This article originally appeared on the Bloody Elbow Substack on February 18th, 2024. Consider supporting Bloody Elbow with a paid subscription to get first look at all our top stories.
I hate to paraphrase a classic Joe Rogan talking point, but the man has said a whole hell of a lot over the years, every now and then he has to hit the mark. In this case, that mark is all about how tough it is to be the longtime champ; for a fighter to ‘carry a target on their back’ year after year after year.
Eventually, any fighter that finds themselves at that level, usually four-plus title defenses into their reign starts to encounter a very particular phenomenon.
The path to UFC greatness
Early on in their time with the UFC, they’re the one making the charge, the one nobody is prepared for. Remember Anderson Silva coming to the Octagon and his fights against Chris Leben and Rich Franklin? They had no idea at all what was about to hit them. Most talents may not have that kind of shock value these days, where the promotion is much bigger and the path to the belt longer—but then again we’re not too far removed from Alex Pereira blitzing MW and LHW on his way to two different belts.
After that, the new champ has to claim their space. Most likely they’ve been merely one of several contenders, usually a group consisting of other former belt holders and talents who have been rising right up along side them. Their first few defenses, then, are going to be bouts of mutual interest. They’ll know just as much about their opponent as their opponent knows about them. Maybe these fighters have been side-eyeing one another for a bit, but for the bulk of their careers they’ve been focused on the stars of a previous era…
We’ve seen a whole truckload of UFC champions that have cut their way through those challenges. Guys like Israel Adesanya, Kamaru Usman, Dominick Cruz, and Max Holloway had no trouble taking out their share of former and current top talent around them. Where things have gotten tricky however, has been in the new blood.
Topuria as Volkanovski’s final boss
When Alexander Volkanovski first won featherweight gold, Ilia Topuria hadn’t even set foot inside the Octagon. ‘The Matador’ has spent literally his entire career inside the UFC focused at least in part on defeating one Australian man. Contenders like Yair Rodriguez and Brian Ortega couldn’t say that, having both joined the UFC when Conor McGregor and/or Jose Aldo still held claim to the crown. They passed through the whole Max Holloway era before facing Volkanovski.
This was new territory for ‘The Great’. He’d beaten the old guard, beaten his peers, now he had to stamp out this young lion. As we saw in Anaheim, he couldn’t make it happen.
There’s no shame in that. As I said before, even many of the best fighters in MMA history never achieved that goal. And those that have achieved it have often done so only barely hanging on by a thread.
The short list
At one time the MMA world was neck deep in arguments that Jon Jones actually lost to both Dominick Reyes and Thiago Santos at the end of his light heavyweight run. Younger fans may not remember, but Georges St-Pierre’s final welterweight title fight against Johny Hendricks was anything other than a clean cut victory for the Canadian legend.
It’s a huge credit to Demetrious Johnson that he beat both Kyoji Horiguchi and Henry Cejudo decisively before losing that narrow decision in the ‘Triple C’ rematch and getting sent packing off to Singapore. It’s just too bad that ‘Mighty Mouse’ didn’t have more flyweight forerunners to test himself against early on (although victories over Miguel Torres and Ian McCall certainly should count for something).
As it stands, that sort of makes up the entire list—at least as far as men go. Aldo went on to have remarkable success at 135 after Holloway ran him out of featherweight but he could never gain gold again. For the women, Amanda Nunes is the one fighter to really and truly grasp this claim to fame, having beat Tate, Rousey, Cyborg, and Holm, alongside Pennington, GDR, and Shevchenko. Adding later era defenses against Pena and Aldana. For Shevchenko, her victory over Taila Santos is probably her most clear pushback of what would have been considered the ‘new generation’, and that came with its own controversy.
Long story short, there’s a very small (and only lightly sketched out by yours truly) subcategory of all time pinnacle champions. It’s a list that includes Jon Jones, Georges St-Pierre, Demetrious Johnson, Amanda Nunes and Valentina Shevchenko. This was Volk’s chance to join that illustrious club and he couldn’t make it happen.
