A hot topic of the UFC as of late has been the pound for pound list. Currently, Jon Jones sits atop. But they’re have been some changes in the past.

Islam Makhachev has stamped himself as the best lightweight on the planet and a likely case for that pfp #1 spot. But someone has made him bleed. That man lies 10lbs under him

The honor of PFP best is held with Alexander Volkanovski.

Volk went away on a quest for more glory, but waiting for him is a challenge unlike anything he’s ever seen before.

The title unification match headlines international fight week 2023. But that’s not all.

A new face in the middleweight division takes on one of the best fighters of our generation with the undisputed champion watching and praying for him to succeed.

The new flyweight champion having now settled his record breaking rivalry, heads into yet another rematch. But this time its against his apparent bogeyman.

Robert Whittaker vs Dricus Du Plessis

Ever since losing his undisputed title to israel adesanya, the reaper has been on a tear, eliminating every contender that can get to the top. After 2 years of destroying anyone who got in his way, Whittaker got his title shot.

Unfortunately he fell victim to a razor close decision loss. but despite the defeat, he picked up right were he left off. The marvin vettorri fight was a scary example of just how dangerous whittaker still is.

At ufc 290 The former champ takes on a new face at 185lbs. Dricus Du Plessis

Despite being a newcomer to the middleweight division, DDP is already on the Champ’s hit list. With a record of 19-2 with 18 finishes, DDP is a dangerous dude and is probably the most unpredictable fighter at 185 right now

His true test was Darren Till. He passed. He then went on to face perrenial gatekeeper in derek brunson, and beat him handedly.

He’s wild, crazy and awkward but Dricus hasn’t lost in the UFC and if he gets passed Whittaker, he’ll get a title shot.

But that task is easier said than done.

Whittaker hasn’t lost to anyone not named Adesanya in nearly a decade. Even so he is a solid favorite in this match. He is the better conditioned, the better striker and has essentially cleared out 185lbs.

This will be dricus’ toughest challenge to date. Dricus will lose if he strikes with him and will likely lose if he grapples with him as well.

The path to victory for Dricus is clear, make it a brawl. None of his opponents have outlasted him and with all do respect to rob, he doesn’t have all that great of a chin.

Dricus maintains the power hurt and even finish the former champ, but even after a round or two whittaker’s opponents seem to shell up almost.

Whittaker will do just fine in a dirty fight. The dude fought Yoel Romero for 15 minutes and has shown the grit that this sport needs.

Interesting styles in a interesting matchup

A lot of eyes will be on this fight.

Brandon Moreno vs Alexandre Pantoja

Since the departure of demetrious johnson and the retirement of henry cejudo, the flyweight division has been in a sort of limbo state. The division relied on two exceptional fighters, Deiveson Figueiredo and Brandon Moreno to set the tone for the new era of flyweights.

For the first time ever we saw a clash play out 4 different times and in the end, Moreno came out on top.

Fighting the same guy four times over is exhausting but now that it’s behind him, he has a whole new set of hungry flyweights who are ready for their shot at the title.

But now we’ll get something fresh. Or not.

Alexandre Pantoja is the next man in line at 125lbs and he knows the champion very well.

While the tetrology was happening, Pantoja was building a win streak of his own. Despite being locked in a rivalry with Figgy, Pantoja was a shadow that the assassin’s baby couldn’t seem to shake.

After all Pantoja has two wins against him. Yes you heard me right, two wins.

Lets rewind a bit.

It’s TUF 24. The season built around finding the next challenger for Demetrious Johnson. The two were matched up in the first round and Pantoja won. Pretty handedly in fact.

Despite being eliminated in the first round, Dana white saw the potential in moreno, and luckily for us, he was brought to the UFC.

Two years later, the two were paired up yet again and despite a more well rounded moreno, Pantoja nearly finished him again.

The two then went their seperate ways with a third bout unlikely. A twist of fate later brings us to today. Moreno vs Pantoja 3 for the Flyweight title.

