Many in the MMA world consider the UFC to be the very peak of success, if you make it to the UFC you’ve made it so to speak, but even within the UFC there are levels. Even if you make it to the UFC only so many people will ever make it into the top 10 in their career and even beyond that only so many of those top 10 fighters will ever get a title shot or even get their hand raised and take home the strap. So as you can imagine, the UFC is jam packed with insane quality fighters.
But today we’re here specifically to look at the Bantamweight division but to get the best look at that, let’s take a quick look at the top 10 within that division, then we can break down some potential fights we would LOVE to see, there’s also one honorable mention outside of the top 10 we need to look at, I think we all know who that is.
Bantamweight Division Top 10
CHAMPION. Aljamain Sterling
- 1. Petr Yan
- 2. TJ Dillashaw
- 3. José Aldo
- 4. Cory Sandhagen
- 5. Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera
- 6. Merab Dvalishvili
- 7. Rob Font
- 8. Dominick Cruz
- 9. Pedro Munhoz
- 10. Song Yadong
Honorable Mention: Sean O’Malley (13)
With Marlon ‘Chito’ Veras recent victory over Dominick Cruz, José Aldo’s upcoming fight with Merab Dvalishvili, Cory Sandhagen fighting Song Yadong and the upcoming title fight in October (UFC 280) where Aljo will be defending his strap against the returning TJ Dillashaw (we’ll get to him later) these rankings could look VERY different by the end of the year, but for now, these are the rankings we have, before we break it down let’s take a look at some of those upcoming fights that have already been made.
Makes sense to check out the fight last weekend first and it’s worth noting that Marlon Vera WAS the heavy favorite against Dominick Cruz, but that’s not to say he made things easy, Cruz has one hell of a chin and he took a beating but in the end he fell to one of the cleanest head kicks I’ve seen in a long time.
CHITO WITH THE HEADKICK FOR THE WIN!
#UFCSanDiego pic.twitter.com/FStSrwXNIT
— #UFC278 on BT Sport (@btsportufc) August 14, 2022
Nasty, wasn’t it? He had been trying to make that read all night and it finally paid off for him when he feigned the right hand, Cruz ducking into it and Chito with a PERFECTLY timed head kick. Damn. Chito has been dubbed as the next big thing for the Bantamweight division for a while and I feel like it’s only a matter of time before we see him get a chance at UFC gold. But who will that chance be against?
Next I want to look at UFC 280, Aljo Vs Dillashaw. Before we even get started I should mention that given the long absence of Dillashaw, taking a look across a bunch of sportsbooks, Aljamain Sterling is the -150 favorite over at BetOnline.ag, is that because people think Aljo is better or is it purely because of how inactive TJ has been? I mean, it was his own fault he was inactive after failing multiple drugs tests. TJ has always been good though, but how much of it was due to training under the influence of erythropoietin? Tarnished a very good career.
Aljo however has made a name for himself in his time in the UFC, he has faced a lot of trash talking from fans recently after being awarded the title when Petr Yan was disqualified for an illegal knee and the doctors deemed Aljo unable to continue. Since then however he faced Yan again, the man who many deem the most dangerous Bantamweight in the division and came out on top in a split decision. This will be an interesting fight, to see where Aljo is and to gauge where TJ is on his return.
The next matchup I’m gonna talk about isn’t a match up that has been made yet, but because of the way the first fight ended it’s only a matter of time before they meet again. Sean O’Malley Vs Chito Vera. I do believe that Chito is the future of this division and whether he’s the next champion or sometime next year, I believe he’ll hold the strap, but, Sean O’Malley is one fun fighter to watch and I feel like on most days he can stand with anyone in the top 10, is he good enough to ever get the strap? Who really knows, but I guarantee this rematch would be fire.They are both different fighters and Chito is on another level right now. It only makes sense and if Sean gets past Peter Yan, it puts him in a perfect position to battle it out for the number one contender spot to fight for the championship belt.
That’ll do it, we only talked about a fraction of the potential matchups in this division, there is so much talent on show! Let’s get you guys involved, who would you like to see fight in this division? Who do you think will be the next champion? Do you rate Aljo? I personally do, I enjoy watching him grapple. But I stand by the fact Chito will be champion one day! Until next time, take care folks!