5 cross-promotion fights involving UFC stars that could guarantee a slugfest

#4. Jan Blachowicz (UFC) vs. Vadim Nemkov (Bellator)

Jan Blachowicz would be likely to engage in a stand-up war with Vadim Nemkov

Despite defending his UFC light heavyweight title successfully against UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya and carrying a five-fight winning streak, many MMA fans still underestimate Jan Blachowicz.

MASSIVE!🇵🇱 @JanBlachowicz puts himself in position to secure the final round. #UFC259 pic.twitter.com/k5Q7CjdHad

— UFC (@ufc) March 7, 2021

That probably explains why plenty of those fans decided to label Bellator light heavyweight champion Vadim Nemkov the best 205lber on the planet after he destroyed former champion Ryan Bader to claim the title in 2020.

So which promotion has the better light heavyweight kingpin? It’s honestly hard to say as there hasn’t been all that much crossover when it comes to Blachowicz and Nemkov, but it’s probably fair to suggest a fight between the two would be excellent.

Such a clash would pit the incredibly heavy hands and skilled boxing game of Poland’s Blachowicz against an arguably slightly better-rounded opponent in Nemkov. The Russian prefers to knock his opponents out, but he does have an excellent sambo base to fall back on.

Despite that though, it’s likely that these two fighters would simply look to trade off until one could take no more, meaning that the big winner if Blachowicz were to face off with Nemkov would be the fans.

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#3. Aljamain Sterling (UFC) vs. Bibiano Fernandes (ONE)

A fight between Aljamain Sterling and Bibiano Fernandes would be a grappling dream match

Bibiano Fernandes has long been recognized as the best bantamweight fighter outside the UFC. He held the DREAM bantamweight title a decade ago and has now been at the top of ONE Championship since he arrived there in 2012.

It stands to reason, then, that a fight between ‘Bibi’ and any of the UFC’s top 135lbers would be fantastic, whether it were against Petr Yan, T.J. Dillashaw or Cory Sandhagen.

However, the fight that would make the most sense, and might well provide the best overall match-up, would be one pitting Fernandes against current UFC bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling.

Sterling probably gets a bit of an unfair rep right now due to the fact that he won his title by disqualification, but he is in fact a brilliant fighter. ‘Funk Master’ has an unorthodox and ever-improving striking game, one of the best wrestling backgrounds in the division and on the mat, he’s genuinely venomous.

ALJO! 🇯🇲THE FUNK IS IN THE BUILDING! 🕺 #UFC250

— UFC (@ufc) June 7, 2020

However, in Fernandes he’d not only be facing an opponent with knockout power, but also one with tremendous submission skills. ‘Bibi’ is a longtime Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt, and he holds nine of his 24 career wins via submission.

Basically, this would be an amazing fight both on the feet and on the ground, and it’d also be hard to pick a winner.