1 Nightmare Matchup for Each of the UFC's Biggest Stars in 2024

Even the most dominant fighters eventually taste defeat if they continue competing long enough.

We saw it this year when Israel Adesanya lost his middleweight belt to Sean Strickland, and last year when Kamaru Usman lost the welterweight title to Leon Edwards. There are numerous similar examples dating back further than that, and they all prove that every fighter eventually runs into somebody they can't beat if they don't retire before it happens.

We could see more examples of this unwritten law of fighting in 2024. In fact, it would be shocking if at least one of the UFC's biggest stars isn't knocked from their perch.

Keep scrolling for the toughest matchups awaiting some of the UFC's biggest stars in 2024, all of which could seemingly lead to tectonic shake-ups in the promotion.

Sean O'Malley won the UFC bantamweight title this summer when he knocked out long-reigning champion Aljamain Sterling in round two. He's already looking at a difficult reign as champion. His first title defense, set for UFC 299 on March 9, will see him run it back with the only man he's lost to in an 18-fight career, Ecuadorian knockout artist Marlon "Chito" Vera. Some people consider Vera's 2020 stoppage win over O'Malley a fluke, as it occurred after O'Malley suffered a leg injury early in the fight, but there is no doubt that this is a tough matchup for the new champion.

Unfortunately for him, it's probably not the toughest in the division at the moment.

That distinction most likely goes to Georgia's Merab Dvalishvili.

Dvalishvili, who is one of Sterling's chief training partners, has won nine straight fights since losing his first two in the UFC. That streak, which includes decision wins over former champions Petr Yan and Jose Aldo, has earned him the No. 2 spot in the bantamweight rankings. He probably would have been first in line for O'Malley were it not for the champion's history with Vera, and he will probably be the first man in line for the winner.

If O'Malley ends up defending his belt against Dvalishvili, it could be a tough night at the office for him. The Georgian is extremely good at wrestling, which is where the champ is clearly at his weakest. In his recent win over Yan alone, he landed 11 takedowns on a staggering 49 attempts. It was one of the most suffocating performances in recent memory, and while it wasn't exactly pretty to watch, it was a strategy that would give Dvalishvili a very good chance of beating O'Malley.

After 14 straight wins to start his MMA career, and six in the UFC, Georgia's Ilia Topuria is widely considered the toughest test available for long-reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski at present. As luck would have it, he's also officially the next man in line for the champ, having recently been booked for a title shot at UFC 298 on February 17.

The early odds for this fight have Topuria as a very slight underdog, which is extremely surprising given the man he's fighting. While Volkanovski lost two fights to Islam Makhachev in 2023, he is unbeaten in the UFC featherweight division, and has thus far defended the title five times against some of the fiercest competition of any champion in modern MMA history. He is a dynasty, and to see the oddsmakers giving somebody such a good shot of beating him is very exciting.

It's also not surprising. Topuria is one of the few fighters in the featherweight division who is as well rounded as Volkanovski. He has great grappling, which he has used to win eight fights by submission, beautiful striking, and fight-altering knockout power. At 26, he is also nine years younger than the 35-year-old champion, who has been in some wars in his career.

Volkanovski mixes the martial arts as fluently as any fighter we've seen in UFC history, not unlike Demetrious Johnson and Georges St-Pierre before him, but in his next defence, he might just have met his equal in that department. In fact, he might be looking at his first foil as a featherweight.

Jon Jones is widely considered the greatest fighter in UFC history.

He ruled over the light heavyweight division for years, beating the greatest fighters of several different generations during his time on the throne, and in 2023, he cemented his greatness by returning from a three-year hiatus to choke out Ciryl Gane inside a round and win the vacant UFC heavyweight title.

Now a two-division champion, Jones has done about all there is to do as a UFC fighter, and seems to be down to the final few fights of his career—if only because he's growing bored of beating everybody.

