A new contender has joined the UFC heavyweight division, shaking things up as John Jones has retired, leaving the title vacant for two years. With Jones’ departure, interim champion Tom Aspinall has been officially declared the undisputed heavyweight champion, facing potential challengers like Ciryl Gane, Alexander Volkov, and Mailton Almeida.
Adding excitement to the division, UFC recently signed grappling ace Marcus “Buffecha” Almeida, a decorated athlete with a 5-1 professional MMA record and 17 BJJ World Championship titles. Almeida secured a first-round submission win over former Greco-Roman wrestling champion Amir Aliakbari last November. His only MMA loss came against reigning heavyweight champion “Reug Reug” Kane. Praised as the top heavyweight grappler in MMA by Bert MMA, Almeida is set to make his UFC debut against Martin Buday at UFC Abu Dhabi on July 26. Buday boasts a 15-2 record with a 6-1 run in the UFC, including wins over Uran Satibaldiev and former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovsky.
UFC Abu Dhabi is stacked with exciting matchups, headlined by Robert Whittaker facing former two-division champ Reinier de Ridder in a highly anticipated clash. The co-main event features a featherweight title eliminator between unbeaten Movsar Evloev and Bellator standout Aaron Pico. Former champion Petr Yan returns to fight #13 ranked Marcus McGee, while featherweight Bryce Mitchell makes his bantamweight debut alongside 15-1 Shara Magomedov, who also returns to bantamweight.
Fan Take: This signing of Marcus Almeida marks a pivotal moment for the UFC heavyweight division by injecting elite grappling talent that could redefine how the division fights. Fans should be excited as his debut and the upcoming fights promise compelling matchups that will shape the future landscape of MMA.
