Predictions for 2019 - Prospects, Champions etc. *updated

[jimufctna24]

I think Hendricks will lose his next fight in the UFC, and move elsewhere. I wouldn't be surprised if Bellator take a look at him. Given that he's lost 5 out of his last 6 fights, retirement might be on the cards as well. 

[Egg Shen]

bumping this!

i didnt do too badly with my picks, i hardly found some hidden diamonds in the rough but Adesanya, Zabit and Lovato are all in way more prominent positions than they were this time last year and all went undefeated.

Any predictions for 2019?

[jimufctna24]

I was wrong about McGregor vs Khabib not happening.

For 2019, I see Askren's UFC run going 1 of 2 ways. Either he'll have a mediocre run in the UFC where he will win as many fights as he loses. Or he will put a serious run together and become the best thing about MMA. I want the latter to happen. But I have a sinking feeling that the former is more likely. 

I haven't a clue what is going to happen at Lightweight, Light-Heavyweight and Heavyweight. The main characters involved in those divisions are too unpredictable for any firm predictions to be made about them. Will Brock actually return? Will Jones be able to keep it on the straight and narrow? Will DC make good on his promise to retire? What shape will Cain be in? And don't get me started on Conor. Khabib and Tony are hardly safe bets either. Both are injury prone. Miocic is the safest bet at Heavyweight, but will he even get the chance to regain his title in 2019? 

I don't want to just state the obvious and predict stuff like Bader beating Fedor. We all know that is probably going to happen. So I will take a tiny leap of faith and predict that Covington will end 2019 with a loss on his record. I think both Woodley and Usman have the game to beat him. 

[ColinBollocks]

Costa had a weird year. He's only had the one fight, but the UFC tried hard to make a fight with Romero happen, which is a massive leap up the card. So, I guess my prediction about him facing a top 10 dude was nearly fast tracked, but it fell through. Shame he couldn't get another fight in.

The UFC clearly still see him as a potential superstar. Why not, he's still beautiful. 

[Egg Shen]

he's a panty dropper for sure.

Im predicting Askren to be a bit of a bomb depending on the opposition. I think he'll get past Lawler and make some noise but see him coming unstuck against anyone the top few wrestling heavy fighters in the division. I want to see those fights though.

[Shane O' Mac Version 2]

It's not going out on a massive limb but I see Alexander Volkanovski going on a great run in 2019. He's got Chad Mendes at UFC 232, in his most high profile fight yet. I see him pounding Mendes into oblivion. He might have another fight against an Edgar/Ortega type, and I think he fights Holloway by year's end for the gold. One of the few Aussies with a truly well rounded game, a lot of our guys have power but not a ground game, Volko is excellent wherever the fight goes. He was on the UFC's radar for a long time before signing, and he's quietly tore through 145 over the last couple of years.

Also, Kai Kara-France. The only thing that may hinder him is flyweight possibly shutting down, but if that happens, I think it's worth trying him at 135. One of the most impressive debuts I can recall seeing the other week on the Adelaide card.

[Egg Shen]

Volkanovski is one of the first names i thought of when trying to put together a list, absolute tank. 

[WeeAl]

I wasn't very close with the majority of my predictions for 2018, apart from Max Holloway beating Ortega and Khabib ending the year as LW champ via a win over McGregor. Other than that though, I got about 80% of my guesses wrong! So we'll give it another crack and see if 2019 is any easier to predict:

So much of what happens in the two biggest weight classes will depend on if Brock Lesnar is serious about fighting again, or using the UFC as a bargaining chip. I hope I'm wrong, but I'm going to make a guess that Lesnar doesn't return, making Cormier's last fight end up being against either Miocic again or Junior Dos Santos if he stays at HW, like he should. If DC decides to be stubborn and chooses to go back to LHW for Jones, then he'll likely end his career on a loss. If he stays at HW, against either Miocic/JDS/Lesnar or Jones if he moves up, then I think DC retires as HW Champ. 

