Check-In With Valentina Shevchenko

Valentina Shevchenko has a bit of a stranglehold on the 125-pound division right now but, to her credit, she isn’t complaining about a lack of competition or interest. She is the biggest advocate for the division’s future, and so her dominance is a bit of a catch-22. The ongoing search for a legitimate challenger who will spark interest and doubt in Shevchenko’s reign has been a fruitless one since she captured the belt in December 2018. The streaking Lauren Murphy might be most deserving of a shot on merit as her rapid improvement has her in the best form of her career. Joanne Calderwood was a few months from a title shot before an ill-advised fight with Jennifer Maia sent her back down the ladder, and strawweights moving up a weight class are adding some much-needed depth to the top of the division, which brings us to Jessica Andrade.

The former strawweight champion scored a powerful, body shot knockout win over Katlyn Chookagian on Fight Island, loudly announcing her presence at 125 pounds. Her pedigree, power and experience in big fights makes her the most appealing challenger to Shevchenko’s reign as champion and it seems like the fight to make for this ever-growing division.

Names To Watch For In 2021: Roxanne Modafferi, Taila Santos

Not to always tie the two together, but much like Shevchenko, Amanda Nunes is cleaning out her division to the point of apathy toward her fights. She is that great – consensually considered The Greatest. She has taken out title challengers with such dominance and at a speed that hasn’t allowed for the up-and-comers at 135 to really build their resumes. Aspen Ladd’s knee injury in the summer prevented her from probably isolating herself as the logical next in line, but in terms of hype and expectation, Nunes stands above the rest.

Names To Watch For In 2021:  Ketlen Vieira, Julia Avila, Macy Chiasson

Similar to her 135-pound kingdom, Nunes’ reign as the featherweight queen continued in earnest with a five-round beatdown of the always-tough Felicia Spencer. That brought the heavy-hitting Australian Megan Anderson to the title table, and although the two will wait an extra few months to do battle, they are expected to fight sometime in early 2021. Anderson has the power to give her the puncher’s chance to deliver an eye-popping upset, and her ground game has improved fight-to-fight but taking Nunes out is a tall task no matter the weight class, and the future of the 145ers is probably the murkiest of any division in the UFC.

Perhaps the UFC’s most loaded division top to bottom, bantamweight saw Henry Cejudo’s reign end when “Triple C” called it a career (for now…) after defeating Dominick Cruz with relative ease. Since then, the division appears to have a bit of order for the first time since TJ Dillashaw and Cody Garbrandt feuded. Russia’s Petr Yan dominated Jose Aldo to capture the vacant belt, and Aljamain Sterling earned his spot as Yan’s first challenger after he submitted Cory Sandhagen in the first round the same night Garbrandt thunderously returned with his Knockout of the Year contender against Rafael Assuncao.

Sandhagen responded with a wheel-kick knockout of Marlon Moraes to prime himself for another No. 1 contender fight, and Rob Font established himself as the probable dark horse of the top 5 after he returned from injury to knock out Moraes to end 2020. With Dillashaw’s suspension coming to an end at the turn of the new year, he’ll be yet another legit title contender added to the division as a slew of veterans float just outside the title picture hoping to make another run at gold.

Names To Watch For In 2021: TJ Dillashaw, Jose Aldo, Frankie Edgar, Dominick Cruz

While the featherweight division remains one of the deepest in the UFC, 2020 was a relatively quiet year for the weight class. Volkanovski bested Max Holloway in a razor-close decision win that had many blasting the “robbery” horn, but regardless, the Australian, at the very least, proved his qualities as champion. He’ll likely face a refreshed and revamped Brian Ortega after “T-City” dismantled Chan Sung Jung on Fight Island.

Other than that, not many title-shaping fights went down as Zabit Magomedsharipov and Yair Rodriguez never made the walk in 2020. Somebody who stayed busy, however, was Massachusetts’s Calvin Kattar. The Boston Bomber scored a huge knockout win over Jeremy Stephens to establish himself in the division’s elite before taking home a hard-fought main event win over Dan Ige just a couple months later. His calendar-opening date with Holloway is important for both men in terms of establishing the next in line for a title shot, priming much more movement in the weight class in 2021.

Names To Watch For In 2021: Chan Sung Jung, Josh Emmett, Arnold Allen, Sodiq Yusuff, Dan Ige

Ah, welterweight. Never short of trash talk, never short of drama and never short of delivering fun fights – the men at 170 delivered all those things once again in 2020. Gilbert Burns skyrocketed up the rankings to earn a shot at the belt, but when that fight fell through, Kamaru Usman earned another dominant win after the “BMF” Jorge Masvidal stepped in on short notice to challenge for the title on Fight Island’s debut card. Colby Covington dominated Tyron Woodley to give himself a credible shout at a rematch with Usman, but a potential fight with Masvidal continues to rumble to the surface.

Leon Edwards’ trajectory was undoubtedly impacted the most among championship-caliber fighters after the coronavirus pandemic shutdown what was to be a main-event bout with Tyron Woodley in London. Edwards never made the walk in 2020 after COVID-19 complications scratched a scheduled bout with 2020’s breakout star, Khamzat Chimaev, leaving Edwards without that marquee win necessary to really carry weight in the title picture. Also on the outside loudly looking in is Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, who returned from a year-long, injury-induced layoff to dominate Geoff Neal on 2020’s final fight night. “Wonderboy” has shown he is very much still in the mix with the best at 170, so 2021 holds plenty of potential for the division.

Names To Watch For In 2021: Khamzat Chimaev, Michael Chiesa, Vicente Luque

2020 was the end of a decade-long era when Jon Jones declared his intention to move to heavyweight and Daniel Cormier, though he hadn’t fought at 205 pounds since 2018, called it a career after concluding his trilogy with Stipe Miocic. That shake-up seemed to breathe life into the light heavyweight division, and Polish wrecking ball Jan Blachowicz bulldozed his way to the title. It was a disappointing outcome for Dominick Reyes, who many believed defeated Jones in their duel at UFC 247.

Alas, Blachowicz’s immediate future is murky. It seems like Adesanya wants to grab a second belt but standing right there with a genuinely solid case for a shot is Glover Teixeira. The 41-year-old veteran is on a five-fight winning streak, most recently submitting Thiago Santos, and is a feel-good story in the title picture. On the edges of the picture, a group of younger, well-rounded up-and-comers appears to have gone through the cycles of establishing themselves as the new class at 205.

Names To Watch For In 2021: Dominick Reyes, Aleksandar Rakic, Jiri Prochazka

The end to Stipe Miocic and Daniel Cormier’s trilogy means the heavyweight division might move along quickly in 2021. Miocic’s win over Cormier likely earned him a place in the heavyweight G.O.A.T. discussion, and he has plenty of legacy-shaking fights ahead. Francis Ngannou blitzed Jairzinho Rozenstruik with such ease that it seems like he is the clear No. 1 contender. He’s a different fighter than when he first fought Miocic for the belt, and so that fight does have plenty of appeal. Jon Jones is lurking for whoever wins that fight, though. While other heavyweights – namely Curtis Blaydes, Rozenstruik and Derrick Lewis – have earned their own turn at fighting for gold, the allure of Jones finally fighting at heavyweight is something any fight fan would watch with high interest. Heavyweight is probably at its most interesting spot in years with the crop shaping up into 2021.

Names To Watch For In 2021: Alistair Overeem, Ciryl Gane