Does UFC Have the Top Fighter in Each Weight Class?

[ReasonableMan]

Who would be the betting favorite in cross-promotional bout between top fighters in each weight class?


BW: Mix would be favored to beat O'Malley. (1 point for PFLlator)

FW: Unclear if Topuria would be favored over Khizriev or Loughnane or Braga.

LW: I'm guessing Makhacev would be the favorite over Usman Nurmagomedov, though the skill gap is probably minimal. (1 point for UFC)

WW: I think Edwards would be the underdog against Umalatov or Musaev. (1 point for PFLlator)

MW: Eblen vs du Plessis...unsure who would be favored.

LHW: I think Nemkov would be the clear favorite over Pereira. (1 point for PFLlator)

HW: Ngannou v Jones...I'll guess Jones would be the favorite but not sure. (1 point for UFC)


That's 3-2 for PFllator.


Your thoughts?


Saudi money has transformed combat sports.

 

[blaseblase]

You can't even name PFL's best FW so there's that. Both Braga and Loughnane lost to Pinedo last year. You gotta go with Topuria.

 

[Black9]

Bantamweight, you can say Mix would be favored over O'Malley but Umar, Cory, Cejudo, Merab you can say has a good chance of beating Mix.

Featherweight, it's really between Volk, Max and Topuria each beating eachother except Max/Topuria

LW: it's clearly UFC with Islam

WW: Until someone beats Leon he's top he showed incredible TDD last 2 fights not even including Shavkat right below him

MW: Eblen got rocked, almost lost to Impa Kasegenay and looked terrible his last fight. I'd say Izzy and DDP beats him

LHW: Nemkov could probably beat Alex, but Jiri already beat Nemkov in the past and Anka would probably beat him as well

HW: Tom i think would beat both Jones and Francis atm

Champion vs Champion wise you might have a point, but UFC has far more depth and the people below them are far better matchups.

 

[ipowerslapmywife]

LW - Conor
WW - Conor

 

[TempleoftheDog]

All we need is for these minor leaguers to earn their way to the big league. Then we would get actual answers to otherwise unanswerable questions.

For whatever reason. The UFC either doesn’t want these people. Or, some of these people like being a big fish in a small pond.

If, or when they move up, I’ll give it more thought.

 

[blaseblase]

LHW: Nemkov could probably beat Alex, but Jiri already beat Nemkov in the past and Anka would probably beat him as well

Nemkov fought Jiri 8 years ago. Nemkov was winning but it was a 10 minute round and he ended up gassing and quitting on the stool. I would easily favor Nemkov today, especially with the standard 5 minute rounds. And Ankalaev's performance against Blachowicz doesn't inspire confidence he could beat Nemkov.

 

[ferrisjso]

Bantamweight, you can say Mix would be favored over O'Malley but Umar, Cory, Cejudo, Merab you can say has a good chance of beating Mix.

Featherweight, it's really between Volk, Max and Topuria each beating eachother except Max/Topuria

LW: it's clearly UFC with Islam

WW: Until someone beats Leon he's top he showed incredible TDD last 2 fights not even including Shavkat right below him

MW: Eblen got rocked, almost lost to Impa Kasegenay and looked terrible his last fight. I'd say Izzy and DDP beats him

LHW: Nemkov could probably beat Alex, but Jiri already beat Nemkov in the past and Anka would probably beat him as well

HW: Tom i think would beat both Jones and Francis atm

Champion vs Champion wise you might have a point, but UFC has far more depth and the people below them are far better.

Corey would beat Alex badly as well. The thing with Nemkov is he's small for LHW but hes probably the best P4P MW+ fighter in MMA except Jones.

 

[Black9]

Nemkov fought Jiri 8 years ago. Nemkov was winning but it was a 10 minute round and he ended up gassing and quitting on the stool. I would easily favor Nemkov today, especially with the standard 5 minute rounds. And Ankalaev's performance against Blachowicz doesn't inspire confidence he could beat Nemkov.

Balls to the Wall Jiri i think still beats him, who knows now? I'd probably put it like 70/30 Nemkov because of wrestling.

However, Ankalaev i have to disagree with i think he beats him pretty easily especially if Nemkov struggled and almost lost agaisnt Corey Anderson.

Physically Ankalaev is far larger as well which helps in any grappling exchanges.

 

[Black9]

Corey would beat Alex badly as well. The thing with Nemkov is he's small for LHW but hes probably the best P4P MW+ fighter in MMA except Jones.

I think Tom Aspinall might be better P4P MW+ talent wise. Solid BJJ, Good boxing, And Decent wrestling. Only weakness is he's KO prone cause he keeps his chin up.

 

[ferrisjso]

I think Tom Aspinall might be better P4P MW+ talent wise. Solid BJJ, Good boxing, And Decent wrestling. Only weakness is he's KO prone cause he keeps his chin up.

Aspinalls the best P4P HW we've ever seen. That is a very low bar though. The one who held that title before him was Gane and look how that turned out.