Whittaker to beat Gastelum, Adesanya to get the win over Anderson and the two will meet at the end of the year (after Whittaker has a break for likely another knee or hand injury). Whittaker is more complete than Israel at this point in time, and if the two were to fight now, I think Silent Rob beats him, but in a year's time, who knows. 

Woodley and Colby Covington will finally clash and Woodley will break him. 

Khabib and Ferguson will fight. I feel it's going to happen this time. Ferguson may be more focused though and I could see him possibly taking Khabib's 0. Eye of the tiger and all that. Whereas Khabib may have his eye on feuding with the athletic commission.

Anthony Smith or Thiago Santos will get a Title shot at 205, but be outclassed by either Jones or Gus.

DJ and Alvarez are going to be top dogs over at ONE, winning the respective tournaments. Good for them, go and get that coin. 

Ryan Bader is about to be Heavyweight champ at Bellator and will defend against . . . Cheick Kongo. That'll not worry the stats department with keeping up with the strikes thrown tally. 

The re-birth of TRT Vitor will happen, and he'll headkick fools all around the cage or ring in RIZIN or Bellator. Tito, Wandy, Rampage, Chael, Fedor - watch out, it'll not be dad bod Vitor the next time out. 

Max Holloway and Frankie Edgar will share the cage but Max has too much for Frankie at this stage. He'll defend again later in the year against maybe a Mendes or Volkanovski, as I get the feeling that Moicano may not be in the good books after missing weight as a backup at UFC 231. 

Cain Velasquez won't make it to the cage against big Francis. Dominick Cruz will be out the whole year and announce his retirement. 

The UFC want Dillashaw to beat Cejudo, so in true MMA fashion, Cejudo will win the fight at 125. A rematch will be booked for the summer at 135 that TJ will score the W in. He'll then have to fight Marlon Moraes by year's end. 

Jessica Andrade will knock out Rose Namajunas. Valentina Schevchenko will defend her belt twice. Holly Holm will get a title fight at 135 against Nunes or at 145 against Cyborg. Cyborg might test free agency after that though. 

 

 

 

[Carbomb]

On 12/16/2018 at 7:14 AM, Shane O' Mac Version 2 said:

Volko

That's so Australian 😂

[WeeAl]

I'd forgotten about him, but I noticed Gregor Gillespie's next fight has gotten booked (Yancy Medeiros on the ESPN Plus show in January). Anytime I've seen Gillespie he has really impressed me. I think he'll beat Medeiros and be the next guy up and coming in that mental Lightweight division. He's a real talent and will be trouble for almost everybody in the division.

[wandshogun09]

Gillespie vs Medeiros is a great fight. Really looking forward to that one. From what I’ve seen of Gillespie I think he’ll come through but Medeiros is a scrapper. Definitely the toughest test so far for Gillespie. 

As for 2019...

Heavyweight: 

The Brock thing doesn’t happen in time for DC’s retirement deadline so Cormier ends up relinquishing the heavyweight title to fight Jon Jones (who’s just beat Gustafsson in their rematch) a third time at 205. Jones breaks Cormier’s heart again. Sending him into retirement beltless and on a loss  

As a final slap in the face, Jones ends up getting the Brock Lesnar payday that DC was meant to have, and the two meet in July. Jones wrecks Brock, resulting in the MMA world getting all erect at the possibilities of a heavyweight Jones going forward. But Jones AND Lesnar fail their drug tests and USADA bring the hammer down on both. Obviously neither see action again in 2019. 

With DC, Jones and Brock out of the picture the division is wide open and a bit of a shambles. 

Cain actually makes it to the cage (!!!!) to face Ngannou. Cain amazingly looks close to his old self and wrestles big Francis into oblivion before stopping him with brutal ground and pound. 

With the title vacant, Cain vs Stipe is made for the summer to crown a new champion. Cain gets injured (shocker) and the fight gets pushed back. It finally happens at the end of the year - either the MSG PPV in November or the December show. Stipe wins and ends the year as champ. Cain’s fanboys, Rogan especially, declare that it wasn’t the ‘real Cain’ and that he’s still the heavyweight GOAT. 

