What Does the UFC Heavyweight Division Look Like Moving Forward?

I feel as if there’s a few key takeaways from this past weekend regarding the heavyweight division in the UFC. Francis Ngannou is a lot more dangerous. His ground game has massively improved in the past year or two and now he’s gonna be even more lethal (which is saying something). Gane will be back. This was only his first loss as a professional. Whether it be a year maybe even longer, he will be back. This loss will probably only help him down the line. Now it gets interesting, for a few reasons. If Stipe Miocic decides that he wants another shot at gold, him and Ngannou are tied 1-1. Who wouldn’t mind another championship trilogy? On the other end of the spectrum, a fellow named Jon Jones has been beefing up, teasing a move up to heavyweight. The only problem per se, is that Jones hasn’t fought in a couple years. But I think it’ll be more interesting to see how he deals with the added weight more than potential ring rust. These guys are used to that weight, and they’ve been moving around at that weight a lot longer than Jones and that could potentially make it harder for Jones throughout the fight. At the same time, Jon Jones has always somehow found a way to win so there’s also that.

Before anything happens though, there’s still a few obstacles left to overcome. The champ, Francis Ngannou, now needs surgery on his knee for an MCL injury he sustained leading up to the fight. So that’s gonna sideline him until September-October, if everything goes smoothly. But Ngannou hasn’t been known for fighting a lot recently. He’s had three fights in three years, so based on what we’ve seen already, this injury shouldn’t deter things as much as we might think it would have. The real question is the contract dispute. Ngannou says he doesn’t mind sitting and waiting until his contract hits the five year mark (December), as their contracts cannot exceed five years. When it expires he can truly do what he wants as he’ll be free to leave the UFC if the situation isn’t right for him.

I guess now we just wait for the puzzle pieces to fall so we can sort them out later. On another note, who wants to bet Dana will make another interim heavyweight title for later this year??