What is the most stacked card the UFC could conceivably put together?

[Sticko]

With all the speculation over UFC 300 and the recent reports that Saudi Arabia was not satisfied with hosting a Fight Night, i figured this would be an interesting exercise.

Here are my hypothetical constraints:
- assume that UFC 297, 298, and 299 will happen as scheduled but I can steal bouts or fighters off of them as needed.
- No retired fighters, nom-fighters, or fighters signed to rival promotions
- UFC 300 rescheduled to sometime in the summer or fall so injured fighters can participate if they are expected back in the NEAR future
- Matchups have to make at least some sense in terms of rankings and weight classes
- No matchups that can't happen because of fighter unwillingness (so for example, Adesanya and Usman won't fight each other, Aspinall can't fight Jon Jones because Jones is injured and going to retire after fighting Stipe, and Javid Basharat can't fight his brother Farid Basharat)
- Must include at least 1 WMMA bout and at least 1 manlet fight (145 lbs or less)
- 5 fight main card. 13 fight card overall and title fights and Conor fights have to be on the main card
- the UFC can totally blow their wad on this hypothetical card as if they weren't going to do another PPV in the next 3-6 months, like back in the old days when there were 3 or 4 events a year


The UFC has 13 active divisions so a card could theoretically just have 13 title fights on it, but that would make for a boring thread and would be too much of a good thing. The card would take all day. So that's why I'm stipulating that title fights must be on the main card.

 

[Sticko]

(Reserved for my complete card)

MAIN CARD
1. Main Event LHW Championship - Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill (if healthy) or Magomed Ankalaev
2. Co-Main Event MW Championship - Dricus du Plessis (with a win over Sean Strickland) vs. Israel Adesanya
3. LW Championship - Islam Makhachev vs. Justin Gaethje
4. BW Championship - Sean O'Malley vs Marlon "Chito" Vera
5. Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler at Conorweight

Note: if DDP loses to Sean Strickland, keep the DDP vs Izzy matchup intact for the prelims and replace this title fight on the main card with the FW Championship - Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria

PRELIMS
6. Featured Prelim - Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan at 155
7. Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa at 185
8. Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt at 135
9. Ian Machado Garry vs. Stephen Thompson at 170

EARLY PRELIMS
10. Featured Early Prelim Jim Miller vs. Paddy Pimblett at 155
11. Kevin Holland vs. Michael Venom Page at 170
12. Jessica Andrade vs. Carla Esparza at 115
13. Bo Nickel vs. Michel Pereira at 185

 

[Sticko]

(Reserved for my honorable mentions)

Jon Jones vs. Stipe Miocic
Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane
Sergei Pavlovich
Jiri Prochazka, Johnny Walker, Khalil Rountree Jr.
Sean Strickland
Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. winner of Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
Dustin Poirier vs. Benoit St-Denis
Alexander Volkanovski vs Ilia Topuria
Aljamain Sterling
Henry Cejudo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
Song Yadong
Alexandre Pantoja
Julianna Peña vs winner of Raquel Pennington vs. Mayra Bueno Silva
Alexa Grasso vs. Erin Blanchfield or Grasso vs. Valentina Shevchenko 3
Zhang Weili vs. Yan Xiaonan
Tatiana Suarez
Etc.

 

[Rio Ferdinand]

Poatan/Gane vs Aspinall
Nate vs Conor

 

[Takes_Two_To_Tango]

I think if the main card has pretty much have all the fights that can potentially be a main event fight in a regular PPV card. That's pretty stacked card imo.

 

[Striker Fox]

- UFC 300 rescheduled to sometime in the summer or fall so injured fighters can participate if they are expected back in the NEAR future
- Matchups have to make at least some sense in terms of rankings and weight classes
- Must include at least 1 WMMA bout and at least 1 manlet fight (145 lbs or less)
- the UFC can totally blow their wad on this hypothetical card as if they weren't going to do another PPV in the next 3-6 months, like back in the old days when there were 3 or 4 events a year

I didn't steal fights from 297, 298 and 299, and have little interest in watching Conor at this point, so he was left off.

Main card:
Aspinal vs Gane/Blaydes/Jailton for the real HW title
Poatan vs Ankalaev
Khamzat vs DDP/Strickland winner
Edwards vs Belal
Islam vs Gaethje

Prelims:
Shavkat vs Usman
Arman vs Oliveira
Garry vs Colby - assuming Garry beats Neal
Jiri vs Rakic
Umar vs Sandhagen
Borralho vs Shara
Nickal vs Ikram
Rose vs Suarez (I don't really follow WMMA so not too sure)

 

[Sticko]

Poatan/Gane vs Aspinall
Nate vs Conor

I believe Nate Diaz is currently a free agent so he's not available unless the UFC resigns him. Also not sure this fight would make it onto the most stacked card ever when it's already happened twice before.

 

[Sticko]

I didn't steal fights from 297, 298 and 299, and have little interest in watching Conor or Nate at this point, so they were left off.