Derrick Lewis scores a couple of knockouts in slobberknockers against the lower level heavies - De La Rocha, Coulter types - before being depressingly derailed by a resurgent Curtis Blaydes. 

Overeem vs JDS 2 happens. Overeem wins by knockout again  

Mark Hunt signs with ONE and KOs a couple of Asian dudes. By December there’s still no sign of him retiring. 

Arlovski goes winless in 2019, the UFC cuts him loose and he ends up in Bellator. He gets cagehumped by Kongo in his debut in one of the worst fights of the year. 

Bader beats Fedor and wins the Bellator GP. Bader stays in the win column throughout 2019. Fedor rematches Cro Cop in Bellator and wins again. Rampage KOs Fedor later in the year setting up Bader vs Rampage 2 for the belt. Bader dominates. Rampage cries about “boring ass wrestlers”. 

Cro Cop returns to Japan all gassed up and smashes up some cannon fodder in Rizin. And like Hunt, still no sign of retiring. 

Bigfoot’s managers, having seen him KO’d multiple times in MMA and Kickboxing over the last few years, decide he hasn’t had enough brain wobbling yet and get him booked in a Pro Boxing match. He gets slept again and FINALLY calls it a day. 

Frank Mir also finally retires, no teeth left in his head, and continues to work on the intricacies of details of colour commentary calls that we don’t even know the names of. 

Tai Tuivasa takes a necessary step back and gets a couple of wins against guys lower down the rankings.

Juan Adams gets a bit of hype. Nothing major but he gets a bit of a following after some fun brawls on Fight Nights. 

Greg Hardy has some early success in the UFC. Scores some knockouts and the fickle MMA community ever so briefly forgets about all that woman beating for a second. Then he gets embroiled in another controversy and the UFC are left looking like cunts for ever hiring him.

With the division wide open, Anthony ‘Rumble’ Johnson fancies his chances and returns to the UFC as a heavyweight, has a good year and scores a couple of knockouts. We get all excited but ultimately he does what Rumble does - comes up against someone elite and gets broken mentally. 

Wildcard prediction: Randy Couture surprisingly and brazenly owns his newfound Pornhub wanking notoriety and makes a shock career transition into porn at the ripe old age of 97. “Not bad for an old man.”

Light Heavyweight: 

As above, Cormier fights Jones a third time loses the title to him. But Jones gets USADA’d, once again leaving the division in tatters. 

Gustafsson beats Anthony Smith to win the vacant title and keeps the belt all year as the rest of the weight class builds. Gus gets injured again and we get another interim champ by the end of the year. 

Yoel Romero moves up to 205 at some point. Can’t decide how I think that’ll go but I’ve got a feeling he makes the jump. Maybe Rockhold does as well. 

The new breed of 205ers I’m always on about have mixed results. Dominick Reyes and Aleksandar Rakic emerge as the most successful of the bunch and are both fringe contenders by December, maybe facing each other.

Johnny Walker continues to impress in the midcard.

Ion Cutelaba looks good early in the year but runs into Thiago Santos, they go to war but Santos comes out on top.

Santos continues to look good at 205. We get Santos vs Walker on one of the end of year PPVs.

Tyson Pedro, Paul Craig and Gokhan Saki continue to flounder.

Glover Teixeira slows down more and looks pretty much at the end of his rope by December. Same for Jimi Manuwa. They’re matched up in a bit of a ‘loser leaves town’ thing. OSP and Latifi both have a decent but hot and cold 2019. 

By this time next year we’re all hyping Alonzo Menifield as one to keep an eye on for 2020 in this very thread. 

Shogun plods his way through another year. Maybe wins a fight or two before getting battered by one of the young guns. Got a feeling they feed him to Reyes or Rakic. 

Chuck Liddell finally admits it’s over but still keeps saying he “just got caught” and that he still thinks Jon Jones is a great fight for him stylistically

Tito gets greedy and comes back again. Loses a rematch against Chael. 

Vitor Belfort returns to the cage and to TRT and knocks out Wanderlei Silva in Bellator. 