Israel Adesanya shattered the boogeyman concept, finally getting one on poatan. The difference between the two, Adesanya was competitive in hall of his matches with poatan. Moreno wasn’t competitive in either match with Pantoja.

A quick glance at their last meetings and it spells doom for the champion.

But crazy enough, Moreno is a slight favorite to win.

This version of Moreno is the best we’ve seen to date. He’s in his physical prime and finally has evolved to the point where we can largely disregard prior history.

For one the striking advantage lies with the Champion. He was outstruck in the first encounters, but after going toe to toe with Figgy, his striking has come a long way.

The champ will need to keep the fight standing at all times. Little known fact is that Pantoja has some of the best BJJ in the entire UFC. Dude has a mean ground game.

In addition to his ground skills, he’s just mean and an overall savage. He’ll walk you down with a complete disregard for danger.

With all that being said, Moreno has the experience advantage. 4 5 round wars with the same guy will do that to you.

By now Moreno is the good enough striker to push onto Pantoja and drown him as the fight progresses.

But One takedown early on and we will be staring in the face of Deja Vu.

It’s another rematch but i’m not complaining. This may be the fight of the night.

Alexander Volkanovski vs Yair Rodriguez

UFC 284 was a big night for the featherweight champion. He was meant to be slaughtered in his home country but he held is own and gave the champ a run for his money.

He didn’t just hang in their and land with hail mary shots, he made the invincible look mortal.

Despite the loss Volk’s stock didn’t drop one bit. And now that he has returned from his lightweight quest he’s returned to rule the 145lb weight class.

His first order of business is to remind them.

Earlier that night there was a little insurgence in his division as a new champion was crowned.

His name? Yair Rodriguez

The man was released after refusing a bout at UFC 227, his whole eye poke debacle against Jeremy Stephens and refusing to fight people definitely did not put him on people’s good sides. The man was written off into the ocean of obscurity.

Then he came back and he had vengance on his mind

He beat Jeremy Stephens and began his run to the title. After finishing ortega and emmet, Rodriguez emerged as the next challenger at 145lbs which was desperately needed.

Brutal to endure and to fast to read, the man is just a pure savage. Make no mistake, even the great volkanovski will have his hands full.

head to head, yair is one of if not the only featherweight faster than the champ. Although the reach is identical, Yair is the taller man. Unlike anyone else Volk’s faced, Yair excels at range.

He throws spinning kicks like they’re jabs and… sure volkanovski hasn’t had much trouble with rangy strikers in the past, as he is the only man to crack the holloway puzzle thrice. But this is where the speed of rodriguez comes into play.

As mentioned before Yair is the faster fighter and the kicks will be a huge factor. At least early on

Volkanovski has shown some of the most impressive Fight IQ ever seen in the octagon. If something doesn’t work out on the feet he could always result to his wrestling. But there is another factor to Yair’s game

Long ago Frankie Edgar beat the daylights out of Rodriguez on the ground. He was always a wizard on the feet but his ground game was his weakness.

As of late, he has begin to patch that weakness up.

Elbows, Upkicks and submission attempts alike, even if Volk brings the fight to the mat, Yair is going to keep giving him hell.

Seems like a nightmare matchup right?

We’re forgetting one thing. He’s Alexander F#$%*@# Volkanovski.

While volkanovski might be slower in the speed department, his physical strength is unlike anyone else at 145lbs.

He was able to contend with Islam in that department and add his impressive cardio and it doesn’t matter what kind of matchup he is up against.

He may be a better boxer than him. He may be a better grappler than him. But when you put everything together, Volkanovski is damn near unbeatable.

He also throws leathiality out the window and will continue to come at you throughout the fight. Mixing up his strikes with level changes to throw off the challenger and if Yair stops for a second, that’s all she wrote folks.

This will be Volk’s 5th title defense. With a win he gets ever so closer to surpassing Jose Aldo.

But Yair needs only one. One Second. One Shot. One kick. To bring the undisputed title belt home to Mexico.

July 8th, we figure it out.