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2019 has been a relatively good year for the UFC considering the absence of marquee Pay-Per-View stars like Conor McGregor, Ronda Rousey, and Georges St. Pierre. As the year is heading to its final two months, let’s take a look at the most anticipated fights of 2020.
These fights have not been officially booked or announced. However, the MMA betting lines for these bouts are already out in the online sportsbooks.
Conor McGregor vs Donald Cerrone
Conor McGregor took the UFC by storm and became the promotion’s number one Pay-Per-View star and cash cow. The left-handed Irishman knocked out Jose Aldo in 13 seconds and later became the first fighter to hold two UFC belts simultaneously when he knocked out Eddie Alvarez at UFC 205. McGregor has headlined five out of the six biggest PPV events in UFC history. But after suffering a one-sided loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov at UFC 229, we have not seen McGregor fight inside the Octagon again. McGregor announced earlier this month that he will be returning in January 2020 against a still undetermined opponent.
When McGregor made his latest announcement, two names were linked to the Irishman: Justin Gaethje and Donald Cerrone. Among the two, Cerrone is reportedly the front-runner to get the McGregor fight. The 36-year old Cowboy is one of the most popular fighters in the UFC owing to his exciting fighting style and his knack to take on any challenge, even if it means taking a fight on short notice. Cerrone challenged for the UFC lightweight title in 2015 but lost to Rafael Dos Anjos. He has never won a belt but his 33 fights, 22 wins, and 16 finishes are the most in UFC history. Cowboy is a guy who never backs down from a challenge. If this fight pushes through, it’s going to be a Fight of the Year candidate, as any Cowboy fight is expected to be.
Israel Adesanya vs Paulo Costa
While Conor McGregor was busy promoting his Proper 12 Whiskey, Israel Adesanya slowly built a name for himself in the UFC. The 30-year old Nigerian-New Zealander is a former kickboxing world champion from the Glory promotion. He joined the UFC in 2018 and started a path of destruction that has led to six post-fight bonuses in seven UFC appearances. In his most recent fight, Adesanya knocked out Robert Whitaker to win the undisputed UFC Middleweight title. He has been talking about moving up in weight class to face Jon Jones or even Stipe Miocic but before he moves to bigger things and bigger foes, he must defend the belt against the top challengers.
Adesanya
-170
Costa
+145
Odds were taken from BetOnline as of 11/08/19
Brazilian Paulo Costa is currently the 2nd ranked middleweight fighter in the UFC. The 28-year old from Minas Gerais is a former Jungle Fight Middleweight champion. Costa joined the UFC in 2017 and has produced two Fight of the Night and one Performance of the Night awards in his first five UFC bouts. In his last three bouts, Costa defeated highly-touted fighters Johny Hendricks, Uriah Hall and Yoel Romero. He was suspended for six months for using an illegal intravenous infusion before his UFC 212 fight. He returned to action at UFC 241 last August and defeated former title challenger Yoel Romero.
Stipe Miocic vs Daniel Cormier 3
Stipe Miocic was building a case as the greatest UFC heavyweight champion of all-time before Daniel Cormier halted his run. Miocic won the UFC heavyweight title by knocking out Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198 in Brazil. He then successfully defended the belt three times against Alistair Overeem, Junior Dos Santos, and Francis Ngannou to claim the record for most successful title defenses in UFC heavyweight history. But at UFC 226, Miocic was dethroned by Cormier via knockout and he suffered his first UFC loss. The 37-year old fireman from Cleveland recaptured the title by knocking out Cormier at UFC 241 and with their rivalry now at 1-1, a grudge match is expected to determine who is better between the two.
Miocic
-140
Cormier
+120
Odds were taken from BetOnline as of 11/08/19
Daniel Cormier’s UFC career has been hounded by his losses to Jon Jones. But when Jones got stripped of the UFC light heavyweight title, Cormier won the belt and then made a good run as champion. At UFC 226, DC moved up in weight to challenge Miocic. He delivered one of the biggest upsets of 2018 when he knocked out Miocic to become the second fighter to hold two UFC titles simultaneously. Cormier is also the only fighter in MMA history to win a world title in every promotion he’s competed for. DC was set to retire this year after his 40th birthday but after his success in the first Miocic fight, he is looking to go out on a high note and that would be winning the UFC belt again from Miocic.
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs Tony Ferguson
UFC President Dana White once said that he will never book a fight between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson. You can’t blame White because the UFC booked that fight four times before and in all instances, the fight didn’t push through because one of the two suffered an injury. Khabib began his UFC career being riddled with various injuries but as soon as he got healthy, the Dagestani has dominated the UFC lightweight division and is considered one of the most dominant MMA fighters ever. Nurmagomedov made easy work of Conor McGregor at UFC 229 and dominated Dustin Poirier at UFC 242. With no more real challenge left at his weight class, the only logical fight to make is against Tony Ferguson.
Nurmagomedov
-260
Ferguson
+220
Odds were taken from BetOnline as of 11/08/19
Tony Ferguson won The Ultimate Fighter 13 tournament and then went on a roll to win 12 consecutive lightweight fights, a record in the UFC. Ferguson won the interim UFC lightweight championship in 2017 but after a staph infection, his most recent Khabib booking was canceled. El Cucucy has won Fight of the Night and Performance of the Night honors in seven out of his last eight fights. With the longest lightweight winning streak in promotion history, Ferguson had defeated all the big names in the lightweight division and there is no more challenge left for him except to win the UFC lightweight title. To do that, he must go through Khabib and that’s the fight we want to see. I think that’s the best UFC fight to make next year.