Middleweight: 

Whittaker beats Gastelum. Adesanya beats Silva. We get Whittaker vs Adesanya for the title on one of the summer cards. It’s a great fight but proves a little for too early for Adesanya and Whittaker retains. Jacare slots into a title shot somewhere before the year’s over. 

Darren Till moves up and does well but fights a rebounding Adesanya towards the end of the year and loses. 

Some combination of Weidman, Branch and Brunson. 

Jared Cannonier builds on his win over Branch and emerges as a bit of a surprise contender at 185. Jacare vs Cannonier is rebooked somewhere along the line. 

Costa vs Romero finally happens. Romero misses weight again and gets knocked out, resulting in him finally deciding to give 205 a bash. 

Mousasi continues to beast it in Bellator. 

Welterweight:

Woodley vs Covington happens. Woodley stuffs his takedowns and knocks him out cold. 

Usman beats Ponzinibbio. 

Askren beats Lawler but it’s a rough night’s work. 

170 gets messy as Woodley and Askren won’t fight each other despite Dana wanting it and bellyaching about it not happening. Dana uses this as a convenient excuse to spend the bulk of 2019 bitching about his 2 favourite welterweights Woodley and Askren. 

Woodley gets injured again and we end up with Askren vs Usman for the interim strap in an attempt by Dana to force Woodley and Askren to fight. But Usman wins which is sadly the least interesting outcome possible but at least it sets up an intriguing Woodley vs Usman fight. 

Nick Diaz doesn’t end up fighting Masvidal. He’s booked to fight Lawler later in the year but fails his weed test again, fucking it all up in typical Diaz fashion. Masvidal spends the year fighting the Magnys and Condits while Bisping takes pops at him from his new commentary position. 

Gunnar Nelson re-establishes himself as a player at 170. Then Wonderboy vs Gunnar happens and they stare at each other in the most promising yet nothing happening fight since Severn vs Shamrock 2. Killing both men’s momentum stone dead. 

Robbie Lawler and Mike Perry have a crazy one rounder which Lawler wins by knockout. 

Rafael Dos Anjos beats Carlos Condit, Condit then retires to make coffee full time. 

Demian Maia retires. Sadly to the sound of crickets. 

Semtex Daley knocks out MVP mid-moonwalk. 

Rory MacDonald rebounds from the Mousasi loss and rules Bellator’s 170 class again. Wins the GP. 

Lightweight: 

Like WeeAl, I think this is the year that Khabib vs Ferguson finally happens. I think Khabib wins but fucking barely. It’s the hardest fight of Khabib’s career and the first time he’s made to look beatable but he just scrapes through with the gold. Basically the lightweight version of Jones vs Gustafsson 1. A great fight, maybe a controversial decision, and everyone’s clamouring for a rematch. But as it’s taken so long for them to fight once, no way we get it twice in one year. Either Khabib or Ferguson, or both, fall apart again before the rematch gets to happen and Max Holloway steps up to face whichever one isn’t injured in a superfight. 

Iaquinta keeps calling out McGregor but McGregor dismisses him as just a real estate agent who doesn’t ‘move the needle’. We get McGregor vs Diaz 3 instead. If McGregor wins that, maybe he coaxes GSP back for a catchweight fight. By December, Conor looks about finished with MMA and is gearing up for a boxing match with his old pal Paulie Malignaggi for St Patrick’s Day 2020. Way past the point that rivalry had legs but they both talk enough that it can be spun as something relevant and both get one last big payday. McGregor will probably be back at some point but I reckon he’ll go away for a bit again after another couple of losses. Can’t see the Khabib rematch ever happening, to be honest. 

Iaquinta and Poirier end up squaring off because none of the top boys want to fight them. It’s a number one contender fight but the winner probably still doesn’t get a shot. 

Kevin Lee regroups and wins a fight or two. By the end of 2019 he’s looking like a title challenger again. Ultimately though I see him falling into the same traps of overconfidence and he’ll falter against the elite in the Top 3 or 4. 

