Most overrated? Rule changes? Ngannou’s future? MMA fighters and coaches weigh in
Credit to Author: ESPN| Date: Fri, 19 Jul 2024 08:22:04 EST
We’re officially past the midway point of the 2024 calendar year, and the MMA world is plenty busy.
The UFC is preparing for its next international fight card, UFC 304, in England. The PFL playoffs kick off in August and Bellator has two title fights scheduled for September.
And yet, there are still plenty of questions that need answering. When will Conor McGregor, Jon Jones and Francis Ngannou finally return to the cage? Which fighters are poised to be the next superstars in the sport? What areas of improvement could the sport tackle for future growth and opportunity?
To assess the MMA landscape summer and what lies ahead, ESPN polled 18 fighters, coaches and managers to determine the sport’s best fighters, potential rule changes and identify who is most overrated and underrated. ESPN writers Andreas Hale, Brett Okamoto and Jeff Wagenheim reviewed the results and attempt to make sense of the voting and what the outlook means for the sport.
Alexa Grasso, Larissa Pacheco, Zhang Weili (3)
Kayla Harrison, Cris Cyborg (2)
Hale: The number of potential suitors for the best women’s MMA fighter has never been this high. It’s a toss-up after over a decade of Ronda Rousey, Joanna Jedrzejczyk and Amanda Nunes.
In my opinion, Grasso edges four other women to take her seat on the throne — mainly due to her stunning March 2023 win over Valentina Shevchenko, who most considered the heir when Nunes retired. After retaining her title with a split draw in the rematch in September 2023, Grasso gets a chance to cement her spot when she meets Shevchenko again. And with the women breathing down her neck for the top spot, Grasso can’t afford to lose. However, the improvements that the 30-year-old has made since moving to flyweight — seamlessly blending high-level boxing with improved wrestling — have paid dividends. This may be a case of a fighter hitting her stride and firing on all cylinders at the right time.
Islam Makhachev (5)
Alex Pereira (4)
Ilia Topuria (3)
Jon Jones, Demetrious Johnson, Johnny Eblen, Merab Dvalishvili (1)
Okamoto: No surprise, the No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter in the world and UFC lightweight champion leads the list. What might be slightly polarizing is the UFC light heavyweight champion Pereira coming in at No. 2. Despite Pereira’s incredible year, some people still think he’s slightly overrated, given his perceived lack of ground game.
Makhachev, on the other hand, has no holes. The Dagestani has the smothering top game of his predecessor, Khabib Nurmagomedov, when he needs it, but he’s also shown a high-level striking prowess that Nurmagomedov never had. Makhachev has been in some close fights, but when he’s had to dig deep late in a championship round, that resolve has been present. If you need a safe bet in MMA, Makhachev is the one.
Dakota Ditcheva secures a Quick 6 with a dominating first-round TKO against Lisa Mauldin.
Dakota Ditcheva (8)
Kayla Harrison (5)
Alexa Grasso (2)
Tatiana Suarez (1)
Wagenheim: Ditcheva has fought seven times in the PFL and won them all, finishing every opponent except one in the first round. You can’t do much better than that. Of course, the 12-0 former Muay Thai champion from Great Britain has yet to face the highest level of competition in MMA. Nonetheless, Ditcheva has already made enough of an impression that she got the nod here over more accomplished fighters such as Harrison, Grasso and Suarez.
Harrison is 34 years old, and who knows if she’ll even be in the sport in three years. Suarez is 33 and, while loaded with potential, has been stalled by an injury-plagued career. And Grasso, at 30, is a champion in her prime — it’s hard to fathom why she did not get more support from her peers.
Ditcheva will soon have a chance to prove her worthiness. Suppose she defeats Jena Bishop in their PFL women’s flyweight playoff semifinal on Aug. 2. In that case, she will go for the 2024 championship in the fall against the winner between the other semifinalists, onetime UFC title challenger Taila Santos and reigning Bellator women’s flyweight champ Liz Carmouche. A fight with either of them would give us an idea of where Ditcheva’s career is headed.
Tom Aspinall, Bo Nickal, Ilia Topuria (2)
Hale: A man with 18 fights and 18 finishes (eight knockouts, 10 submissions) is impossible to ignore. Rakhmonov arrived in the UFC in 2020 and has steamrolled the competition. And it’s not hyperfocused on one discipline, either. He’s showcased a variety of ways to turn the lights out on opponents, making him frightening to encounter.
While the unpredictable nature of MMA could see the hype train derailed sooner than later, most still see the 29-year-old as the uncrowned king of the welterweight division. His chance at championship gold will likely arrive within the next year, and in a division stocked with talent, Rakhmonov will have every opportunity to secure his spot as the best male MMA fighter in the world in 2027, even if his unlikely 100% finish rate ends.
Three (6)
Zero, one, two (4)
Okamoto: The MMA community seems split between two schools of thought about Ngannou’s MMA future. Some believe he’s nowhere near finished, as evidenced by the majority guessing he still has at least three MMA fights left. Others think he’ll never fight in MMA again.
Ngannou hasn’t competed in MMA since he defended his UFC heavyweight championship against Ciryl Gane in January 2022. Since then, he’s made a ton of money in two boxing appearances and could find another boxing opportunity if he chooses. Meanwhile, the PFL is eager to see him debut in its SmartCage, which he pledged to do when he signed with the company in 2023. It’s hard to confidently predict anything about Ngannou at the moment, due to his age (37), wealth of opportunities and the recent tragic loss of his young son, Kobe.