A truly great fighter and a dominant force in his own time, but not one of the true multi-generational championship gods of the UFC.
UFC 298 looks all set to be an action-packed night of PPV action for the world’s largest MMA promotion. The main event features a top-tier featherweight fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria alongside a middleweight top contender’s bout with former champion Robert Whittaker taking on fan favorite Paulo Costa.
Further down the card, however, there’s another fight that deserves just as much interest and attention as the top-billed action for the night. A bantamweight scrap between top ranked Merab Dvalishvili and former two-division champion Henry Cejudo. Dvalishvili hopes to earn his first shot at gold and pick up his 10th straight victory, while Cejudo is looking to bounce back from a closely contested loss to then champion Aljamain Sterling at UFC 288 last May.
UFC boss Dana White lays into Henry Cejudo for retiring ‘in his f***ing prime’
Fans might excuse Henry Cejudo for failing to recapture UFC gold by only the narrowest of margins last year, considering he had spent the previous three years sitting on the sidelines, but in a recent interview ahead of UFC 298 Dana White made it clear that he considers the time off something of a stain on ‘Triple C”s legacy. Most notably because White feels Cejudo had no reason not to be fighting.
“I mean, I think it was ridiculous that Henry Cejudo retired.” White explained (Transcript via MMA Junkie). “When you retire, you should stay away and never come back. This guy retired when he was in his f***ing prime. He looked good. This is a big fight for both of these guys.”
“Merab [Dvalishvili] sat out, and didn’t take a title fight because his friend had the title—all that stuff,” White added. “So I think you’re looking at two guys that, in my opinion, have made some mistakes in their careers. Saturday night’s a big deal for both of these guys. This whole f***ing card is incredible. I love this card.”
Dana White spin control
In the case of Merab Dvalishvili, there are two sides to this story in clear opposition to one another. Back in March, Dvalishvili made it clear that he didn’t want anyone asking him about fighting Aljamain Sterling.
“If they want me to fight Aljo, maybe they have to pay $10 billion,” Dvalishvili said at the time. “Then yes, I’ll be ready.”
Shortly afterward, Dana White sort of claimed that the UFC had offered Dvalishvili a chance to fight Sterling for the belt and that he had turned it down.
It’s a claim Dvalishvili has denied on several occasions now, saying that he has never been offered a fight against Sterling. From the sound of things, it doesn’t seem like he’s ever officially been offered a UFC title fight at all. But, considering that most bout negotiations are usually handled by matchmakers and managers, it’s impossible to know where the truth of that lies.
As for Henry Cejudo, however, his case for mid-career retirement has always been crystal clear.
“Show me the money,” Cejudo said in a 2020 interview. “That’s it. I’ve got my legacy. My legacy is written. Everybody knows what I’m after. I’m out here chasing green now. That’s what I want. I’ve got all the gold. I want the green.”
Whether or not Cejudo was able to finally really get paid big money by the UFC or not? We should know better this Saturday in Anaheim since California is one of the few states that still releases fighter contract information to the public. Even if he’s making serious ends now, however, the longtime Fight Ready talent has made it clear that it’s win or go home this time around. At 37-years-of-age he’s looking for one more run at gold. If he can’t get that, it sounds like he won’t stick around.
A new week, a new batch of MMA headlines to warm your heart or make you palm your face. This time around we’ve got more good works from Jared Gordon and a little advocacy from Loma Lookboonmee. But, we’ve also got Max Griffin with MMA judging complaints and Henry Cejudo stealing the spotlight from everyone with a whole bunch of unnecessary drama.
As always, I’m doing my best to sort through it all and try to separate the wheat from the chaff, the gold from the fools.
LOVE TO SEE IT
Jared Gordon stays on message
One of the things that MMA does like few other sports out there is to connect fans to real, honest to god hard luck stories. In a world where more and more athletes find themselves in private schools and top flight programs from an early age, preparing them for potential future stardom, Mixed Martial Arts remains a true home for misfits.
In point of fact, it’s nearly cliche at this juncture to turn on Dana White’s Contender Series and hear multiple tales of child abuse, neglect, crime, and addiction. The people that find their peace in cage fighting often come to it through fire and brimstone.