Gaethje will have at least one FOTY contender. Probably the easiest and most obvious prediction in here. I reckon we’ll see him fight Donald Cerrone or Anthony Pettis, or both, this year. Maybe we get Cerrone vs Pettis 2 as well actually. 

James Vick rallies back from the Gaethje loss and goes on a bit of a streak starting with a win over B-Show Felder. 

Michael Chandler keeps dominating in Bellator. We finally get the rubber match with Eddie Alvarez in some cross promotional deal with ONE and Chandler wins the trilogy in another stormer. By the end of the year the MMA world is begging to see Chandler in the UFC. 

Eddie Alvarez gets off to a great start in ONE, wins a couple of fights impressively before the above loss to Chandler happens. 

Men’s Featherweight:

Holloway vs Edgar happens. Holloway wins but it’s closer than the Ortega destruction. Holloway moves up to fight Khabib/Ferguson in an attempt to become the next in an ever growing list of champ champs. 

Ortega comes back strong. Maybe fights Korean Zombie (now there’s a fight!) or someone and wins. Can see Ortega vs the Aldo/Moicano winner later in the year. Maybe even to crown a new champ if Magic Max moves to 155. 

Zabit keeps shining and advancing up the ladder. We finally get that real life Tekken match of Zabit vs Yair Rodríguez. Zabit wins and is knocking on the door of title contention by late 2019. 

Volkanovski beats Mendes and emerges as a contender himself. Maybe a Volkanovski vs Edgar fight somewhere in there. 

Women’s Featherweight: 

Haven’t a clue here. If Cyborg sticks around it’s her playground. But she’s making noises about this being the last fight on her contract and she’s hinting at leaving. Whether that’s her trying to get the UFC to make her a better offer fuck knows. But without Cyborg, women’s 145 is just a wasteland. There are some good fighters but not enough of them. If she stays put after this Nunes fight (and as much as I like Nunes I can’t see her stopping the Cyborg reign) then all I can really see on the horizon is the winner of this Zingano vs Anderson fight. After that...nothing. And she batters either of them IMO.

For all that’s being made about Men’s Flyweight probably getting binned off soon, if they don’t come to terms to keep Cyborg after this Nunes fight then I see Women’s Featherweight going the same way. There’s just not enough there to sustain a division. 

Men’s Bantamweight:

The title picture will obviously depend on the outcome of this Dillashaw vs Cejudo fight down at flyweight. If Dillashaw wins then flyweight is dead. If Cejudo wins though, we surely get an immediate rematch at 135 for TJ’s belt? Either way though, at either weight, I see Dillashaw coming out on top. 

We’ve got Raphael Assuncao vs Marlon Moraes coming up. Winner of that should be next in line. Who knows though? Either way that’s a good fight though with Dillashaw. I’ve said for ages that a Dillashaw vs Moraes fight is one my wish list. And Dillashaw and Assuncao are tied at 1-1 so that’s a loose end that could do with settling. Again though, through all scenarios I see Dillashaw most likely leaving with that gold. He’s a little twat but he’s ridiculously good. 

Not really sure what happens with the rest of the division. As Al mentioned, I can also see Dominick Cruz sitting out another year and just hanging the gloves up. He must be stupidly mentally strong to have come back from so many injuries and layoffs but even for him it must be getting to that point now where he’s got to be thinking ‘am I done?’ He’s lost a colossal chunk of his prime. 

The rest? I just hope John Lineker actually makes weight and keeps kicking arse. Lineker vs Cody Garbrandt wouldn’t go amiss actually. 

Women’s Bantamweight:

Like with Cyborg at 145, cant see beyond Nunes staying on the throne at 135. Regardless of the result against Cyborg next week. She’s crushed everyone from Rousey to Tate down to that absolute mauling vs Pennington. When you think how good Valentina Shevchenko is and then realise that Nunes has gone 2-0 over her, it shows how good she really is. She’s still quite underappreciated for me. 

Haven’t really given the division any thought, nor can I really be arsed to now. But yeah, Nunes stays champ. Can’t see anything earth shattering happening at Women’s 135 in 2019. 

