5 non-title UFC fights that would be worthy of headlining a major pay-per-view event

#4. UFC welterweight division: Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal

Jorge Masvidal could headline a major UFC pay-per-view against bitter rival Colby Covington

The UFC welterweight division is home to the top-ranked pound-for-pound fighter in the promotion right now in champion Kamaru Usman. However, there are still a number of 170lbs fighters and rivalries worthy of headlining a big event without him.

Most notably, a clash between former title challengers Colby Covington and Jorge Masvidal would simply be huge. It’d be hard for any UFC fan not to become invested in what has become a genuinely bitter rivalry.

Essentially, ‘Chaos’ and ‘Gamebred’ were once good friends and training partners, with Covington even sleeping on Masvidal’s couch at one point.

However, a major fall-out between them in 2019 resulted in the two trading barbs on social media. Eventually, it became a major factor in Covington leaving American Top Team altogether.

The UFC has always been quick to capitalize on personal feuds between fighters. In fact, some of the promotion’s bigger events were headlined by such bouts, even if they weren’t for a UFC title.

For instance, UFC 114 – headlined by Rashad Evans vs. Rampage Jackson – drew over a million buys on pay-per-view back in 2010, becoming one of the promotion’s first shows to hit that mark.

Could a show headlined by a non-title clash between Covington and Masvidal reach those kind of numbers? There’s no reason why it couldn’t.

The two fighters would definitely be willing to build the fight up as a major one, and Masvidal in particular is already a proven drawing card for the UFC. Overall, this grudge match, driven by bad blood, could easily headline any UFC event and do well.

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#3. UFC light-heavyweight division: Israel Adesanya vs. Jon Jones

A fight to settle the score between Israel Adesanya and Jon Jones could be huge business for the UFC

It’s safe to say that current UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya’s first foray up into the light heavyweight division didn’t go according to plan.

‘The Last Stylebender’ attempted to become the UFC’s sixth double champion when he faced then-UFC light heavyweight titleholder Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259. Adesanya fell in defeat for the first time in the octagon.

However, while he’s since returned to 185lbs, one fight that could probably entice him back up to 205lbs would be against former UFC light heavyweight champ Jon Jones.

The two men have had a serious rivalry for some time now, sniping at one another on social media on numerous occasions. Adesanya has taken shots at Jones’ legal problems and ‘Bones’ threatened to break his neck in response.

Whether or not the UFC would actually want to book this fight, of course, is another matter. With Adesanya still ruling over the middleweight division, they may prefer for ‘The Last Stylebender’ to avoid another potential loss to a larger opponent.

Naturally, after his defeat to Blachowicz, the likelihood of Adesanya actually being able to chop Jones down seems pretty slim. Especially with how much size Jones has put on for his impending heavyweight debut.

However, would this fight be worthy of headlining a major UFC event, regardless of the fact that it wouldn’t be for a title? Absolutely! In fact, it’d probably go down as one of the biggest UFC fights of all time thanks to the star power of the fighters and their personal rivalry.