That said, it’s not every fighter that finds their way from a tragic past to advocacy for a positive future. For many, the mistakes they’ve made—the harm they’ve caused to themselves or others—are things they’d rather put firmly behind them. It’s can feel a lot easier to start a new chapter in life by severing all association to the person someone used to be.
I’d argue it takes a special kind of strength to make past mistakes as big a part of someone’s reformation as their current successes; to not forget who they used to be and what trials bought them here.
It’s great then to see the level of advocacy that Jared Gordon does regularly for drug addiction awareness and recovery. A self-described heroin user starting at age 19, Gordon was left legally dead from a drug overdose in 2015. An incident that pushed him to finally kick the habit and turn his life around.
Now 35 and with a 13-year MMA career under his belt, he’s still doing PSA work and public outreach to try and help others fight addiction.
Life ain’t about you! It’s about service to other’s. Nothing is better than helping people with whatever they need. If you’re struggling with addiction I literally have the tools and resources to help you. Just give me a shout and I will do what I can⚡️ pic.twitter.com/boctuKev11
There are plenty of fighters out there that get involved with charitable causes, but few seem to do so with the level of consistency and self reflection that Gordon shows. The man is setting a great example and his advocacy should be lauded at every turn.
Loma Lookboonmee campaigns for UFC atomweight division
It has to be said—despite Dana White’s past sexism—no promotion has done more to build the public perception of women’s combat sports than the UFC. The conversation around women’s MMA may have started with things like HOOKnSHOOT, JEWELS, EliteXC, and Strikeforce, but the UFC is what really brought it main stream. In a day and age where sports like boxing and kickboxing are still entirely struggling to create any amount of interest in their best and brightest performers, the UFC is an industry leader.
Currently, the Octagon is the only place where combat sports fans can routinely see women headlining not just smaller Fight Night events, but even PPVs. Nothing else out there compares.
That said, the promotion’s dedication to female athletes still often feels slipshod and halfhearted. Having once put all its eggs in the Ronda Rousey basket the UFC has struggled to bring forward a new generation of stars, especially in higher weight divisions.
But, if a venture into women’s featherweight has entirely failed to pay dividends, the women’s strawweight division has maintained a position of relative strength. Fighters like Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Rose Namajunas, and Weili Zhang may have never risen to superstar prominence, but have proven popular commodities capable of bringing high level MMA to the UFC’s biggest stages.
If it’s clear right now that there’s more talent to be found at 115 lbs than there is at 135, then shouldn’t the UFC be setting its sights lower rather than higher? That’s a question Thai UFC talent Loma Lookboonmee would like answered as well.
“The big surprise for me was just how big [Bruna Brasil] was,” Lookboonmee reporters after her latest victory (transcript via MMA Junkie). “She was so much taller than me. I really hope they open 105.”
“I think that if the UFC opens 105, No. 1, I’ll be the first fighter in there. No. 2, I think it would open up a lot of opportunities for Asian women—not just from Thailand, but from all over Asia. So I really hope they do it. People message me from time to time asking me if they’re going to do it, but obviously I don’t know.”
At 5′ 1″, competing in the strawweight division is always going to be a struggle for Lookboonmee. But with talents like Carla Esparza (5′ 1″), Tecia Torres (5′ 1″), Brianna Fortino (4′ 11″), and Tabatha Ricci (5′ 1″), it feels like the promotion already has a collection of athletes under contract to build from.
The UFC has found repeatedly over the years, that fighting is a great opportunity for smaller athletes. Despite their reluctance to open divisions downward, every time they’ve done so, the quality of their product increases.
There are many parts of the world, including those where the UFC would love to see more expansion, where women tend to be much more in line with a potential atomweight division. It’s not hard to think that Lookboonmee would be proven correct in pretty short order. The featherweight division has failed, but that doesn’t need to mean fewer spots on the roster. Time to try something new.
