The Trilogy is a column that writes about three recent goings-on in the UFC world, designed to be a fun and informational view into the fights and outside-the-octagon news. Without further ado, welcome to The Trilogy!
“IT’S TIME,” for this week’s edition of The Trilogy. These past few weeks have seen a crazy amount of news in the Ultimate Fighting world, but there really weren’t any fights notable enough to discuss in this column.
Somehow, the most eventful recent fight was Henry Sejudo’s quick battle against Song Yadong in Seattle, Washington, which ended due to an eye-poke that temporarily blinded Sejudo in his left eye. Smiling menacingly while the boos rained down over him while waiting through the five-minute period to recover, he certainly didn’t gain any fans because of the way that the fight had to be stopped early.
The real storylines lie in what is to come, with three fights in particular that will have me jumping out of my seat to watch.
Volkanovski vs. Lopes
Even if there weren’t belt implications in this match, we would surely still find this Featherweight fight between a striker in Alexander Volkanovski and a Brazilian jiu-jitsu master in Diego Lopes rather interesting. But there are belt implications now that 16-0-0 former title holder Ilia Topuria vacated the Featherweight Title so that he could move up to what I would consider the deepest division in UFC, the Lightweights.
Speaking of Lightweights, Volkanovski himself has flirted with that division while he was a Featherweight Champion, looking to gain dual-title status—and inevitably failing. Most notably, Volkanovski had two matches against the current pound-for-pound No. 1 Islam Makhachev. The first match was a battle, going to the scorer’s table before Makhachev would retain for his third straight time. In a contrasting second fight, Makhachev landed a nasty high kick across Volkanovski’s forehead, ending the bout just over three minutes into the first round. Well, it wouldn’t be Volk’s last time getting knocked out by a champion, as it happened just about four months later when Volkanovski went up against Topuria. Volkanovski got caught up against the cage and Topuria held the UFC belt for the first time.
On the other side of the ring is a true BJJ black belt in Lopes. With wins in his last five fights, the last two of which went to decision, the No. 3 contender will know that Volkanovski will try to avoid the mat at all costs. Lopes is extremely versatile when on the ground, with submissions ranging from a simple rear naked choke to a heel hook, and even a knee bar. If Volkanovski ends up on the ground and has to wrestle with Lopes, it might be a much closer match than people might think, and Lopes could win the Featherweight Championship in his first title bout.
Gaethje vs. Fiziev
It wasn’t supposed to be Rafael Fiziev who would fight Justin Gaethje. In fact, this match could be considered a rather significant downgrade from what fans expected to see with Gaethje facing Dan Hooker. Nonetheless, it is the fight that we get to watch in Las Vegas, Nevada, at UFC 313. Of course, it’s not the main event, as that will be the Poatan—a.k.a. Alex Pereira—who will face Magomed Ankalaev.
The rematch between the two will likely be very similar to the first bout. The last time they fought was at UFC 286, when the fight went in Gaethje’s direction by way of majority decision. For those who do not know, Gaethje is a former DI wrestler who surprisingly refuses to wrestle and instead dukes it out on his feet, while Fiziev similarly only has one submission to his name. This means the two Lightweights will likely stand up for five straight rounds, or more likely, until one is knocked out. Both have huge track records of finishing fights early, with 5/9 ending for Fiziev by TKO/KO, while Gaethje, we know, will swing until the very last second, as is evidenced in one of the greatest fights of all time against Max Holloway.
Many people certainly would rather have seen Hooker and Gaethje fight. However, the rematch with Fiziev will be just as electric and make all fans happy with the bloodbath that will ensue during the co-main event at T-Mobile Arena.
Hill vs. Rountree Jr.
The most recent of the announcements, No. 4 contender Jamahal Hill will fight No. 7 Khalil Rountree Jr. in Kansas City, Missouri. While Hill is technically the higher contender, by no means should he be considered the favorite.
Hill has been on the wrong end of two straight knockouts, first at UFC 300 against Pereira during his first title defense, and the second to Jiří Procházka at UFC 311 in Los Angeles. In his past eight fights, seven ended long before the judges had to make a decision, and four ended before the clock hit zero on the first round. Hill needs a win to justify his current status, or at least send this fight to a decision. If not, he’ll be in deep trouble rankings-wise if he gets knocked out for a third straight fight.
On the other side of the octagon, Rountree Jr. is coming off a fight against a common foe in Pereira. Despite taking four rounds, the Poatan knocked Rountree Jr. out with about 30 seconds to go while Rountree Jr. was covered up against the cage, trying to survive until the final bell. Well, he didn’t, as Pereira landed a few hard body shots before nailing an uppercut that caused Rountree Jr. to drop to the ground and have the fight ended moments later. The southpaw similarly doesn’t fight for the full three or five rounds, with most of his fights ending by stoppage instead.
Scheduled for a Fight Night in late April, Hill vs. Rountree Jr. will see two explosive Light Heavyweights looking to return to the win column.