Opinion: An Endless Carousel of Rematches

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If a title changes hands in the Ultimate Fighting Championship these days, an immediate rematch is almost certain to follow. Or two. Or three. We just witnessed UFC 287 this past weekend, headlined by Alex Pereira fighting Israel Adesanya for the second time in a row, less than five months after they last met. A few weeks ago, UFC 286 was headlined by Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman facing each other seven months after their previous meeting, their third bout overall.

The true apotheosis of these endless championship rematches comes at UFC 289, where it was announced that the main event would feature Amanda Nunes and Julianna Pena facing one another for a third time in a row. Nunes appeared as shocked as anyone, expecting a fresh matchup in Irene Aldana. No way, replied the UFC: She is doomed to keep fighting Pena, an opponent she battered from pillar to post in their last meeting, including at least half a dozen knockdowns, ending in scorecards that ranged from 50-45 to 50-43. And that was a tentative, gun-shy Nunes worried about conserving her energy after their first meeting. What possible point or intrigue is there to a third fight? The lottery ticket that Nunes will horribly gas out a second time after almost finishing Pena? Really, the main reason is that UFC matchmakers Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard, whose incompetence I've written about before, have gotten into the habit of booking rematch after rematch.

Personally, I'm sick of this trend. It's awful for the fighters and fans alike. For the former, this should be obvious. It ties up divisions for years while other top contenders are robbed of title shots and have nothing to do. Take the Nunes-Pena trilogy. They first met in 2021 and rematched in 2022. That should have been the end of it, but they're fighting again in 2023. Ironically, Edwards, whom I mentioned above, was hurt by these endless rematches himself. Usman, after easily dominating Jorge Masvidal in the headliner of UFC 251, faced him again in the main event of UFC 261. For Masvidal, it was his second fight in a row against Usman, though the champion managed to squeeze in a title defense against an actual worthy foe in Gilbert Burns between his fights with Masvidal. What possible interest was there in seeing Usman destroy Masvidal again? Usman had chosen the easy, guaranteed path to victory in their first fight via grappling, and it's one he would always have. He could win 10 times out of 10 if he wanted to. As it turns out, Usman went even further, exposing and embarrassing Masvidal, knocking him out cold in the striking, the area where Masvidal supposedly had the advantage. The retort that this was about money doesn't make sense, either. Masvidal was a huge star selling massive numbers of pay-per-views against the likes of Nate Diaz and later, Colby Covington. He didn't need to face Usman again. And in fact, it hurt his reputation and mystique, as it made it brutally clear that he wasn't good enough to compete at an elite level. Meanwhile, a genuinely great martial artist who could in Leon Edwards had to wait and grow old.

As a fan, I mostly hate these never-ending, senseless rematches. Part of the appeal of combat sports is witnessing fresh battles we've never seen before, guessing how one style will clash against another, and the possibility of something crazy and unexpected. There's also the gnawing knowledge that many great fighters will never face one another since they compete so rarely, and their competitive primes are so short. This is exacerbated when one great fighter is locked into multiple confrontations with the same foe.

Not all rematches are bad, of course. I was even looking forward to Pereira-Adesanya 2, as were many fans. (Not so Edwards-Usman 3 and certainly not Nunes-Pena 3.) However, even in instances where I would love to see fighters go at it again, it would be more exciting and palatable if they were spaced further apart. That way both fighters would have a chance to improve, show their skills against different foes and build up anticipation for the inevitable second meeting, making it fresh again. Personally, one of my favorite trilogies in all of combat sports was Evander Holyfield's series of showdowns with Riddick Bowe. Even now, over 30 years later, it's considered one of the great rivalries in boxing history. Did Holyfield and Bowe face one another three times in a row? Is Dana White a teetotaler?

The first Bowe-Holyfield duel was in November of 1992. Despite the fight being close and the title changing hands, they didn't immediately rematch. Bowe fought twice and Holyfield once against different foes before going to war again in November of 1993. After Holyfield won back his title in another close contest, they waited two more years, with Holyfield fighting twice and Bowe four times before settling the trilogy for good in November of 1995. Of course, that type of patience and long-term thinking is unknown for Shelby and Maynard. Sadly, this is the robotic mindset of the UFC these days. We may get a few pearls along the way, but we can expect an awful lot of boredom, all while brilliant contenders languish and potentially great battles never rage.