HATE TO SEE IT
Max Griffin picks the exact wrong time to complain about judging
At this point, complaints about MMA scoring feel nearly as old as MMA itself. Whether it’s the idea that a takedown steals the round, or that guard work is underappreciated, or Dominick Cruz insisting that there’s no more decisive sign of damage than a cut on the eyebrow, it feels like no fight card goes by without some level of controversy.
This past weekend was no exception. We had Bolaji Oki experiencing the dread of a mysterious split score for what should have been a reasonably clear victory over Timothy Cuamba and, earlier in the evening, we had Max Griffin’s fight against Jeremiah Wells.
After his bout, Griffin sat down with reporters to lodge a complaint against one judge in particular, noted longtime MMA official Sal D’Amato. Only, given the fact that Griffin won a fight most observers felt he should have lost, it’s very difficult to figure out exactly what is the man’s damage?
“I cannot stand Sal D’Amato,” Griffin told reporters at his post-fight presser (transcript MMA Junkie). “He has me on Neil Magny losing, he has me on numerous fights. … He picks against me every single time. I don’t know if I did something in a past life to him, if I did something to him, but Sal D’Amato hates me.”
Of course, faced with a claim like that, pundits were quick to fact check Griffin, finding that—far from being a victim of systemic abuse—the longtime welterweight has had exactly four fights judged by D’Amato in his career. Of those four, D’Amato scored two for Griffin and two against him.
I get it, it’s MMA—thin skinned-ness is practically a packaged deal for athletes, along with bad knees and staph infection. At some point, though, I have to wonder if it’s all performative. Ever fighter can’t just be picking the weirdest reasons to get mad all the time can they?
I like Max Griffin, he’s a solid, nose-to-the-grindstone kind of talent who has made a lot of consistent small improvements in his game over the years. But he’s also a decision machine who goes nip-tuck with everyone. He has no one to blame but himself for a lack of clear and easy victories. Especially not a judge that happened to get the last one right.
Henry Cejudo pranks himself?
Unexpectedly, one of the biggest topics in MMA news this past week has been around Henry Cejudo. But rather than a focus on his potential future retirement plans—or on the difficulty of facing Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 298 after losing to Serra-Longo teammate Aljamain Sterling—fighters, fans, and pundits have found themselves faced with an odd bit of UFC shoulder programming.
UFC 298 Countdown cameras appeared to capture what should have been a private moment from Cejudo’s fight camp. In it the former Olympic gold medalist and two division champion dismissed his longtime coach Eric Albarracin.
“I’m getting rid of specific coaches, man, and that’s you included, dude,” Cejudo said, clearly playing the moment for the cameras before explaining that he knew he could publicly strip Albarracin of his duties like that because of the man’s natural humility.
Not because getting some new coaches might not be the right move for Cejudo. Fighters, after all, need to be selfish to a pretty high degree. They take the risk, they take the loss. If ‘Triple C’ felt he needed a new camp to win his next fight, he’s well within his rights to make that move. But to make it a public spectacle the way he did just smacked of unnecessary tactlessness—an unfortunate byproduct of a man often called the ‘King of Cringe.’
With blowback from the video seemingly unabating, Cejudo took to Instagram on Tuesday to announce that the initial video of him firing his coach was, in fact, just a prank for the cameras.
If that whole thing really was a joke (and this isn’t just some attempt to save face), then Cejudo has to know that the joke was on him, right?
People don’t care if he’s working with Albarracin or not, that’s his business. Some fighters trade coaches like Dana White changes P4P GOAT proclamations, a new one every week. Nobody cares. All Cejudo did was make himself look like an jackass in public for nobody’s gain. The whole discussion will be forgotten in a couple months time to no result beyond the fact that for a few days people thought, “Wow, that guy’s a jerk.”
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One of the more pleasant surprises of the 2024 MMA media sphere has been Merab Dvalishvili. Long known as ‘that other Serra-Longo bantamweight,’ the ‘Machine’ is set for another big test this next weekend at UFC 298.
In the lead up to that fight, Dvalishvili seems like he’s decided to have a little more fun than normal on social media. Helped along, of course, by his upcoming opponent Henry Cejudo—and the former two-division champion’s boundless ability for public embarrassment.
