Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.
This week, we welcome in guest panelist John Gooden, the UFC’s play-by-play voice for most of its shows in Europe and Asia and one of the promotion”s chief analysts. He’ll join Mike Bohn, Nolan King and Simon Samano with host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:
- The light heavyweight title continued its game of musical chairs Saturday when Alex Pereira won it against former champ Jiri Prochazka in the UFC 295 main event. Jon Jones, Jan Blachowicz, Glover Teixeira, Prochazka, Jamahal Hill, and now Pereira – all since 2020. So what makes sense as the next move for Pereira? Is it Hill, or should an Israel Adesanya MMA trilogy fight happen for him?
- Tom Aspinall became the interim heavyweight champion at UFC 295. In theory, now he’s supposed to wait for champ Jon Jones to fight ex-titleholder Stipe Miocic, and then he’ll get the winner. But that’s a long ways off thanks to Jones’ injury. Should the UFC change its mind and keep Aspinall active? If so, how will that work with titles and interim belts and all the craziness?
- Highly decorated grappler Mackenzie Dern came to the UFC with tons of promise, but it hasn’t panned out the way she likely hoped. The up-and-down nature of her UFC career continued Saturday when she was knocked down four times by former women’s strawweight champ Jessica Andrade and eventually was pounded out for a TKO setback. Has the ship sailed for her potential, or can she bounce back and live up to the expectations? And what of Andrade? Is she a gatekeeper now, or can she contend for a title again?
- The UFC announced three big title fights for 2024: new champ Sean Strickland vs. Dricus Du Plessis at middleweight; long-reigning titleholder Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria at featherweight; and new champ Sean O’Malley vs. Marlon Vera at bantamweight. Did the UFC get those bookings right, and which one is the most intriguing?
- Alex Pereira is the ninth fighter to win titles in two divisions in the UFC, and he did it faster than anyone else. Of the nine to do it, who did it best?
- … and much more.
