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Traditionally, the UFC loves to have its biggest events headlined by at least one UFC title bout. At times, they’ve seemingly been willing to create interim titles in order for this to happen.
While the UFC prefers to book title bouts to headline their biggest shows, there have always been major non-title fights worthy of the headline slot, and that’s no different today.
With big stars such as Jon Jones and Conor McGregor no longer holding UFC gold, the promotion could easily headline some major pay-per-views with non-title bouts – as they did with McGregor vs. Dustin Poirier this year – and make some huge money in the process.
With that in mind, here are five non-title UFC bouts that are worthy of headlining a major pay-per-view event.
#5. UFC lightweight division: Conor McGregor vs. Max Holloway
Both Conor McGregor and Max Holloway are amongst a number of fighters who once held UFC gold, but seemingly find their paths back to a title shot blocked at the current time.
There’s no disputing that their circumstances are a little different, of course. Holloway is probably the second-best featherweight in the world right now. The only thing keeping him from another shot at the UFC title is the fact that current champ Alexander Volkanovski has already beaten him twice.
McGregor, meanwhile, has won just one fight in the octagon since giving up the UFC lightweight title to pursue a boxing match with Floyd Mayweather in 2017. He’s now coming off two straight losses to Dustin Poirier.
However, a clash between the Irishman and the Hawaiian would still make plenty of sense right now. The two men fought once before, back in 2013, with McGregor winning a decision.
Neither man was a big name back then, whereas ‘The Notorious’ is now the UFC’s most bankable fighter. Holloway is not all that far behind him when it comes to popularity and star quality either.
For Holloway, this fight would be well worth moving up to 155lbs for – it’d be a career-high payday for him, and he’s got little to do at 145lbs right now anyway.
For McGregor it’d be far more risky, but given that ‘Blessed’ prefers to box more than anything else these days, he may feel he still stands a chance.
Either way, any McGregor fight would be worthy of headlining a UFC pay-per-view purely for the buyrate it’d guarantee. However, a clash with Holloway would be worthy from a sporting perspective too.
#4. UFC welterweight division: Colby Covington vs. Jorge Masvidal
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.
#3. UFC light-heavyweight division: Israel Adesanya vs. Jon Jones
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.
#2. UFC heavyweight division: Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic
Another non-title fight involving former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones that could easily headline a major UFC event would be a heavyweight clash with Stipe Miocic.
The most decorated heavyweight champion in UFC history, Miocic held the title on two occasions between 2016 and 2020. He made a total of four successful title defenses before being dethroned by Francis Ngannou earlier this year.
Jones, meanwhile, is renowned as the greatest light heavyweight of all time. He’s been talking about a move up in weight for a long time now – even dropping his UFC light heavyweight title to pursue it last year.
If he can get past his current financial issues with the UFC, it might be hard to put him straight into a title fight with Ngannou who is now set to fight Ciryl Gane. A clash with Miocic would be the next best thing.
It’s unlikely that there’d be much trash-talk between the two. Miocic is one of the UFC’s more softly-spoken stars and has only ever shown respect for Jones, but in the octagon, the fight would definitely bring fireworks.
More to the point, UFC fans would definitely be intrigued by such a clash, if only to see exactly how Jones would look after finally making his move up to heavyweight.
Not only would this fight be worthy of headlining a major UFC event, but it’d also be a huge hit with casual fans, too.
#1. UFC welterweight division: Nate Diaz vs. Conor McGregor
The biggest non-title fight that the UFC could put together to headline a major event right now would undoubtedly be the trilogy bout between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz.
A potential third bout between the two has been talked of since they first split two epic fights back in 2016. Due to the diverging paths of both fighters, the UFC has never been able to put it together.
However, it might finally be the right time for the two rivals to settle the score in the near future. ‘The Notorious’ has never really settled his grudge against Diaz. In the years since their second clash, they’ve often sniped at one another on social media platforms.
More to the point, with both men now coming off a string of losses and with their backs to the wall somewhat, neither man could really afford to lose. However, a win could propel either back up the ladder.
Would the fans buy into a trilogy bout between McGregor and Diaz? Absolutely. Their first fight at UFC 196 surprised everyone when it drew 1.3m buys on pay-per-view, and their rematch at UFC 202 surpassed that by drawing 1.65m buys.
Essentially, the interest in this fight is definitely still there, even if both fighters have fallen on hard times since. More than any other non-title fight, this one would be worthy of headlining a big UFC show.