Merab Dvalishvili claims he’s hired Henry Cejudo’s coach
“Well, Cap, I just want to talk to you and the whole team, man. You were with me for my last Olympic trials. You’ve been there for me. But as of right now, I just want to let you know, man, that for this camp, dude, I’m getting rid of specific coaches, man, and that’s you included, dude.” Cejudo told longtime coach Eric Albarracin on the latest UFC Countdown video. “Sometimes you’re just too close to somebody and people just get too comfortable.”
Wrong or right, it was a pretty crass move from ‘Triple C’, to use his media spotlight to mildly humiliate a member of his team. Fortunately for Albarracin, Merab Dvalishvili was right there to pick up the pieces. The 33-year-old apparently ran into Albarracin out on the street and used the opportunity to tell everyone that he and the Fight Ready captain had joined forces against the former Olympian.
“Henry Cejudo’s coach, he are with us,” Dvalishvili stated as he chased Albarracin down. “And now he’s going to teach how to beat Henry Cejudo.”
“We have a new coach!” Dvalishvili announced after posting a clip of Cejudo firing Albarracin. “Henry, goodbye, goodbye Henry. He is my coach now. I love my coach.”
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) February 12, 2024
Dr. Merab, UFC challenger
This wasn’t the only promo Merab Dvalishvili has cut for UFC 298 on his own time. Back on January 26th Dvalishvili took some time to dive into the UFC bantamweight title picture. Most notably, going after Sean O’Malley for his insistance on fighting Chito Vera—but he also had some time to lay a diagnosis on Cejudo as well.
— Merab “The Machine” Dvalishvili (@MerabDvalishvil) February 11, 2024
UFC 298 takes place this Saturday at the Honda Center in Anaheim, CA. The card is expected to be headlined by a featherweight title fight between champion Alexander Volkanovski and challenger Ilia Topuria. A middleweight top contender’s bout between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa is set for the co-main event.
Trash talk is a delicate art. So much of what makes a moment of verbal sparring memorable isn’t so much about what a fighter says, but about how they say it.
Is “Who the f*** is that guy?” some all time great line? No. But the context and delivery made it an instant classic.
That said, there’s still a lot to like about a turn of phrase that feels simple and natural and not at all forced. Some fighters come by their gift of gab naturally, others have to put the work in to make it happen.
UFC WW Ian Machado Garry wants to make Geoff Neal ‘quit’ like a ‘s**tting’ dog
Ian Machado Garry has turned himself into one of the fastest rising talents in the UFC welterweight division. With a bright and shiny 13-0 unbeaten record, the ‘Future’ is knocking on the door of contender status. Along the way, however, he’s also made a habit of verbal sparring with his Octagon opponents. Notably lambasting Neil Magny for Magny’s suggestion that he’d whoop Garry like he whoops his kids.
Back in 2023, Garry was booked to take on Geoff Neal. Ahead of that fight, Garry had t-shirts printed up featuring Neal’s mugshot for a 2021 drunk driving arrest. The bout ended up getting cancelled due to injury, but has been re-booked for this coming March at UFC 298. With the fight once again in his sights, the Irishman has returned to needling his opposition.
“What am I going to finish him with? I am going to make him quit,” Garry announced in a video uploaded to his social media accounts (transcript via MMA Junkie). “He’ll choose when he’s done. I’d like to kick him to the body and have him do that, when the dog’s s**tting—the look when the dogs look at you, like, when they’re pooing, for protection. That’s what they do, right? Look at their owners when they’re pooing because that’s when they’re vulnerable for attack?”
Ian Garry on how he’s going to finish Geoff Neal at #UFC298
“I’m gonna make [Geoff Neal] quit. He’ll chose when he’s done.
I’d like to kick him to the body, and have him do that… like when a dog’s s***ing”
Don’t expect Geoff Neal to get into the trash talk battle
With Ian Machado Garry having already re-opened hostilities it seems only fair that fans would expect Geoff Neal to get in on the action. After all, fighters have their pride. In a recent interview, however, ‘Handz of Steel’ made it clear that he’s going to try and be the bigger man. After all, as far as he’s concerned, Garry has already received enough backlash from fans for his past comments, that he doesn’t really need to step in and say anything.