Only prospect who really has my attention is Ketlen Vieira. She’s one to keep an eye on. 

Men’s Flyweight:

Move along, move along. Nothing to see here. 

Women’s Flyweight: 

Shevchenko dominates. It’s very much a division in development but Shev is clearly head and shoulders above the rest. Jedrzejczyk gave it a good go and was at least competitive but I can’t see anyone else currently at 125 doing any better than that. I’m guessing that Shevchenko vs Nicco Montano fight happens at some stage. It’s the natural fight to make seeing as Montano was the inaugural champ and never actually lost the belt in the cage. But let’s face it, she likely gets fucked up by Shevchenko. I could even see a Shevchenko vs Jedrzejczyk rematch by the end of the year, such is the lack of credible contenders at flyweight, on the basis that at least Joanna was competitive with her. But Shev probably wins again, going a whopping 5-0 over Joanna between MMA and Muay Thai! 

Elsewhere I’m hoping Joanne Calderwood can make something happen at 125 but not holding my breath. And I’m hoping Poliana Botelho can make some noise. 

Cynthia Calvillo gets in title contention by Nov/Dec time. 

Paige VanZant will be done with MMA by this time next year. 

Sijara Eubanks will miss weight again. Bet the farm on it. 

Strawweight:

Namajunas vs Andrade has to happen. That’s the fight. What’s Rose doing anyway? She been injured or what? It’s all gone quiet. Andrade’s definitely earned the shot. The Gadelha win then the way she just blasted Kowalkiewicz away in a round...strawweight women aren’t supposed to hit like that. She’s a tank. Been a fan of Andrade for years, right back to when she was just an also-ran at 135. I never thought she’d be a legit contender, I just loved the way she fought. A bit like a female version of how Wanderlei Silva fought in his prime for me. If they fight I too think Andrade takes it. Big fan of Rose but I just don’t see her having the power to keep Andrade at bay, or the physical strength to stop her bullrush. Andrade might actually break her. Like, physically bust her up. 

 

Oh and have to echo Shane O’s bigging up Kai Kara France. I hope he stays around if they sack off flyweight. Really like what we’ve seen of Petr Yan and Curtis Millender as well. Those are 3 newcomers I’ve got a good feeling about. 

 

There you go, fuck me that’s gone way longer than I planned. 

[AdamTH17]

In a similar style to how Wand formatted his...

Heavyweight:

Cormier and Lesnar does happen, and Cormier is able to batter Lesnar and walk off into the sun with his belt, a whopper payday and his status as one of the best ever regimented. Lesnar doesn't fight again, but the rumblings of him vs Jones at Heavyweight never quite go away.

Following DC's vacating of the belt, Stipe faces Cain for the strap at MSG. Stipe wins convincingly, and Cain ends up facing Derrick Lewis in his next fight. Stipe goes on to defend against the winner of a fight between JDS and Ngannou. 

Lewis rebounds from being choked out by DC by knocking out Overeem, who proves once again that his chin is dust. Overeem then knocks about with the likes of Tybura, Ivanov etc.

JDS and Ngannou fight in a title eliminator. Ngannou drops JDS in the first, but JDS is able to come back and out-box Francis to a 29-28 decision. JDS then proceeds to get smoked in the trilogy fight between himself and Stipe.

Blaydes struggles to pick up a fight due to a lot of the division not fancying a fight against him, but eventually is able to get a convincing win against Oliynik.

Struve fights again, but chooses to call it a day after being sparked out by Justin Willis, who the UFC are keen to build up in a division void of fresh challengers.

Volkov becomes the standby fighter for the Miocic/Cain fight after a good win against Tybura.

Tuivasa slips into the gap left by Mark Hunt in terms of being an entertaining heavyweight slugger who never presents a huge threat to the top guys. 

Bader dominates Fedor and manages to TKO him before successfully defending the belt against Kharitonov before the year is through.

I've just deleted the rest of this post by accident. Bollocks. Will continue tomorrow.