MMA debate – ‘Champ-champ’ candidates, UFC’s best division and fights we’re looking forward to

With UFC 274 officially in the rearview mirror, it’s time to recalibrate and reassess what’s at stake for the next few months in the sport.

The lightweight division put on a show last weekend, as Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler secured big wins to keep their names front and center for wearing the belt that Oliveira had to drop just prior to the main event.

Meanwhile, Carla Esparza is the new strawweight champion after dethroning Rose Namajunas. Her win simultaneously reaffirmed her standing as one of the greatest at 115 pounds in the sport while also opening up title opportunities for the likes of Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk.

Looking ahead, former light heavyweight champion Jan Blachowicz is back in action on Saturday against Aleksandar Rakic. Blachowicz is hopeful of putting his name back in the conversation with the best at 205 pounds, but is it clearly Glover Teixeira?

Our experts debate who the top fighters are at strawweight and light heavyweight, choose which fight excites them the most in the next two months and discuss which fighter is most likely to become the next “champ-champ.”

MORE: ESPN’s MMA pound-for-pound rankings | ESPN’s MMA divisional rankings

Who is most likely to become the UFC’s next ‘champ-champ’ (two-division champion)

Brett Okamoto: I don’t see many likely ones right now. Valentina Shevchenko is probably the most likely of anyone currently holding a title because she’s cleaning out her weight class, and she’s good enough to do it. Alexander Volkanovski is an obvious candidate as well.

But going out on a limb, I’ll say Khamzat Chimaev. Why not? Chimaev is already in line for a welterweight title shot, and I believe he is as good as advertised. Would I favor him in fights against Kamaru Usman and Israel Adesanya? Not necessarily, but do I think he can win those fights? Absolutely.

Marc Raimondi: It was one of my bold predictions at the beginning of the year and I’m sticking with it: Valentina Shevchenko will become a…