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The UFC is amid a busy summer schedule, coming off International Fight Week two weeks ago. Next up is UFC on ABC this weekend (Saturday, main card on ABC/ESPN+ at 2 p.m. ET, prelims on ESPN/ESPN+ at 11 a.m.), with a big-time main event between Brian Ortega and Yair Rodriguez. From there, the Octagon moves to London for UFC Fight Night and then Dallas for the Julianna Peña vs. Amanda Nunes rematch at UFC 277 on July 30.
There’s so much going on in the sport. Kamaru Usman wants to win a second belt, but at light heavyweight? Speaking of the 205-pound division, who should Jiri Prochazka fight for his first title defense? Plus, could Shavkat Rakhmonov be the next big star at welterweight?
Here are five storylines I’m pondering as we press forward on the UFC calendar.
Brian Ortega or Yair Rodriguez? The key word at featherweight right now is ‘improvement.’
When I look at the UFC’s featherweight division — which, as I’ve made clear in previous installments of “Five Rounds,” is my favorite weight class in the sport — the theme that comes to mind is improvement. The gold standard of that is, of course, champion Alexander Volkanovski. The most impressive thing about Volkanovski over the last three years is how much he’s improved. The version of Volkanovski who took the belt from Max Holloway in 2019 is nowhere near as good as the 2022 edition. And Volkanovski managed those improvements during a pandemic and a hectic fight schedule (three title defenses) over the last 12 months.
But beyond the champ, this concept of improvement has been tremendous at 145 pounds. Ortega looked positively lost in his first title fight against Holloway in 2018. After that fight, he took two years off, blew up his entire training camp, found virtually all new coaches and training partners, and returned as Ortega 2.0. Rodriguez was plagued by inactivity from 2019 to 2021, so much so that he went into his fight against…
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Source : espn
