UFC 300 Is No Super Bowl Of MMA

Forbes

22 February 2024

The UFC will celebrate its 300th pay-per-view with an event on April 13 in Las Vegas. The card is as close as you’ll get to a Super Bowl in MMA, but it falls short of such a distinction.

The number 300 looks nice and round, but it’s just some digits. Still, 300 PPV events are a testament to the dominance of the UFC in MMA. It has no real rivals in the market.

The headliner of UFC 300 took some time to put together, and the UFC went with a light heavyweight (205 pounds) title fight between Alex Pereira of Brazil and Jamahal Hill of the United States. Pereira is a combat sports legend, coming over from kickboxing to win multiple UFC belts.

While Pereira doesn’t appear to have the star power of archrival Israel Adesanya, he’s a fighter worthy of any PPV main event with the exception of UFC 300. He doesn’t have the mainstream appeal of fighters like Conor McGregor, Georges St-Pierre, Brock Lesnar, Jon Jones or Ronda Rousey, to name a few current and past UFC greats.

Hill is a lackluster opponent. He hasn’t fought since January 2023, a bout where he won the vacant light heavyweight title in a decision against 43-year-old Glover Teixeira. Hill later forfeited the belt due to injury. In the meantime, Hill has allegedly fought his brother.

Instead of Hill, Pereira should be fighting Magomed Ankalaev, the No. 1-ranked light heavyweight, according to MMA rankings website Tapology. Ankalaev hasn’t lost in 12 fights, while Hill suffered a TKO loss in 2021.

Of course, the best light heavyweight in the world (if he was still in the weight class) is Jon Jones, who packed on size to become a heavyweight. Jones vacated his light heavyweight belt in 2020 having never lost. Jones would be a huge betting favorite against Pereira.

Jones, who is recovering from an injury, isn’t fighting at UFC 300. Jones is expected to return this year and fight former heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic.

The UFC didn’t sign Francis Ngannou, the best MMA heavyweight in the world, to a new contract, and Ngannou is now having huge success in boxing. Ngannou versus anyone would have been a better UFC main event than Pereira versus Hill.

McGregor apparently was a possibility for UFC 300, but he’s either not ready for a return after a gruesome leg break in 2021 or the UFC couldn’t make a deal with him.

There was speculation that Rousey could return for one last fight at UFC 300 in an effort to reclaim her bantamweight belt, but UFC President Dana White consistently doused cold water on it. Any chance of a Rousey MMA return now appears to finally be dead.

The co-headliner is a women’s strawweight (115 pounds) title fight between two Chinese-born fighters, Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan. It’s a massive fight for the Asian market, but it’s not the most compelling for the U.S. audience.

The third fight on the card with a belt at stake is Justin Gaethje versus Max Holloway.

Fighting for the so-called BMF belt, Gaethje and Holloway are among the most popular and durable fighters in the UFC. Holloway moves up a weight class again despite a failed attempt at the lightweight (155 pounds) belt in 2019.

It will likely be a barnburner, but it could be a tough one for Holloway, who has already absorbed the most head strikes in UFC history. Gaethje is one of the hardest punchers in the division and has an iron chin that should withstand Holloway’s best shots. If you’re a Holloway fan, it’s not an ideal matchup at this stage in his career.

Even Gaethje himself was uncomfortable with the idea of taking on the smaller Holloway, from the perspective of having to punch one of his favorite UFC colleagues.

While the top of the UFC 300 card leaves much to be desired, the card is super deep in talent. For serious MMA fans, it’s an incredible event with high stakes for numerous fighters.

We’ll be watching despite the lack of a blockbuster fight to anchor the card.