Opinion: The UFC Fails Its Featherweights

Editor’s note: The views and opinions expressed below are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of Sherdog.com, its affiliates and sponsors or its parent company, Evolve Media.

* * *
I’ve written before about the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s failure at promotion and its matchmaking impotence after Joe Silva’s departure. Both of those have come together in mismanaging the featherweight division, arguably the most talented and exciting weight class the organization has at its disposal. This was painfully evident at UFC 276, where what should have been a timeless trilogy-ending classic between legendary champions Alexander Volkanovski and Max Holloway was instead a co-main event afterthought on a weak pay-per-view card. Let us chart the many blunders that led to this sad state of affairs.

The problems arose after Volkanovski’s sensational victory over Holloway at UFC 245. The company simply did not know how to market the guy. After all, he was neither a devastating knockout artist nor an arrogant trash-talker—seemingly the only two categories the UFC has even a fleeting knowledge of what to do with. That he was a brilliant, technically perfect martial artist who consistently produced amazing performances and great fights was immaterial. That he was the shortest featherweight in the division and utterly dominating taller opponents, something that Pride Fighting Championships would have highlighted to no end, meant nothing to the current UFC marketing machine, either. Thus, Volkanovski began his reign as perhaps the least-known champion the organization had on its roster. Despite three title defenses heading into UFC 276, including an all-time great beatdown of Brian Ortega before an awesome fourth-round finish of Chan Sung Jung, nothing much has changed.

Now, let us turn our attention to the matchmaking. Why, after Volkanovski’s convincing victory over Holloway, did the UFC decide on an immediate rematch? Actually, we know why. The UFC is creatively bankrupt and loves to book immediate rematches when a title changes hands, no matter how foolhardy. A smarter organization than the UFC would have given Holloway a contender or two, allowed him to show he still had it and only then booked a rematch, which would have been a much bigger deal. Never mind that said rematch was only a co-main event. In this case, it also ended up hurting everyone. Since Volkanovski had defeated Holloway so handily and it was believed that the Hawaiian was declining physically due to having started MMA so young, there was little hype for their rematch. The build was not helped by Holloway claiming he was mostly training over Zoom. When Holloway uncorked an inspired performance in a controversial split-decision loss, clearly taking the first two rounds and winning the fight in most people’s eyes, it made Volkanovski look weaker but left his rival and the UFC in the same place as before.

After this awful blunder, the UFC did something highly unusual. It actually booked a smart fight, pitting Holloway against an exciting, surging contender in Calvin Kattar. If Kattar won, he would be a highly deserving and intriguing title challenger. If Holloway won, which he did in dominant fashion, it would re-establish him as one of the best fighters in the sport. Now, just imagine if the Holloway-Kattar fight had happened before Holloway-Volkanovski 2? How much better and more intriguing would it have made their first rematch?

Of course, the UFC doing something right is a rarity, not a habit. Right after the Kattar triumph, the organization booked a terrible match between Holloway and Yair Rodriguez. On the one hand, absolutely no one took Rodriguez seriously as a title contender or threat to the Hawaiian. He had last fought over two years earlier against a past-his-prime Jeremy Stephens and barely survived a hellacious third-round beating to win a close decision. Rodriguez was a major step down from Kattar in terms of fan perception, which the odds clearly demonstrate, with Holloway being a mere -150 favorite against the Bostonian and a monster -700 against the Mexican. He won a decision from Rodriguez, but his stock was much lower than it had been after beating Kattar. Clearly out of ideas and in a panic over the possibility of Holloway losing before a rubber match with Volkanovski, booked the second rematch out of desperation.

Thus, we come to the trilogy-ending match between Holloway and Volkanovski. Why demote the Australian champion to the co-feature after he was the main event for two straight PPVs against Ortega and Jung, performing spectacularly in victory each time? Plus, the third fight against Holloway should be a much bigger draw, right? Based on the gates, I can’t imagine that UFC 266 or UFC 273, where Volkanovski headlined, were failures, either. Was it to buoy up a card where Israel Adesanya was expected to easily trounce his challenger? If so, that’s short-sighted thinking and a disservice to Volkanovski, Holloway and the prestige of the featherweight division. It’s not like Adesanya, despite UFC President Dana White’s love for him, has ever become the major draw that it was hoped he would.

Volkanovski put on an amazing display, soundly defeating an all-time great while solidifying himself as one of the greatest martial artists to ever live. It should have been a coronation of one of the promotion’s very best fighters, one who has not lost since his fourth pro fight in 2013, someone who, based on his personality and fighting prowess, can easily be seen as an evolved, more skilled version of Georges St. Pierre.

Unfortunately, due to the UFC’s incompetence, it did not get nearly the shine it should have, with many fans likely dismissing it as a forgettable co-main event before one of the least-intriguing PPV headliners we’ve seen in some time. Volkanovski, Holloway and the featherweight division deserve better.