Allowing kicks and knees to a grounded opponent (8)
Allow 12-to-6 elbows (4)
Increase from three to five judges (3)
Wagenheim: Fighters like to fight. They’re trained to do damage to an opponent and defend against what’s thrown their way. So, it should come as no surprise that the potential rule changes that received the most support among fighters and coaches would eliminate limits on a fighter’s toolbox.
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The rule most reviled by fighters is the one that disallows kicks and knees to a grounded opponent. Good luck doing away with that one, folks. The optics of watching a fighter on the ground getting kicked in the head is not compatible with the desire among promoters for MMA to be a mainstream sport appealing to a wide array of fans.
As for allowing 12-to-6 elbows, that seems more plausible. It’s doubtful that many fighters are fully aware of which elbow trajectory is allowable and which is not, especially while in a fight. The rule is responsible for the only loss in the 29-fight career of UFC heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who was disqualified for illegal elbows in a 2009 bout he was dominating against Matt Hamill. He’s just one fighter, but Jones is the consensus GOAT and would otherwise be undefeated. So, the rule matters within the overall story of MMA.
Demetrious Johnson (5)
Johnny Eblen (4)
Kyoji Horiguchi (3)
Patchy Mix (2)
Hale: Remember when the UFC “traded” Demetrious Johnson for Ben Askren? It’s obvious who the winner and loser of that deal was. Askren fought three times, was finished twice and was sent packing by Jake Paul in a boxing match while “Mighty Mouse” continues to prove why he may go down as the greatest flyweight of all time.
“So many people have downplayed what he’s been able to accomplish,” Bellator women’s flyweight champion Liz Carmouche told ESPN. Johnson still holds the UFC record for consecutive title defenses with 11. Since Johnson’s departure, no flyweight has had more than two consecutive title defenses.
He’s endured the test of time and is thriving at ONE as its flyweight champion with a thoroughly entertaining trilogy against Adriano Moraes, winning the final two fights after being knocked out in their first meeting. It’s hard not to believe that Johnson would reign supreme in the UFC’s flyweight division if he were to return, but he’s happy where he’s at and is showcasing why the UFC should’ve never let him go.
New York City (5)
Tokyo, Miami (4)
London, Toronto, Dubai, Paris (1)
Okamoto: Despite the high state tax rate in New York, Manhattan remains the second-most sought-after location for fighters to compete. Madison Square Garden has undoubtedly had its share of major UFC moments, some of which have served as launching pads for its stars. Conor McGregor enjoyed his double champ moment at MSG. Pereira has capitalized on the big fight feel of New York. Rose Namajunas, Daniel Cormier, Israel Adesanya and Kamaru Usman have used the New York market to amplify their profile with memorable performances.
Beyond New York, Tokyo came in tied for second — partially due to its rich history in mixed martial arts — with Miami. The UFC, in particular, has identified Miami as a hot market in recent years and is turning it into an annual trip. Florida has always been home to a wealth of fighters, given the top-notch gyms in the region.
Khamzat Chimaev (5)
Francis Ngannou (2), Ian Machado Garry (2), Sean Strickland (2)
Wagenheim: Those who voted for Chimaev as the recipient of this “honor” might be reacting to the flood of hype that long has surrounded him, with no championship-level payoff.
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Chimaev fueled the hype train with a series of spectacular performances early in his UFC run. However, the undefeated 30-year-old competed only once last year (a victory over Usman), twice in the year before that and once in 2021. He has nothing on the books at the moment. Chimaev burst on the scene once upon a time and has since all but disappeared.
The others receiving votes were Ngannou, Machado Garry and Strickland. The latter two names make sense since both get under the skin of people, including other fighters. And yet both can fight. Strickland is a former UFC middleweight champion with a win over Israel Adesanya on his résumé, and though Machado Garry has not yet proved himself against the top tier of the welterweight division, he has beaten everyone the UFC has put in front of him. As for Ngannou, is his inclusion here related to his contentious departure from the UFC? Did his up-and-down boxing venture taint his reputation among MMA peers?
Cory Sandhagen (5)
Leon Edwards, Tatiana Suarez, AJ McKee, Michael Chandler, Patchy Mix (1)
Hale: In a bantamweight division stacked with talent, Sandhagen routinely gets overlooked until the cage door shuts. Aside from being dominantly submitted by Aljamain Sterling in 2020, Sandhagen has been competitive in every fight he’s been in, turning in victories over Marlon Vera, Rob Font and Song Yadong that have aged well while putting on thoroughly entertaining fights in losses to Petr Yan and TJ Dillashaw.
His nearly 6-foot frame is a nightmare for the division and his combination of pressure-striking from the southpaw stance and submission grappling makes him a constant threat in the Octagon. But because he doesn’t attempt to sell himself, he’s forgotten about when it comes to the best fighters in the UFC. It also doesn’t help that he’s been overlooked for a title opportunity for the past year despite settling in as the No. 2 bantamweight, according to the UFC rankings.
His time will eventually come and he’ll have the chance to prove to the masses why he’s one of the best in the world.