UFC 259: Thrill or Agony, What’s next?

With UFC 259 coming up just later tonight it’ll be very interesting to see what happens with some of these fighters win or loss. Of course with every title fight there’s always a possibility of a rematch if it’s a really good fight but what can happen outside of the rematch for these 6 fighters?

Aljamain Sterling: As the #1 contender of an absolutely stacked division their is definitely a lot of pressure on Sterling to get the belt straight away. What makes things in the division even more stacked is the fact that Cory Sandhagen (Current #2 contender) is rumored to be facing Tj Dillashaw for his comeback fight, so that factor adds just another great fighter in the division. I feel like whatever happens in that fight completely dictates what happens for the next title shot. If it’s a quick win for Sterling he might get another fight pretty quick and go up against the #3 contender in Rob Font for the title. If it’s a lengthy fight ending in a win for Sterling I’m guessing there will either be a rematch or facing the winner of Sandhagen vs Dillashaw way down the line. Anyone else getting a title shot quickly seems unlikely. Now with a loss there is also some good potential, of course there is the loser of the Sandhagen fight but you also have Cody Garbrandt who was meant to get a flyweight title shot before tearing his bicep. Another possibility is #5 Jose Aldo who’s coming off a win against Marlon Vera and could be back in the mix as a contender. Don’t expect Sterling to go to far down in the rankings if takes the loss though.

Petr Yan: The undefeated champ has been nothing short of dominant in the division with notable wins over ranked opponents Jimmie Rivera and Jose Aldo so don’t expect just anyone to get to fight him if he wins. To be honest I think the only possible match up for Yan if he wins is getting to fight the winner of Sandhagen and Dillashaw which means he probably wouldn’t end up fighting for a while. The only other bantamweight I can see him fighting is Rob Font but that’s Doubtful. I would say moving up is a possibility but with that championship fight not for another month and Holloway guaranteed a quick title shot that also seems not a possibility. With a loss I can only see him fighting the loser of the Sandhagen fight but maybe he gets Font or a rematch with Aldo. It’s just hard to not see him getting a really good fight win or loss considering the amount of dominance he has shown in that stacked division. It’s also tough to say what happens considering Sandhagen deserves a title shot but Tj Dillashaw is sadly back in the mix.

Megan Anderson: To be honest I hate the fact there isn’t rankings for the Women’s Featherweight division. Makes it really annoying to do stuff like this because of that and the fact most of the good fighters in the division are in Bellator. With no one good in the division worthy of a title shot the only fight I see with her winning is a rematch. The only other good fighter in the entire division is Felicia Spencer but she has a fight scheduled for late may plus she’s coming off a loss against Nunes. So maybe she gets winner of Spencer vs Wolf but that would be a very long time out. With a loss there’s plenty of things that can happen, she gets Spencer or Wolf, maybe she gets Nunes for a second try, or for all we know she goes to Bellator with everyone else. Bellator has Cris Cyborg, Julia Budd, Cat Zingano, Arlene Blencowe, and plenty of other good fighters. Just makes the Featherweight division extremely boring. Honestly if she loses I’d want to see her go to Bellator, just so she gets some competition.

Amanda Nunes: She’s beaten everyone. Megan is the last relevant name for her to beat. But I guess she can beat someone another time. With a win I can very possibly see her fighting the winner of Holly Holm vs Julliana Pena, especially if Pena wins just because she hasn’t taken Pena’s head yet. Another name to think about is Valentina Shevchenko, she’s also beat everyone in her division and while she has lost to Nunes twice I wouldn’t see that out of the realm of possibilities. Of course she would have to beat Jessica Andrade first. If she somehow loses she probably goes back to Bantamweight for a little bit and relaxes with that title as long as she can. A rematch with Megan would also be very possible if she loses just because a lot of the top Bantamweight fighters are fighting soon. It’s just hard to predict stuff in the Women’s divisions in general because there’s so much moving around and stuff is never the same and a lot of the top fighters have already beaten each other multiple times.

Jan Blachowicz: Now this is a fun one to predict purely because the Light Heavyweight division is STACKED. If he wins it’s Glover Teixeira no matter what. But with a loss that makes things a lot more interesting. First off on the first fight of the main card we have an important LHW battle with Thiago Santos vs Aleksander Rakic. Santos was actually the last loss Blachowicz took all the way back in February of 2019. Santos won’t get a title shot as his last fight was a loss to Glover. So we have that possibility with the winners of that showcase, another possibility is getting #7 Magomed Ankaleav who’s coming off a huge win against Nikita Krylov and is quickly rising to the top of the division. The last possible thing that I can think of is the #3 Dominick Reyes vs #5 Jiri Prochazka in early may, which could very well lead into a battle with Jan Blachowicz if he loses. It’s a stacked and busy division, it’ll be interesting to see who gets who after all is said in done tonight.

Israel Adesanya: Adesanya has actually made my job a lot easier as he has already come out and said he wants Darren Till win or loss. Now for sake of content I will name a couple other possibilities if that doesn’t happen. With his middleweight title we have a huge fight happening in May between Robert Whittaker and Paulo Costa and it is very likely that we could see either one of them get a rematch with Izzy for the belt. Outside of those 3 names there really isn’t that much I can see happening with his Middleweight title. With a win and with the LHW belt its Glover Teixeira no matter what. No argument for anyone else unless it’s a rematch with Jan. With a loss I see no way he stays in the LHW division and tries again, doesn’t seem likely unless it’s a rematch with Jan.

With the huge fight night just a few hours away it’ll be awesome to see the possibilities of the after math of the chaos. Plenty of good title contender fights and plenty of good fighters just waiting for that chance at UFC glory. Never expect the fun to stop in these divisions!