What UFC 257 Means for MMA’s Best Division
UFC 257 was this past Saturday. The card as a whole was fine. It didn’t disappoint but it also did not overachieve. The prelims were a scattered mess of boring to technically sound scrapes but all of the juice was saved for the main card and in particular the final two fights of the evening. In a normal circumstance, I would do a whole Wrap Up of a pay-per-view card, however, I don’t feel this card warrants it. I also think the vastly more interesting thing to talk about here is what the UFC is going to do with their fantastically stacked Lightweight division.
The co-main event saw Dan Hooker take on Michael Chandler, who was making his UFC debut. Dan Hooker was coming off of back to back fights of the night in his bouts against Paul Felder and Dustin Porier. He beat Felder, propelling him to the mainstream, and gave the world a fight of the year candidate in his defeat to Porier. Hooker is one of the most technically gifted strikers in the division and is always looking to put on a show. His opponent had a much different idea. Michael Chandler comes to us from Bellator where he is the two-time lightweight champion, having only lost twice since 2014. Michael Chandler was one of the two best lightweights over at Bellator and his jump to the UFC was a welcome surprise to any MMA fan that doesn’t just pay attention to the UFC. Chandler walked into the octagon, stalked Hooker for a little over two minutes, and put his lights out in the first round. Chandler looked invincible. He didn’t take a strike that I can remember and if he had I don’t think it would have changed much. Midway through the first round, a brand new lightweight contender emerged.
Before going too deep into that, however, the main event remains to be discussed. Dustin Porier took on Conor McGregor. McGregor had to wait nearly a year before getting back into a fight, and it did not go his way. Porier has been stellar over the past few years, his only real blip coming against one of the three greatest fighters of all time in Khabib Nurmagomedov. The first round was exactly what we all expected. McGregor looked sharp, pushed the pace, and landed technical strikes wherever he wanted. Porier ate all those shots, asked for more, and dished his own back to Conor. The second round was different. Porier worked Conor’s lead calf for the majority of the first round and he used that as a way to lead into his biggest strike of the night. Porier dropped and finished McGregor halfway through the second round, the 2:32 mark to be specific.
McGregor wants to be more active and was graceful in defeat. Porier was the great man that he always is, turning his attention towards his family and his charity. Porier didn’t give too much insight as to what’s next for the Lafayette native, but I have some ideas. The lightweight division has legitimate title contenders from six to one. The top six guys that will be vying for Khabib’s soon to be vacated belt are all incredible. There are however some glitches and matchmaking nightmares to sort out. Let’s start at the bottom, with number six Conor McGregor. He wants to be active, so he should. Conor can have his pick of opponents as long as it isn’t for a title fight. He needs some time off so here are my two picks. Conor versus Charles Oliveira or Conor versus Tony Fergusson. In the former of those two options, you use the fight as a title eliminator, more on that later, and to act as a proving ground for Oliveira. He is coming off a fantastic victory against Tony Fergusson and deserves to be taken seriously. Oliveira will have to wait three to four months for Conor to be ready, but with that pay-day looming, I feel like he would be more than willing. The Fergusson fight just sells itself. We can play the “McNuggets” promo 600 times and the two of them would knock the crap out of each other. They are both great at cutting promos while also having a deep respect for the person they are fighting. Tony won twelve straight fights over eight years. He may have lost two in a row but until he starts losing to people outside of the top six I refuse to say he is done as a contender.
In the five spot on the rankings is Tony Fergusson. I just went over the Conor Matchup, but I also like a Rafael dos Anjos matchup. This is a fight between two highly competitive veterans who need to prove they can still hang with the younger crowd above them. Dos Anjos has looked fantastic in his last couple of fights and needs a way to break into the top five. This is his chance. This is also a good fight to see if Tony still has what it takes to be champion. Tony should win this fight. If he doesn’t, then the UFC knows it’s time to start giving Tony the up and comers looking to prove something.
At four is the newcomer Michael Chandler. The wonderful thing about Chandler knocking Dan Hooker out so fast is that Chandler doesn’t need anytime to heal. In theory, he could probably fight as soon as UFC 259. I want to highlight two options. Give Chandler a fight against Dustin Porier or Justin Gaethje. I want to cover the Porier option when I get to him. As for the Gaethje option, what better way to prove who Chandler is in the UFC picture. Justin Gaethje is an absolute animal. The man never backs down and the battle for positioning in that octagon would be one for the ages. Both men can knock the chrome off a bumper, and they both have supremely underrated ground games. The fight would be to see who takes on Dustin Porier for the undisputed lightweight championship at a later date.
Charles Oliveira is an interesting study and sits at third in the rankings. He is coming off two stellar wins against Kevin Lee and Tony Fergusson, yet he also has by far the most losses of anyone in the top six at eight. I have already talked about the potential matchup against McGregor, but the other matchup I like for Oliveira is Justin Gaethje. This is once again a title eliminator fight. The two men match up well stylistically, and they both can go for days. I still don’t know how much I believe in Oliveira’s sudden career resurgence, but it would be a fun fight regardless.
Number two is Justin Gaethje. I have brought his name up a few times and they have been all title eliminator fights. My last option for him is the big juicy gold belt though. Justin Gaethje rematching Dustin Porier for the lightweight strap. The first fight was not the Gaethje we see today. He was reckless back then, and Porier took advantage of that. This time around, the playing field would be a little more even. These are two of the hardest hitting guys the division has ever seen and if this is the fight to determine who the next lightweight champion is, no one would complain. This would be number one and number two fighting to see who would win a vacant belt, that feels like the sort of thing these rankings are supposed to be for.
I have but one fight left to talk about for the number one contender, Mr. Dustin Porier. I mentioned it above, but the fight I most want to see in this division is Dustin Porier versus Michael Chandler. Chandler looked as good as he ever has on Saturday, and so too did Porier. This would be a battle of two technical tanks that can also wrestle. Michael Chandler is for real in this division and he should be treated as such. The belt has to be fought for by Dustin and starting the conversation with any other name is just foolish. Dustin Porier is next in line, it's just a matter of deciding who gets to be his dance partner when the gold is there for the taking.