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It's looking more and more likely that Conor McGregor will not be fighting at UFC 303, now whether that is an Injury or he just doesn't want to fight anymore, who knows. Although I am here today to show a few options the UFC can do to still promise an amazing event. We know that the boss man Dana White said that this event has already past the Gate record, so they still need to keep this event intact with some superstar additions in short time.
The Best Possible Options
1.) (C) Alex Pereira vs #1 Jiří Procházka 2 - This is an great matchup to place on a card that didn't even have a single title on the line during the entire event. Jiri has been calling for his shot against Alex again after suffering the defeat against him the first time at UFC 295 by 2nd round TKO. Although let's not look past the fact that Jiri did indeed have his moments in that fight, landing a key takedown in R1 that would ultimately win him the round and also landing some great shots on Alex. Pereira has already said he wants to fight as soon as he can because he knows he only has so much left in this sport as he closes in on age 37.
2.) BMF (C) Max Holloway vs #6 Michael Chandler (155) - Now there is a reason I put this at 155, I just don't think Max would look to good at 170, he barley looks like he belonged at 155, even with a significant training camp. We are still about 25 days away, I think that should be fine for an OKish weight cut to 155 for Chandler but who knows, we know Max probably walks around at 170-175 at the very most, making 155 on about 3 weeks notice is nothing. Max rose to crazy exposure during UFC 300, after the last second KO of Justin Gaethje, he blew up on social media, even though he has already been a star in many other peoples eyes. Some of the post of his crazy highlight hit over a MILLION likes, that is absurd. This could be a good replacement, not that Holloway is as big of a star as Conor, no one will ever touch that status.... Although... If Holloway gets another crazy knockout against Chandler... he very well could be.
3.) BMF (C) Max Holloway vs #2 Charles Oliveira 2 (155) - Another possible option is the rematch between 2 beloved fighters were the first one ended in a very weird injury towards Charles Oliveira that left Holloway winning by TKO. Both of these fighters have improved tremendously it's crazy, both become Champions, went on crazy win streaks, lost their belt to the person who has their number. This has all been within the time they have had their first matchup. I think this could be a pretty fire replacement fight and would be a very entreating fight for the fans.
Do not be shocked although pretty interesting Options
1.) #4 Colby Covington vs Michael Chandler - Interesting matchup huh? The only reason I wouldn't mind something like this is because Chandler is also a wrestler in his own aspect, Colby may try and to wrestle someone like Jorge Masvidal who has not that good of a wrestling background but how well would he do with Chandler who hits like a TRUCK? Colby could spark out some crazy things to say at the Press Conference as well that would spark some curiosity into the event. Colby is still a star despite the terrible performance against Leon Edwards at UFC 296. Could Colby be to big for Chandler or could Chandler actually cause some serious questions in the Welterweight top 5 with a win over Chaos...
2.) Charles Oliveira vs Michael Chandler 2 (170) - This has been talked about quite a bit recently, especially with the fact of Charles coming out saying he would like to be the backup fighter. The problem I have for this is that I don't believe that this is a big enough of a fight to headline UFC 303, although if they went with it I wouldn't be surprised. We already saw this fight and every second of the fight was intense, from Chandler dropping Oliveira and almost finishing him to Charles Oliveira doing what Chandler couldn't at the end of Round 1 and finishing Michael Chandler within 20 seconds of Round 2. I would love to see this fight for a second time, I just don't know if it's big enough....
3.) Alexander Volkanovski vs Michael Chandler/Charles Oliveira (155) - Same problem as the last fight, it might not be big enough although Volk is still a big enough star to be a replacement fighter and still get eyes on the event no matter what. Volk vs Charles Oliveira is a very interesting matchup because it was something being talked about when Charles was reigning the 155 division as the Champion, now things have changed and Islam took over and we saw how Volk did against him. We never got to see Volk at lightweight against Chandler either. I still say I worry for Volk on such short notice moving up to 155 as we saw how bad he looked at 155 without a full camp at UFC 294....
Very unlikely but still a sliver of a CHANCE
1.) #1 Sean Strickland vs Kamaru Usman 2 - Yes this is a very unlikely matchup to take place, only reason I say that is because Strickland fought 4 days ago and took some very damaging leg kicks, although seemed to be walking around after the event like nothing ever happened. We saw Strickland fight as the last event of 2022 and then the very first of 2023 as he stepped in on 4 days notice. If Stricklands leg isn't as bad as we thought, then this could be a small possible fight to make. We know both fighters will step in on short notice to fight, and it's also a pretty interesting fight to say the least as it's a rematch I kind of want to see as Usman won the first one clearly and even dropped Strickland.... but that was at 170.... how does Usman do against him at 185?
2.) BMF (C) Max Holloway vs Alexander Volkanovski 4 - There is a reason this is so low, I just don't see it happening but if there is indeed some kind of story they can put together they can snatch this from the ground and put the narrative of if Holloway will go down 0-4 or if he can snatch a win against Volk for the first time and close the door. I didn't put a weight class because I really don't know if Max can cut down to 145 in such a short time, especially without a training camp, and I kind of feel like that would be a disadvantage towards Volk. But for some reason, this fight is there is nothing else is.
3.) (C) Alex Pereira vs (C) Dricus Du Plessis (205) - Please Remember this is not likely. The only reason I could see them doing this is because of the Gate and how much they would need to stack a card in such short fashion. It would provide a new random matchup that no one thought of. Dricus has said before that he would like to move up to 205 in the future, to be fair he already is a big guy for 185, but this is a 20 POUND jump, not the normal 10 pound one. It would actually put a lot of interesting towards the event and could even give us some great moments. If DDP won though, the 185 division would be a complete mess, so I'm not sure about this one.