Main card:
Aspinal vs Gane/Blaydes/Jailton for the real HW title
Poatan vs Ankalaev
Khamzat vs DDP/Strickland winner
Edwards vs Belal
Islam vs Gaethje

Prelims:
Shavkat vs Usman
Arman vs Oliveira
Garry vs Colby - assuming Garry beats Neal
Jiri vs Rakic
Umar vs Sandhagen
Borralho vs Shara
Nickal vs Ikram
Rose vs Suarez (I don't really follow WMMA so not too sure)

Very solid card. Rose is on a 2-fight losing streak and she thinks she's a flyweight now, but she's still a big name and Rose vs Tatiana Suarez would be a great fight at either 115 or 125. Although in terms of Suarez's title aspirations it would make much more sense at 115.

 

[ALAN PARTRIDGE]

Poatan/Gane vs Aspinall
Nate vs Conor

seriously who cares in the slightest about Conor vs Nate, if either one of them beats each other it means nothing and no one cares, no ones stock rises

 

[666]

Only doing main card.

Cain Velasquez vs Jon jones

Felder vs miller

Conor vs Chandler

Nunes vs her lesbian partner

Sub Zero vs Scorpion

Sorry I'm not too good with rules.

 

[haj02]

Stacked cards are often a let down if we are just talking name value. To produce a real banger of a card, it's more about putting the fighters whose styles are likely to lead to an entertaining fight together.

 

[Sticko]

Since at first glance Carla Esparza and "stacked card" don't belong in the same sentence, a quick word justifying my inclusion of her:

Jessica Andrade is a former SW champ who has IMO kept her name value high by fighting often and fighting a who's who of strawweight and flyweight contenders. Although she went on a losing streak in 2023 she ended the year on a positive note by knocking out Mackenzie Dern.

Carla Esparza is the only current or former SW champ whom Andrade has not yet faced. Esparza had a baby recently so not sure when or if she'll be available but if available that's a fight I'd like to see.

 

[Kowboy On Sherdog]

Main Card - 3 Title Fights. 2 #1 Contender Fights

Prelims - All Ranked Fighters

 

[jeskola]

Ronda vs Tate
Conor vs Anyone
Jones vs Aspinall
Pereria vs Jiri
Strickland vs Izzy 2

 

[bisquit]

Nothing was more exciting in my life than watching the PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix (OWGP). The fact that each fight dictates who fights who next was a thrill beyond all thrills. An example would be:

1. Strickland x Du Plessis
2. Khamzat x Adesanya/Costa - winner fights the winner of [1], loser fights loser
3. Makhachev x Gaethje
4. Oliveira x Conor McG - winner fights the winner of [3], loser fights loser
5. Jones x Miocic
6. Aspinal x Gane - winner fights the winner of [5], loser fights loser

 

[bisquit]

Nothing was more exciting in my life than watching the PRIDE Openweight Grand Prix (OWGP). The fact that each fight dictates who fights who next was a thrill beyond all thrills. An example would be:

1. Strickland x Du Plessis
2. Khamzat x Adesanya/Costa - winner fights the winner of [1], loser fights loser
3. Makhachev x Gaethje
4. Oliveira x Arman - winner fights the winner of [3], loser fights loser
5. Jones x Miocic
6. Aspinal x Gane - winner fights the winner of [5], loser fights loser

Or just copy+paste the Pride OWGP: no weight classes, plenty of freak fights, no USADA, and the OWGP winner fights Fedor.

 

[Sticko]

Ronda vs Tate
Conor vs Anyone
Jones vs Aspinall
Pereria vs Jiri
Strickland vs Izzy 2

Ronda is retired
Jones refuses to fight Aspinall
Pereira and Jiri already fought
Strickland won the first fight with Izzy pretty convincingly, at this point DDP vs. either of them is more interesting than a rematch

 

[Neck&Neck]

Naked chicks and Corn Nuts

 

[Sticko]

Max Holloway vs Justin Gaethje for UFC 300 has been announced and I think that fight makes a ton of sense in terms of Holloway being a big name who has sort of run out of people to fight at FW. And it'll probably be a much better fight than Islam vs Gaethje too.

So I'm going to revise my card.

 

[Sticko]

MAIN CARD
1. Main Event LHW Championship - Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill (if healthy) or Magomed Ankalaev
2. Co-Main Event MW Championship - Dricus du Plessis (with a win over Sean Strickland) vs. Israel Adesanya
3. LW Championship - Islam Makhachev vs. (winner of Charles Oliveira vs. Arman Tsarukyan) 2
4. BW Championship - Sean O'Malley vs Marlon "Chito" Vera
5. Conor McGregor vs Michael Chandler at Conorweight

Note: if DDP loses to Sean Strickland, keep the DDP vs Izzy matchup intact for the prelims and replace this title fight on the main card with the FW Championship - Alexander Volkanovski vs. Ilia Topuria

PRELIMS
6. Featured Prelim - Justin Gaethje vs. Max Holloway at 155
7. Khamzat Chimaev vs. Paulo Costa at 185
8. Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Cody Garbrandt at 135
9. Ian Machado Garry vs. Stephen Thompson at 170

EARLY PRELIMS
10. Featured Early Prelim Jim Miller vs. Paddy Pimblett at 155
11. Kevin Holland vs. Michael Venom Page at 170
12. Jessica Andrade vs. Carla Esparza at 115
13. Bo Nickel vs. Michel Pereira at 185