What’s Next For The Heavyweight Division?

The heavyweight division is fantastic right now! The weight class is filled with knockout power and anything could happen at any given time which makes the division so exciting as one punch could literally shake up everything. The division has upcoming fights but here’s what I think should be next for the heavyweight division.

The Winner of Daniel Cormier & Stipe Miocic Vs. Francis Ngannou

Francis Ngannou’s last 3 fights have ended in brutal fashion as he’s defeated makes such as Cain Velasquez, Curtis Blaydes & most recently, Junior Dos Santos. The man has previously had a title opportunity but got dominated by Stipe Miocic for 5 rounds. Later in the year, Ngannou fought Derick Lewis in a fight that was slightly disappointing to say the least. However, he ended the year with a 45 second knockout of Curtis Blaydes. He’s been a wrecking machine since and it’s time he gets a title shot and I believe he’ll get one towards the end of the year or early 2020. Cormier is set to retire very soon but a match up between Cormier and Ngannou would be fascinating and a rematch between Miocic and Ngannou would be interesting to see how Ngannou fairs against him nowadays as the rematch would almost take place 2 years after the first.

Curtis Blaydes Vs. Derrick Lewis

Derrick Lewis has been out recovering since his surgery back in March. Lewis is coming off a title shot and a knockout from Junior Dos Santos earlier in the year. Curtis Blaydes is scheduled to fight at UFC 242 in a fight which I think he’ll win and then early next year he can fight a returning Derrick Lewis. This would be a crazy match up between the two titans and honestly, I don’t know who would win as they’re both dangerous wen they want to be.

Alistair Overeem Vs. Junior Dos Santos 2

Junior Dos Santos is coming off a loss against Francis Ngannou and that means he’s not going to be competing for the title so who should Dos Santos fight next? We know he won’t be fighting in the next 6 months as he just got knocked out which means he won’t step foot in the octagon until 2020. I think JDS should fight Alistair Overeem and have a rematch from 2015. Overeem won the match in the second round by knockout and I think a rematch nowadays would be even more interesting. Dos Santos has always been a good fighter and as both men are rounding off their careers, it’d be good to see a rematch.

Tai Tuivasa Vs. Aleksei Oleinik

Did somebody say Ezekiel choke? I think this would be a really fun match up as Tai Tuivasa is so charismatic and he’s a fun fighter to watch. Oleinik is an MMA veteran and often goes unnoticed in the MMA community but after a loss to Overeem, this seems like the right match up. This wouldn’t send either man shooting right up the ranks but it’s a step on the right direction for the winner.

Blagoy Ivanov Vs. Alexander Volkov

This seems logical. Alexander Volkov hasn’t fought since UFC 229 after beating Derrick Lewis for the majority of the fight before getting KO’d in the last ten seconds of the fight however he was suppose to fight back in April but pulled out with the reason still being unknown. Blagoy Ivanov recently defeated Tai Tuivasa and needs a higher ranked opponent and I think this seems like a good fight for both men.