has a complete arsenal of skills and comes from a great camp, so if he can figure out how to manage his energy and improve his conditioning a little, the 26-year-old former TUF and Contender Series competitor could make a real run at things in the next couple years.
Jack Shore is undefeated in four UFC appearances, 15 professional fights, and 27 fights overall, having gone 12-0 en route to an IMMAF title as an amateur before turning pro. The 26-year-old Welsh grinder doesn’t get anywhere near the attention of his American counterparts or flashier strikers like Vera and Song, but he’s handled his business every time out, and just might be the best prospect of the bunch.
Umar Nurmagomedov will look to halt Shore’s unbeaten run while continuing his own in February in a fight that already stands as one of the most compelling bouts on next year’s calendar. The cousin of former lightweight champ Khabib Nurmagomedov, the 25-year-old submitted Sergery Morozov in his promotional debut in January and is one of the most intriguing emerging talents in a division full of intriguing emerging talents.
Ricky Simón has earned three consecutive victories and sports a 6-2 record overall in the UFC, including a win over Merab Dvalishvili, and can punch his ticket to the Top 15 with a victory over veteran Raphael Assuncao on the final fight card of the year. Another guy that has fought a better slate, but receives less pub than someone like O’Malley, Simón’s setbacks came against Urijah Faber and Rob Font, and he’s looked dominant since, playing to his strengths to climb to the brink of breaking into the rankings.
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There are two reasons why bantamweight stand out above the rest of the divisions at the moment, the first being that there are two tiers of veteran talents at the ready to face off with the emerging names in the division, with a couple additional question marks hovering on the periphery as well:
Tier One: Pedro Munhoz, Dominick Cruz, Marlon Moraes, Cody Stamann
Tier Two: Raoni Barcelos, Casey Kenney, Rani Yahya, Julio Arce, Brian Kelleher, Davey Grant, Alejandro Perez
Question Marks: Cody Garbrandt, Frankie Edgar
Having clearly established tiers like this not only helps delineate things in the division, but it gives fans and observers a much clearly understanding of where an athlete fits within the divisional hierarchy, as you understand what a win over someone like Kelleher or Stamann or Cruz means in terms of that fighters progression and potential going forward.
Beating someone like Barcelos or Grant elevates a fighter into position to potentially face someone in Tier One or another emerging name, while besting someone in Tier One usually punches your ticket to the Top 15 and should set up a date with one of the first 16 athletes mentioned in this piece.
The second reason is that in addition to the 10 up-and-coming names listed above, there are a dozen more that are another step or two away from joining that pack:
Nate Maness is 14-1 as a pro and 3-0 in the UFC, with back-to-back second-round stoppage wins
Montel Jackson has gone 5-2 in the Octagon, losing to Simón and Brett Johns, after reaching the biggest stage in the sport 14 months after making his pro debut
Timur Valiev is 18-2 overall and has earned consecutive decision wins in his last two Octagon appearances, out-hustling Brazilian veteran Raoni Barcelos last time out
Trevin Jones beat Valiev on short notice in the summer of 2020, but the result was overturned when he popped for weed, but “5 Star” is a fast starter with nasty power who could certainly put together a run
Saidyokub Kakhramonov tapped Jones late in the third round of their meeting in August, which he took on less than a week’s notice, and could vault further up this list with a win over Brian “Boom” Kelleher on the opening card of next year
Ronnie Lawrence looked great in his promotional debut after looking great in his appearance on Dana White’s Contender Series five months earlier
Said Nurmagomedov is 14-2 overall and beat the stuffing out of Mark Streigl last time out, setting up a bout with Top 15 staple Cody Stamann at UFC 270 in January
Miles Johns has gone 3-1 in his first four UFC appearances, including back-to-back third-round stoppage wins, after claiming regional gold with a win over Adrian Yanez prior to reaching the Octagon
Jahvid Basharat pushed his record to 11-0 and earned a contract with a dominant effort on the Contender Series this summer
Saimon Oliveira did as well, out-working veteran Jose Alday; he faces fellow DWCS alum Tony Gravely at UFC 270
Ricky Turcios won the bantamweight competition on Season 29 of The Ultimate Fighter, and is an all-action fighter with upside
Brady Hiestand lost to Turcious in the finale, but he’s just 22 years old and comes from a camp (Sikjitsu) with a proven track record of developing quality UFC talent
And then on top of both of those packs of competitors, you still have a hodgepodge of veterans and hopefuls and Contender Series alums that includes fighters like Chris Gutierrez , Sergey Morozov, Tony Gravely, Louis Smolka, Danaa Batgerel, and Randy Costa that are all legitimate UFC talents that can mix in at the different levels and float between positions depending on their results, delivering quality efforts every time out.
That means bantamweight is more than 60 fighters deep, with a competitive title picture, a robust collection of up-and-comers with the potential to enter that chase in the next 2-5 years, and an uncanny number of permutations and pairings that can produce meaningful, entertaining matchups that have a ripple effect on how the division lines up.
Featherweight, lightweight, and welterweight all have similar compositions, and I’ll put together similar pieces on each in the weeks following the final card of this year and the first card of 2022, but for my money, as good as those divisions are in spots, none is as complete and compelling as the bantamweight division is right now.