Will 2018 be Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) biggest year to date?
It sure seems that way, as Dana White is very confident that a lot of his top box office stars will gear up for long-awaited returns to the Octagon this coming year, as he tells TSN Tube that he anticipates Jon Jones, Brock Lesnar, Georges St-Pierre and even the Diaz brothers will return.
Of course, Dana was given certain odds of each fighter returning, so take from it what you will.
“I’m going to take the odds and say yes,” that Conor will fight more than twice inside the Octagon at odds of +175 that he will.
“I’m going to say yes at +150,” that St-Pierre will return.
“I’m going to say no at -1000,” that Ronda Rousey fights again.
“I am going to take the odds again and say yes.” at +500 that Brock Lesnar will return
“I will take the yes at + 150” that Jon Jones will fight for UFC again in 2018.
“Those are horrible odds. But I am going to go at yes + 130,” that the Diaz brothers will fight in 2018.
As for what those fighters have been doing in 2017, here’s a quick recap:
Jon Jones is still waiting to see how long he will be suspended for after failing his second drug test administered by USADA following UFC 214. Georges St-Pierre was forced to vacate the title after a severe case of colitis derailed his long awaited — yet short— return.
Ronda Rousey hasn’t competed since suffering her second straight knockout loss, while Nate Diaz is content with sitting on the sidelines while waiting for the promotion to ask him nicely to come back. Big brother Nick, however, has to work his issues out with USADA.
Brock Lesnar, meanwhile, is back working for WWE, and word on the street is that the world’s biggest wrestling organization won’t likely allow him to compete in MMA again.
As for Conor McGregor, he hasn’t competed in MMA since UFC 205 back in 2016, and has since been stripped of the Featherweight title and is on the cusp of losing his Lightweight strap for inactivity.
Now that you’ve taken a small refresher course and have Dana’s predictions at hand, who do you think is more likely to make a UFC return this year?
Predictions start at the 4:00 minute mark in the video play embedded below: