Recently, the UFC has made some very controversial decisions in terms of who gets title opportunities. This has been seen recently with Colby Covington vs Leon Edwards and Sean O’Malley vs Chito Vera. It is again being seen with the just announced Flyweight championship fight between Alexandre Pantoja and Steve Erceg. There are fighters in certain divisions that deserve title shots that haven’t been granted yet. The biggest reasons for this are they might not be able to sell the fight, or the timing hasn’t been right. These are all the fighters in every UFC men’s division that deserve the next title shot.
Flyweight
Amir Albazi
Amir Albazi might be the most controversial choice on this list. His most recent fight against Kai Kara France was a close one that many thought KKF had won. However, Albazi is still the best option for a title fight in the Flyweight division. The #1 contender Brandon Royval had just recently lost to the champion Alexandre Pantoja, and the #2 ranked Brandon Moreno has lost his last two fights.
Albazi has yet to face Pantoja in a fight, so this could be a fresh matchup in the division. Pantoja is scheduled to defend his title against Steve Erceg at UFC 301 in Brazil. If he retains his title, this might be the next fight to make.
Bantamweight
Merab Dvalishvili
Coming off a dominating win over Marlon Vera, the UFC Bantamweight Champion Sean O’Malley needs a new challenger. He recently called out Ilia Topuria for the Featherweight title, attempting to become double champ. However, with only 1 defense throughout his bantamweight title reign, Sean shouldn’t receive that fight yet. O’Malley should focus on his division and continue to build up defenses. The bantamweight division is arguably the most stacked in the UFC right now. Despite that, there is still a consensus #1 fighter who deserves the next title shot, that being Merab Dvalishvili.
Merab has run through the bantamweight division ever since his arrival. He has gotten dominating wins over the likes of Henry Cejudo, Petr Yan, and Jose Aldo. Merab would have gotten a title shot if he wasn’t close friends with the former UFC Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling. During that time, Merab made it clear that he did not want to fight Aljo. Now that Sean has defeated Sterling for the title, this is definitely the next fight to make.
Featherweight
Aljamain Sterling
The Featherweight division has many top contenders that could be next in line for a title shot but none of them stand out, however, it seems like Aljamain Sterling is the most reasonable choice. Sterling has not made his Featherweight debut yet, but he will do so at UFC 300. He is set to face 8th-ranked Calvin Kattar in a 3-round fight. Not too long ago, Aljo was the UFC Bantamweight Champion, but he recently lost his title to Sean O’Malley at UFC 292 via 2nd round knockout.
As for the champion, this would look like a great stylist fight for Ilia Topuria. Overall, Topuria is more skilled than Sterling on the ground and while standing. Ilia recently became the new UFC Featherweight champion at UFC 298. He had just knocked out one of the greatest fighters of all time Alexander Volkanovski in the 2nd round. Volkanovski will likely get the rematch when he returns but looks to be taking some time off for now. Ilia has recently been looking to move up to lightweight to fight Islam Mackachev, but similarly to Sean O’Malley, he’ll need some wins in his own division before he can move up.
If Aljo wins his featherweight debut fight, he will likely have the next shot at El Matador.
Lightweight
Justin Gaethje
This is probably the toughest decision to think of an undisputed #1 contender for, as two fighters in this division deserve the next title shot equally, those being Justin Gaethje and Charles Oliviera. With the way it is looking, since both Justin and Charles will be competing at UFC 300, the UFC Lightweight Champion Islam Machachev will probably be defending his title next against Dustin Poirier. As for who deserves the next shot, I would have to give the slight edge to Justin Gaethje.
Gaethje is scheduled to fight Max Hollaway at UFC 300, as is Charles Oliviera where he will take on Arman Tserukyan. Charles lost his title to Machachev in October of 2022 and has won 1 fight since then, with a knockout win over Beneil Dariush. However, ever since Gaethje’s loss to Charles Oliveira where he failed to claim the belt in May of 2022, he has been on a 2-0 run and is looking to continue that this April. What gives Gaethje the edge for deserving a title shot more is that one of his two victories came over Dustin Poirier. He beat Poirier, the 3rd ranked fighter in the division, via second-round knockout.
It’s fair to say that whichever route the UFC decides to take, the title probably won’t change hands. Islam Machachev will probably stand on top as many fans will agree that he is the pound-for-pound best fighter in the company at this moment.
Welterweight
Belal Muhammad
The Welterweight division is the biggest example of a fighter being deserving of a title shot, but the UFC believes he is too boring to sell or promote the fight, so they decide to wait on it. Belal Muhammad has been storming through the competition in the division, with wins over guys such as Gilbert Burns, Vicente Luque, and Stephen Thompson. The UFC was widely criticized when they announced that Colby Covington would be getting a title shot against the champion Leon Edwards at UFC 296, as many believed that Belal was much more deserving than Covington.
The next title fight in the Welterweight division should be Belal Muhammad vs Leon Edwards, and that seems to be the direction the UFC is taking.
Middleweight
Sean Strickland
The middleweight division has many top contenders who could deserve the next title shot, however, I think the next person to receive a chance against the champion Dricus Du Plessis should be the former champion, Sean Strickland. Du Plessis defeated Strickland at UFC 297 to become the new UFC Middleweight Champion, however many believed that it was a close fight that Strickland had won.
Some might argue that it should be Israel Adesanya who gets the next title shot, but the reason Sean deserves it more is because he classed Issy at UFC 293 to win that title in the first place. Other fighters that a case could be made for are Jared Cannonier and Robert Whittaker. It would probably make more sense for those two to compete in a #1 contenders fight while Strickland gets the next fight against Dricus. Sean and Dricus had a really close fight in which the belt changed hands. Most fans classified that fight as a “robbery”, so it would be fair for Sean to get that rematch.
Light Heavyweight
Magomed Ankalaev
This division came down to two top contenders, Jamahal Hill and Magomed Ankalaev. Since Hill is already scheduled to face the current Light Heavyweight Champion Alex Pereira at UFC 300, Ankalaev should be the next guy to face the winner of that fight. He recently defeated #7 Johnny Walker on the January 13th fight night via knockout. His most recent shot at a title ended in a draw against former champion Jan Blachowicz. Ankalaev is currently ranked #3 in the division and should be next for a title fight.
The champion, Alex Pereira, recently moved into the Light Heavyweight division, and immediately showed that he could hang with the best with victories over Jan Blachowicz and Jiri Prochazka. He has already become a 2-division champion since his UFC debut in 2021. His second-round TKO win over Prochazka crowned him as the newest UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
If this fight is scheduled, it could be easier than expected for the challenger, if he finds a way to take Pereira to the ground.
Heavyweight
Tom Aspinall
This is easily the most obvious choice to make within all the divisions. Tom Aspinall is the current UFC Heavyweight Interim Champion, defeating Sergei Pavlovich to win that title at UFC 295. The current UFC Heavyweight Champion, Jon Jones, is injured and is looking to fight Stipe Miocic once he returns. Fans would much rather see Jones fight Aspinall than Miocic as Aspinall has been on a great run. Many have stated that Jones is “ducking” the Interim champ.
Aspinall should be granted the next title shot since he is the Interim champion. However, it seems like that won’t be happening. Jones has said that he will likely retire after his Stipe fight since there’d be nothing left to prove. Although that may be true, a fight against Tom Aspinall should still be one that he should consider.
For More Great Content
Check out all the great content Total Apex Sports has to offer. Check us out on X @TotalApexSports and our other sites: Total Apex Sports Bets and Total Apex Fantasy Sports.