His next fight is expected to be a fight with former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic, who is considered the best fighter in the division's history. That's an interesting matchup, but Miocic is 41, and hasn't fought since a knockout loss to Francis Ngannou in early 2021. The real test for Jones—and the one we need to see him take before he retires—is Top Aspinall.

England's Aspinall won the interim heavyweight title with a first-round knockout of Sergei Pavlovich at UFC 295 earlier this month. That win brought him to 7-1 in the UFC, with his lone loss coming in a 2022 fight with Curtis Blaydes, when he injured his own leg off a kick just 15 seconds into round one.

Aspinall can do it all. As he reaffirmed in his recent wins over Pavlovich and Marcin Tybura, he has a massive stopping power and slick striking. He is also a serious submission threat, as he most notably proved against long-time contender Alexander Volkov. What makes Aspinall truly special at heavyweight, however, is that he is not only massive, but ridiculously fast. He moves like a welterweight.

Put all of that together, and there is no question he has a real shot of beating the 36-year-old Jones. If he does, he'll be the first of 28 men to score a legitimate win over the two-division champ. It will be historic.

Alex Pereira has been one of the breakout stars of the last few years, and it's easy to understand why.

The Brazilian entered the UFC with an impressive kickboxing resume, including a two-division title reign in the Glory ring and two wins over MMA superstar Israel Adesanya. After wins in his first three-fights, he then knocked out Adesanya under MMA rules to claim the UFC's middleweight title.

Pereira surrendered the title to Adesanya in a rematch in April of this year, but later rebounded with a decision win over Jan Blachowicz in his light heavyweight debut, and at UFC 295 earlier this month, became a two-division MMA champ by knocking out Jiri Prochazka to claim the vacant UFC light heavyweight title.

His victories have been incredibly exciting, largely due to his kickboxing skill and ferocious knockout power, and he has also endeared himself with fans with an entertaining personality outside the cage.

However, his reign as light heavyweight champion could be short-lived. He has some very tough tests ahead of him, and No. 3-ranked Russian Magomed Ankalaev looks like one of the toughest stylistically.

Ankalaev will have to wait for Jamahal Hill to fight Pereira for the title before he gets his shot, and will also need to win his recently announced January 13 rematch with Johnny Walker, but he could be Pereira's kryptonite. Not only is he a solid striker himself, but as a former sambo champion, he's also one of the division's best wrestlers, and that's an area where the former kickboxer Pereira will likely always be vulnerable.

It's not currently clear who will get the next crack at UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, and as the promotion's current pound-for-pound king, it's unlikely he's sweating any of the opposition.

If there is one potential matchup that is giving the Russian's fans pause, however, it's a fight with former interim champion Justin Gaethje.

Gaethje has come short in his two previous bids for the lightweight title, suffering submission losses to former champions Khabib Nurmagomedov and Charles Oliveira, but has beaten just about everyone else he's come across in the Octagon, and many of them in brutal fashion. His latest victim was lightweight legend Dustin Poirier, who he knocked out with a head kick this summer, but he has also beaten the likes of Rafael Fiziev, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson, Donald Cerrone, and Edson Barboza.

Gaethje most commonly gets the job done with his striking, and is one of the most dangerous knockout threats in the division. That gives him a real shot against anyone he fights—Makhachev included—but what makes him particularly dangerous for the champion is his wrestling.

Makhachev is arguably the best wrestler in MMA right now, but Gaethje is no slouch in that department himself as a former NCAA Division 1 athlete. That skill will be invaluable in a potential fight with Makhachev, as it will allow him to fight takedowns and work his way out of dangerous positions on the mat, effectively dulling the Russian's sharpest weapons.

There's no question Gaethje would be the underdog against Makhachev. As we covered, he previously lost to Makhachev's mentor Nurmagomedov, who is a very similar fighter. However, there is also no denying he has a very real chance of beating the champ and finally getting his hands on an undisputed title in 2024.