In MMA I've always believed if sizes are anything close to equal LHWs and MWs starch HWs.

 

[AfroBanana]

Nemkov is a HW now.

If he went back to LHW it would be more interesting seeing him against guys that are finishers. He’s face a lot of guys who are older now and weren’t a big threat there (Bader, Davis, Yoel, Anderson). Seeing him against Ank, Jiri, Rakic, Alex, Hill and others would be far more interesting. Bellators division is far more stagnant and old. Even if you think the UFC’s division is a joke now they have far more younger talents. Nemkov is really the only thing Bellator has (and he could very well be the best).

I would say Umar could force a kickboxing match and win it with Islam.

I think the guy that mentioned the depth makes a great point. If you find some champions that lose to champions other problematic matchups exist.

 

[Black9]

Aspinalls the best P4P HW we've ever seen. That is a very low bar though. The one who held that title before him was Gane and look how that turned out.

In MMA I've always believed if sizes are anything close to equal LHWs and MWs starch HWs.

Well considering Nemkov is moving to HW apparently, if we put Tom vs Nemkov in a fight the size difference would be massive.

I think talent wise though the grading scale for HW's are lower, i think Tom might be better all around than Nemkov.
Nemkov's size is a detriment as he's small even for a LHW.

 

[ferrisjso]

Well considering Nemkov is moving to HW apparently, if we put Tom vs Nemkov in a fight the size difference would be massive.

I think talent wise though the grading scale for HW's are lower, i think Tom might be better all around than Nemkov.
Nemkov's size is a detriment as he's small even for a LHW.

I agree. Theres no question in my mind Nemkovs a better fighter. But in this era hes just too small to ignore the size. I was stunned not that he beat Corey but how easily be did so I'd still pick Nemkov but not be confident at all about it.

 

[blaseblase]

Balls to the Wall Jiri i think still beats him, who knows now? I'd probably put it like 70/30 Nemkov because of wrestling.

However, Ankalaev i have to disagree with i think he beats him pretty easily especially if Nemkov struggled and almost lost agaisnt Corey Anderson.

Physically Ankalaev is far larger as well which helps in any grappling exchanges.

Did you watch Nemkov v Anderson 2? He shut him down with ease. And Anderson is a better wrestler than any LHW currently in the UFC.

 

[Black9]

Did you watch Nemkov v Anderson 2? He shut him down with ease. And Anderson is a better wrestler than any LHW currently in the UFC.

Yeah, but Nemkov vs Anderson 1. Anderson was taking him down and beating him pretty badly before he took the DQ draw.

The 2nd fight, corey anderson did what corey anderson does and choked at the biggest fight.

I think Ankalaev has the firepower standing to give Nemkov trouble and the grappling to counter Nemkov's or even threaten him with it.

Not even talking about the size difference Ankalev has over Nemkov which plays a part in any grappling exchanges they might have.

 

[blaseblase]

Yeah, but Nemkov vs Anderson 1. Anderson was taking him down and beating him pretty badly before he took the DQ draw.

The 2nd fight, corey anderson did what corey anderson does and choked at the biggest fight.

I think Ankalaev has the firepower standing to give Nemkov trouble and the grappling to counter Nemkov's or even threaten him with it.

Not even talking about the size difference Ankalev has over Nemkov which plays a part in any grappling exchanges they might have.

Speaking of choking, Ankalaev's the one who's been doing that recently. The fact Anderson couldnt do anything to Nemkov in the rematch suggests Ankalaev would be in for a rough night. Don't forget he dominated Glover and Blachowicz when he was in the UFC. And Nemkov's a significantly better striker than Ankalaev.

 

[Shaolin Alan]

Mighty Mouse ditched UFC 125 to lay waste vs giants, all over the far East!!

 

[TadDunbar]

No minor league fighters are beating Dana's champs

 

[ferrisjso]

Did you watch Nemkov v Anderson 2? He shut him down with ease. And Anderson is a better wrestler than any LHW currently in the UFC.

Yeah it was the most impressive fight in the big weight classes we've seen in a long time. I mean Jones v Gane was impressive but most of us expected that. No one should have expected to beat the shit out of Corey. That was just wild. I think the UFC doesn't have the top 2 LHWs tbh I think those are the real top 2 and Nemkov beating Corey that easy is very impressive.

 

[SokoudjouFanboy]

Almost certainly not if for no other reason than MMA is wildly hard to predict and fighters outside of the UFC are perennially under rated by virtue of not fighting in the UFC.

I would disagree with a couple of the OP's picks though. I'd actually pick Ngannou over Jones. I think 170, 135 & 185 are tough calls that would probably go 2-1 in either direction.

The best 145er outside of the UFC is Islam Omarov, not anyone in PFLlator but I couldn't pick him over Topuria because of how good Topuria been over slightly better opposition. I wouldn't be massively surprised (like I'm assuming most would be) if Omarov pulled it off though. Omarov is Khabib 2.0 and fights more like Khabib did than the other Islam. If you haven't watched him fight you're doing yourself a disservice.