"With apologies to the main event, especially given that Jack Della Maddalena has proven himself to be a very good fighter, it's Shevchenko vs. Zhang that qualifies not just as a champ vs. champ fight, but a super-fight. There simply aren't enough faces on Mt. Rushmore to make that silly MMA analogy any longer, but on the women's side of the sport, you might look at it something like this: Gina Carano, Cris Cyborg, Ronda Rousey, Amanda Nunes, Joanna Jedrzejczyk, Valentina Shevchenko, and Weili Zhang have had the biggest impact on the sport. Honorable mentions might go to the likes of Miesha Tate, Holly Holm, Rose Namajunas, and pioneers like Megumi Fujii and Jessica Aguilar (that latter's career trailed off too badly to have at the forefront)."
"But Zhang and Shevchenko are two current, again excusing one vacated title, UFC champions, two UFC stars, two future Hall of Famers. While the jury is still out on JDM (he's still new, in his first title defense), their legacy is set in stone."
UFC 322 takes place at Madison Square Garden with two high-profile title fights that carry major legacy stakes. Islam Makhachev and Weili Zhang vacated titles to move up and challenge for additional belts, so only Jack Della Maddalena and Valentina Shevchenko begin the night as champions. The co-main event between Shevchenko and Zhang is framed as a super-fight between two current champions and likely future Hall of Famers. The main event also centers on legacy as Makhachev seeks to surpass Khabib Nurmagomedov’s Dagestani dominance. Weigh-ins occur Friday at 9AM ET, 6AM PT in New York.
Read at Cageside Press
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]