“I’m not gonna engage in too much trash talk,” Neal told longtime MMA reporter James Lynch back in January. “I’ve never been that type of person. But, it’s entertaining, you know what I mean? Him talking shit. The fans got my back on this one. I don’t gotta say s**t anymore.”
As for his own prediction on how the fight is going to go? Neal says he feels “like I’m going to take [Garry] out in the second round. Maybe early in the third round.”
"The fans got my back on this one … I don't gotta say s*** anymore"
Geoff Neal on the backlash #UFC298 opponent Ian Garry has received ahead of their Feb. 13 matchup
One of the more unfortunate aspects of MMA is how incredibly taxing it is on the human body. Not just the fights themselves, which often see injury suspension lists that cover almost an entire UFC card, but all the training that goes into it. Boxing and kickboxing can cause cuts and concussions, but wrestling and grappling are seemingly rife with injury potential, for the constant wear and tear on necks, backs, knees, and other joints.
Back in 2019, Tatiana Suarez was one of the brightest prospects in the UFC. Still just 28-years old and with an unbeaten 9-0 record, the Millennia MMA talent seemed destined for title contention in the near future. Four-and-a-half years later, Suarez has fought just twice.
With her perfect record still intact, it seemed likely that she could finally reach that goal of UFC gold in 2024, provided she get a win over Amanda Lemos at UFC 298. Unfortunately, that plan will once again have to be put on hold.
The OC Register reports that Suarez has withdrawn from her bout against Lemos due to an as-yet-undisclosed injury. It’s just the lastest setback for the 33-year-old, who has been through thyroid cancer, a torn bicep, a torn labrum, inflamed discs in her neck causing “left side atrophy,” a torn ACL, LCL, MCL, and meniscus. Hopefully her current situation is less severe; for the moment, no time table for her return has been released.
Mackenzie Dern steps up
Replacing Suarez at UFC 298 will be multiple time BJJ champion and current strawweight top contender Mackenzie Dern. Dern is fresh off a shocking TKO loss to former champion Jessica Andrade at UFC 295 this past November. After starting her Octagon career on a 6-1 run, the 30-year-old has traded wins in losses in her last five bouts, stretching back to a 2021 loss to Marina Rodriguez.
For Amanda Lemos, her form has been much more consistent over the last few years. Following her Octagon debut (a TKO loss to Leslie Smith) in 2017, the Brazilian went on a 7-1 run. That form led the 36-year-old straight to a title shot against Zhang Weili back in August of last year, a fight that saw the Marajo Brothers athlete dominated from pillar to post by the defending champion over five rounds.
This bout against Dern will represent the first fight back for Lemos since her title fight loss.
UFC 298 is currently set to be headlined by a featherweight title fight between Alexander Volkanovski and Ilia Topuria. A top ranked welterweight bout between Goeff Neal and Ian Machado Garry has also been tabbed for the event, alongside a bantamweight contest between former two division champion Henry Cejudo and Serra-Longo talent Merab Dvalishvili.
It looks like extra Christmas gifts. The UFC is currently filling out their winter schedule, and have announced a whole slew of fights for their centennial 300th PPV card—including Aljamain Sterling vs. Calvin Kattar and Jiri Prochazka vs. Aleksandar Rakic. But that’s not all. With UFC 298 also on the horizon, the world’s largest MMA promotion is hoping to hook fans with another fight card loaded with elite talent.
It’s a welcome return to form after and of the year run for the UFC that felt somewhat lacking in the kinds of big fights the company is used to putting together. Hopefully these next few events avoid the injury bug and we get a few top tier fight cards.
UFC announces Robert Whittaker vs. Paulo Costa
Fans already knew about the main event for UFC 298, set to feature Alexander Volkanovski’s return to the featherweight division to defend his featherweight title against top contender Ilia Topuria. But now they’ve got a co-main event to get hyped about as well. In a recent video posted to his social media accounts, UFC president Dana White announced that former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker would make his return to the Octagon against former top contender Paulo Costa.