The Best Possible Options
1.) (C) Alex Pereira vs #1 Jiří Procházka 2 - This is an great matchup to place on a card that didn't even have a single title on the line during the entire event. Jiri has been calling for his shot against Alex again after suffering the defeat against him the first time at UFC 295 by 2nd round TKO. Although let's not look past the fact that Jiri did indeed have his moments in that fight, landing a key takedown in R1 that would ultimately win him the round and also landing some great shots on Alex. Pereira has already said he wants to fight as soon as he can because he knows he only has so much left in this sport as he closes in on age 37.
2.) BMF (C) Max Holloway vs #6 Michael Chandler (155) - Now there is a reason I put this at 155, I just don't think Max would look to good at 170, he barley looks like he belonged at 155, even with a significant training camp. We are still about 25 days away, I think that should be fine for an OKish weight cut to 155 for Chandler but who knows, we know Max probably walks around at 170-175 at the very most, making 155 on about 3 weeks notice is nothing. Max rose to crazy exposure during UFC 300, after the last second KO of Justin Gaethje, he blew up on social media, even though he has already been a star in many other peoples eyes. Some of the post of his crazy highlight hit over a MILLION likes, that is absurd. This could be a good replacement, not that Holloway is as big of a star as Conor, no one will ever touch that status.... Although... If Holloway gets another crazy knockout against Chandler... he very well could be.
3.) BMF (C) Max Holloway vs #2 Charles Oliveira 2 (155) - Another possible option is the rematch between 2 beloved fighters were the first one ended in a very weird injury towards Charles Oliveira that left Holloway winning by TKO. Both of these fighters have improved tremendously it's crazy, both become Champions, went on crazy win streaks, lost their belt to the person who has their number. This has all been within the time they have had their first matchup. I think this could be a pretty fire replacement fight and would be a very entreating fight for the fans.
Do not be shocked although pretty interesting Options
1.) #4 Colby Covington vs Michael Chandler - Interesting matchup huh? The only reason I wouldn't mind something like this is because Chandler is also a wrestler in his own aspect, Colby may try and to wrestle someone like Jorge Masvidal who has not that good of a wrestling background but how well would he do with Chandler who hits like a TRUCK? Colby could spark out some crazy things to say at the Press Conference as well that would spark some curiosity into the event. Colby is still a star despite the terrible performance against Leon Edwards at UFC 296. Could Colby be to big for Chandler or could Chandler actually cause some serious questions in the Welterweight top 5 with a win over Chaos...
2.) Charles Oliveira vs Michael Chandler 2 (170) - This has been talked about quite a bit recently, especially with the fact of Charles coming out saying he would like to be the backup fighter. The problem I have for this is that I don't believe that this is a big enough of a fight to headline UFC 303, although if they went with it I wouldn't be surprised. We already saw this fight and every second of the fight was intense, from Chandler dropping Oliveira and almost finishing him to Charles Oliveira doing what Chandler couldn't at the end of Round 1 and finishing Michael Chandler within 20 seconds of Round 2. I would love to see this fight for a second time, I just don't know if it's big enough....
3.) Alexander Volkanovski vs Michael Chandler/Charles Oliveira (155) - Same problem as the last fight, it might not be big enough although Volk is still a big enough star to be a replacement fighter and still get eyes on the event no matter what. Volk vs Charles Oliveira is a very interesting matchup because it was something being talked about when Charles was reigning the 155 division as the Champion, now things have changed and Islam took over and we saw how Volk did against him. We never got to see Volk at lightweight against Chandler either. I still say I worry for Volk on such short notice moving up to 155 as we saw how bad he looked at 155 without a full camp at UFC 294....
Very unlikely but still a sliver of a CHANCE
1.) #1 Sean Strickland vs Kamaru Usman 2 - Yes this is a very unlikely matchup to take place, only reason I say that is because Strickland fought 4 days ago and took some very damaging leg kicks, although seemed to be walking around after the event like nothing ever happened. We saw Strickland fight as the last event of 2022 and then the very first of 2023 as he stepped in on 4 days notice. If Stricklands leg isn't as bad as we thought, then this could be a small possible fight to make. We know both fighters will step in on short notice to fight, and it's also a pretty interesting fight to say the least as it's a rematch I kind of want to see as Usman won the first one clearly and even dropped Strickland.... but that was at 170.... how does Usman do against him at 185?
2.) BMF (C) Max Holloway vs Alexander Volkanovski 4 - There is a reason this is so low, I just don't see it happening but if there is indeed some kind of story they can put together they can snatch this from the ground and put the narrative of if Holloway will go down 0-4 or if he can snatch a win against Volk for the first time and close the door. I didn't put a weight class because I really don't know if Max can cut down to 145 in such a short time, especially without a training camp, and I kind of feel like that would be a disadvantage towards Volk. But for some reason, this fight is there is nothing else is.
3.) (C) Alex Pereira vs (C) Dricus Du Plessis (205) - Please Remember this is not likely. The only reason I could see them doing this is because of the Gate and how much they would need to stack a card in such short fashion. It would provide a new random matchup that no one thought of. Dricus has said before that he would like to move up to 205 in the future, to be fair he already is a big guy for 185, but this is a 20 POUND jump, not the normal 10 pound one. It would actually put a lot of interesting towards the event and could even give us some great moments. If DDP won though, the 185 division would be a complete mess, so I'm not sure about this one.
