Part two of looking back at my UFC champion predictions, you can see part one here. That consisted of me looking at predictions for the men’s flyweight division to the middleweight division. This part will be the light heavyweights to the women’s featherweight division.
Light Heavyweight Prediction – Israel Adesanya Champion – Glover Teixeira
This was completely wrong. I thought Israel Adesanya would pick apart Jan Blachowicz like he did to Paulo Costa and become a two division champion. Jan was able to outclass Izzy but wasn’t able to defend his title for a second time against Glover at UFC 267. I wasn’t even close to getting this right. Glover wasn’t even on my radar for a title in 2021.
Heavyweight Prediction – Stipe Miocic Champion – Francis Ngannou
I doubted Francis’ wrestling when making this prediction and he proved me wrong. He put Stipe to sleep and was able to defend Stipe’s takedown attempt with relative ease. I would’ve gone with Jon Jones but I was certain that Stipe would only fight once this year if he beat Ngannou. Ngannou defends his title at the start of next year against Ciryl Gane, making next years prediction another difficult choice for me. Nevertheless, 0/2. Not a good start.
Strawweight Prediction – Weili Zhang Champion – Rose Namajunas
It just gets worse for me. I knew Carla Esparza wouldn’t be an option for the title just yet so it was out of Zhang, Rose and a returning Joanna Jedrzejczyk, who didn’t return whatsoever. Rose and Zhang fought twice this year and both fights were memorable. UFC 261 produced the beautiful head kick that caught Zhang unaware and UFC 268 was a brilliant 5 round classic that could’ve gone either way. Another wrong prediction however, it’s not looking good right now.
Flyweight Prediction – Valentina Shevchenko Champion – Valentina Shevchenko
Finally a correct prediction. This one was probably a free hit, right now no one comes close to Valentina in that division. She appears to be unstoppable. However, that’s what everyone said about the champion of the next division and clearly that was wrong.
Bantamweight Prediction – Amanda Nunes Champion – Julianna Peña
Who would’ve thought. Once again congrats to Peña for overcoming all the doubters and becoming bantamweight champion. I thought Nunes would face Aspen Ladd instead of Peña but that wouldn’t have changed my prediction. I can’t wait for the rematch. I don’t think anyone would’ve got that right.
Featherweight Prediction – Amanda Nunes/No one Champion – Amanda Nunes
This division is practically dead due to the lack of featherweight fighters left to fight Nunes. However, since Julianna Peña beat Nunes, it opens the door to take both of her belts. Peña has dismissed this, but it might be a fight the matchmakers put on to keep a dead division alive.
In conclusion, these predictions were shocking, only getting 2/6 and one was a division which practically doesn’t exist anymore. In total I got 5/12. I’ll definitely be looking to improve that next year.
TheWrestlingFallacy 