This news marks the latest step in Costa’s ongoing ‘return to competition’ saga. ‘Borrachinha’ hasn’t fought since August of 2022, when he beat Luke Rockhold by decision, in an absolute bloody war of a bout. That fight was followed by months of contract dispute with the UFC, which was settled this past spring. Unfortunately, despite the monetary agreements in place, Costa still has yet to appear back in the Octagon.
The Brazilian was initially announced for a fight with Ikram Aliskerov back in July, but that booking was soon cancelled for a fight against Khamzat Chimaev in October. Unfortunately a nasty elbow infection forced the 32-year-old off that card as well.
For Whittaker, the bout provides a clear opportunity for the New Zealand born fighter to maintain his role as gatekeeper to the belt. ‘The Reaper’ is fresh off a shocking upset loss to Dricus Du Plessis back in July, a fight that netted the South African his own chance for UFC gold this coming January. Prior to that bout, the 33-year-old went 1-1 in 2022, with a loss to then-champion Israel Adesanya and a win over Marvin Vettori.
Ian Machado Garry to fight Geoff Neal
Something of a surprise for UFC 298 is the announcement of a new fight for fast rising Irish prospect Ian Machado Garry. The Future had been all set to take on hard-punching Brazilian Vicente Luque back at UFC 296 before a nasty bout of pneumonia say him forced from the card. With the cancellation coming so shortly before the event, Luque was left without a replacement opponent—which usually means a re-booking from the UFC for sometime in the near future.
Not this time, however. Instead, the UFC is headed back to a fight they had planned for mid-August. Garry had been all set to face Geoff Neal at UFC 292, before ‘Handz of Steel’ was forced out of the card and replaced by Neil Magny.
When the Neal/Garry fight was still booked, the 26-year-old Dubliner took the opportunity to stoke the flames of rivalry, printing up a shirt with Geoff Neal’s mugshot in hopes of getting under his opponent’s skin. Whether or not that will end up having been an effective tactic remains to be seen, but it seems like the move created enough of a narrative that both men still want the fight.
Ian Garry said the reason Geoff Neal pulled out was because of the Tshirt he made with his Mugshot and that he couldnt handle mind games…..guess who pulled out😅😅. Probably couldnt have handled the presser#UFC296pic.twitter.com/oN3IZ5eDhZ
Garry will enter the re-booking with a still pristine 12-0 record, having defeated Magny his last time out. For Neal, this fight represents a bounceback opportunity for the 33-year-old, following a submission loss to Shavkat Rakhmonov at UFC 285 this past March. That loss broke a two-fight win streak for the Fortis MMA talent, having defeated Vicente Luque in 2022, and Santiago Ponzinibbio in December of 2021.
Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
While UFC 298 also incudes excellent bookings between Tatiana Suarez and Amanda Lemos, as well as Anthony Hernandez vs. Ikram Aliskerov, the other ‘big’ fight on the card is a bantamweight booking between former two-division double-champ Henry Cejudo and Team Serra-Longo’s Merab Dvalishvili.
‘Triple C’ returned to action for the first time in three years this past May to take on Aljamain Sterling for his previously vacated title belt. Sterling eked out a narrow split decision at UFC 288 to retain his title (losing it just 3 months later to Sean O’Malley).
After the bout, Cejudo suggested that he might consider returning to retirement, but quickly nixed the idea for a potential fight against Dvalishvili. With the Georgian getting passed over as a title contender in favor of Chito Vera, it seems the former Olympic gold medalist is going to get his wish.
‘The Machine’ will enter this booking on a 9-fight winning streak, stretching all the way back to a 2018 hail Mary submission defeat at the hands of Ricky Simon. In the time since, Dvalishvili has bested former champions Jose Aldo and Petr Yan, along with former title contenders John Dodson and Marlon Moraes among others. A win over Henry Cejudo seems like it would make the 32-year-old undeniable for a shot at gold.
UFC 298 fight card
Here’s a look at the UFC 298 fight card as it currently stands:
culturesink 