UFC 246: McGregor vs. Cowboy
Andre Fili vs. Sodiq Yusuff
There was a shake-up atop the featherweight division to close out 2019, with Alexander Volkanovski dethroning Max Holloway, sending a jolt of electricity through the always competitive 145-pound ranks, where Fili and Yusuff are both hoping to take a big step forward in the coming year.
Despite having already logged six full years on the roster, Fili is still just 29 years old and enters this one in the best form of his career, having won two straight and four of his last five overall. Always considered a potential contender, the longtime Team Alpha Male representative finally seems to be putting it all together and believing in his abilities to the fullest.
Yusuff followed up his breakthrough 2018 campaign with a pair of impressive victories in 2019, starting the year with a unanimous decision victory over Sheymon Moraes before punctuating things with a first-round stoppage win over Gabriel Benitez in July. The Nigerian-born prospect has won five straight overall and could establish himself as the next up and comer with championship potential in the featherweight ranks with a victory here.
Roxanne Modafferi vs. Maycee Barber
This is a crucial step up in competition for Barber, the undefeated 21-year-old with championship ambitions and three straight stoppage wins since entering the UFC. After needing a little time to find her footing in her flyweight debut against JJ Aldrich in March, the Colorado native followed up that second-round finish with a first-round TKO win over Gillian Anderson in October to push her record to 8-0 overall.
Having proven herself against the division’s prospects, Barber now steps into the cage with the most seasoned fighter in the division — the 37-year-old pioneer Modafferi, who split a pair of appearances in 2019.
This bout will go a long way in showing where Barber is at in her quest to become the youngest UFC champion in history and help dictate what her year inside the Octagon will look like. Modafferi is as game as they come and tough to put away, having only been stopped four times in her 16-year career, plus she’s sharpened up her striking in recent years to go along with her crafty ground game.
Will Barber begin 2020 with the biggest victory of her young career or will the savvy veteran foil her plans for divisional domination?
Anthony Pettis vs. Diego Ferreira
After spending 2019 competing at welterweight, Pettis returns to the lightweight division he once ruled for an ultra-competitive clash with Ferreira, a Fortis MMA product who has quietly put together a quality run of success over the last two years.
“Showtime” shocked a number of people by venturing up to the 170-pound ranks and scoring a knockout win over Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson in March, but they welcomed his addition to the division as that performance helped coax Nate Diaz out of exile and back into the Octagon. Though he fought valiantly, Pettis came away on the wrong side of the results in that clash with Diaz, and returns to his natural weight division with designs on getting back into both the win column and the championship chase.
Ferreira arrives at UFC 246 on a five-fight winning streak, with his last setback coming against former interim champion Dustin Poirier all the way back in 2015. The 34-year-old Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt has posted two victories in each of the last two years, toppling Rustam Khabilov and Mairbek Taisumov each by unanimous decision in 2019.
Though Pettis is the far bigger name and boasts the better sizzle reel, Ferreira has proven himself to be a dark horse contender in this division and the type of well-rounded talent that no one should take lightly.
Claudia Gadelha vs. Alexa Grasso
Not only is this a critical matchup in the deep and talented strawweight division, but it’s a bout that will have an undeniable impact on the trajectory of both fighters, regardless of how it all shakes out.
Returning from a 13-month absence in June, Grasso delivered the best performance of her career, out-boxing former title challenger Karolina Kowalkiewicz on the way to a clean sweep of the scorecards. Unfortunately for the former highly regarded prospect, the inconsistencies that have plagued her UFC career continued, as Grasso followed up that effort with a majority decision loss to former champ Carla Esparza in September, leveling her record in the Octagon at 3-3 and sending her into this year surrounded by question marks.
Gadelha only fought once last year after shifting her training camp to New Jersey, securing a unanimous decision win over Randa Markos in July. The former title challenger admitted she was cautious and fought safe, admitting it would take time to find a rhythm with Mark Henry and the rest of her new coaching staff, but it was a good victory over a game opponent and one that got the Brazilian standout moving forward again.
Both women have shown top-end talent at times, but each has struggled occasionally as well, which is what makes this matchup so compelling. The division is wide open beyond champion Zhang Weili and former champs Jessica Andrade and Joanna Jedrzejczyk, so a strong performance by either woman could catapult them into the thick of the chase to start the year, while a loss would move either of them even further out of contention.
In the words of De La Soul, “Stakes is high.”
