January - 2016
SCRAPP! FIGHT MAGAZINE
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weight, could also be seen as
an outside shot, or Jon Jones if
he finally opts to move up to
heavyweight once things be-
tween him and Daniel Cormier
are settled.
The Return of Jon Jones
Speaking of Jones — yes, for
all his troubles outside the
cage, his return to action is in-
deed something fans can look
forward to. Make no mistake,
whatever you think of the man,
the UFC is better with him than
without him.
Someone Other Than Cain
Velasquez and Junior Dos
Santos Fighting For the
Heavyweight Title
Alistair Overeem. Stipe Miocic.
Andrei Arlovski. Even Big Ben
Rothwell.
All of these men are starting to
look like legit title contenders
in the UFC. It’s a shame that
the Cain Velasquez vs. Junior
Dos Santos trilogy caused such
a log jam, along with Velas-
quez’s frequent injury troubles,
and in hindsight, the third fight
between the two was com-
pletely unnecessary.
However, at least there’s light
at the end of the tunnel: 2016
could be a competitive year in
the heavyweight division, es-
pecially if current champion
Fabricio Werdum dispatches
Velasquez in their rematch.
Memo to Dana White: no more
instant rematches!
A Killer Welterweight
Title Fight Between Rob-
bie Lawler and Carlos
Condit
Right off the bat, 2016 will start
with what could be a bloody
war between welterweight
champion Robbie Lawler and
Carlos Condit.
Lawler’s last title defense was
an instant (and hard to watch)
bloody classic against Rory
MacDonald, and with Condit
more than capable of bringing
the violence, this should be a
great way to start the year for
UFC fans.
The Continued Develop-
ment Of Sage Northcutt
and Paige VanZant
Sage Northcutt is taking just
a month or so between fights
following his UFC Fight Night
80 victory, as he’ll be back in
action at UFC on Fox 18. The
nineteen year old phenom has
everything necessary to be a
huge star in the promotion,
and watching his development
should continue to be a blast
for fans.
Paige VanZant suffered her first
loss at UFC Fight Night 80, to
Rose Namajunas, but there’s
no shame in losing, especially
since “12 Guage” showed a
ton of heart in the fight. She
did expose a number of holes
in her game, but she’s a young
fighter with a great team, and
should come back stronger
than ever.
Joanna Champion Coach-
ing The Ultimate Fighter
It looks like the next UFC cham-
pion to coach on The Ultimate
Fighter could be Joanna Jedrze-
jczyk, and that could be very in-
teresting, especially if they line
up someone like Rose Namaju-
nas to coach opposite her, and
actually make the coach’s fight
mean something again.
Jedrzejczyk has a fantastic per-
sonality with a quirky sense of
humour, and she’s a beast in
the octagon, so maybe that
can help save the otherwise
sinking ship that is TUF.
Can the UFC continue to build
from the great 2015 it had?
We’ll find out soon enough.
