Who will be the next WORLD CHAMPION to break the MAGIC EIGHT?

[Ravendarat]

8 Defences is a long time to cover, its entirety possible someone in a weak divisions could face an up and comer 3 years down the road that could merc them. I dont think Cyborg will fight long enough to, if she does than I guess her, but in reality the obvious answer is BROCK LESNARRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!! j/k

 

[ANIM4L]

Cyborg should already be there if the promotions werent fucking around with her career.

Woodley can do it if they give him a good timeline

Maybe Cejudo because his division lacks depth.

 

[randumo24]

I think Rose can do it. It is a competitive division no doubt, but she continues to improve everytime out. She proved that she's massively shored up the one real weakness she had, which was her mental game. She's easily the most complete fighter in her division, and I'd say the best MMA striker in her division after beating JJ. Which is another key that clearing the best other fighter in the division as champion is a big deal.

What is very important to take into consideration in this topic is age. How much longer will they be in their prime for? Rose just turned 26, so she is just coming into her prime now.

Now, that's the issue for someone like Cyborg. As unstoppable as she is, she is 33 now and on top of that she doesn't get to fight often because that division is shallow and the UFC has a tough time finding women who really want to fight her lol.

 

[mallen7272]

It would be Cyborg if they could find her opponents

 

[randumo24]

It would be Cyborg if they could find her opponents

That's why I say she's too old to do it at 33, and someone like Rose who just turned 26 and is constantly getting better has a better chance. Even though Cyborg is more dominant compared to her division, she might not even stick around for that long, let alone be anywhere near her prime if she does.

 

[Blayt7hh]

Only ones with the skills to do it I don’t see happening for other reasons. Cyborg is leaving most likely. Khabib arely fights once a year.

Cyborg might already count though if you count in Invicta. Which you probably should since it’s more legit than the ufc FW title

 

[WinZip]

I think Nunes has the best chance, assuming she gets back to fighting and stays active. I don't see anyone at WBW that will beat her.

I would say Cyborg but she probably won't be around long enough

 

[Rum]

What the hell is a magic 8?

 

[ArtOfDrowning]

Valentina? That division is trash and she can probably defend title 8 time in a row night after night. That is how bad those girls are.

Also maybe Max if he is healthy.

 

[Wicked_1]

Ic he doesnt retire before i would say khabib has the best shot. Unless conor gets the job done, which i have serious doubts about, i dont see anyone taking out the eagle.

 

[GSP_37]

It'll be harder since going forward, opponents will probably be more well rounded.

 

[Roljo]

Why 8? Why not 7 and put Ronda in there? Or 9 and take Jones out?

perfect reason

 

[fatbino]

Doesn’t TJ already have 3 defenses? Barao, Cody, and that other guy...*checks internets*... Joe Soto.

 

[pick999]

If DJ retired tomorrow, then Cejudo would be a good pick to break 8 defenses. I don't think anyone in the UFC FLW division is on his level apart from DJ, and the best guy after them is fighting in RIZIN.

jb already beat him

 

[Ghostoftheville]

Any fighter can have one good title fight and win gold. Then a proportion of those champs had what it took to string together two good title fights and mount a successful defense of their crown. A smaller proportion than that managed to defend twice. Still fewer compiled 3. Etc. This isn't news to most of you. Any non-casual knows why 8+ defenses is considered the toughest ask in the game. The challenge of winning a title in a second division is nothing to sniff at (even if you do outweigh your "bigger" opponent) but compared to the EPIC SAGA that must be written to encompass 8+ defenses of a World Title, winning a mere 2 title fights in separate divisions is relatively small fry.

Only five masters of the game have achieved this monumental task.

• 11 DJ
• 10 Spider (robbed of 11th by Lutter's lack of professionalism missing weight)
• 9 GSP
• 9 Jose Scarface
• 8 Jonny Bones

Ronda fell at 7. Joanna, Hughes and Tito all fell at 5.

So which of the current champs, if any, has what it takes to join that small, elite band of LEGENDS who have cracked 8+, and expand THE FABULOUS FIVE to THE SPLENDID SIX?

• 1 Thug Rose
• 0 Nicco
• 3 Amanda Leao
• 2 Cyborg
• 0 Henry
• 1 Snake
• 1 Max Blessed
• 0 The Eagle
• 3 T-Wood
• 0 Robert Knuckles (robbed of 1 by Romero's lack of professionalism missing weight)
• 2 DC
• 0 DC

ETA: Teej!

Woodley is 36, don't see him doing it, yes I know Anderson did it, but that's Silva

 

[pick999]

ortega
his fights are quick and has steel chin and bulldog chokes

 

[OriginMMA]

Benavidez looked like shit in his last fight and got lucky against Henry anyway. If not for Cejudo's inadvertent groin shot that got him docked a point, he would've lost.

That doesn’t matter the point is he lost and he could get robbed again. Getting 8 title defendes is an extremely hard task because of situations like that.

 

[El Fernas]

So are we now pretending that it is just easy to beat the champion of a higher weight class. Like that guy who's champ after beating all the top contenders, he's easy! The real difficult fights are guys ranked 2, 5 and 8.

It's still impressive af to beat another champ. And DC, on top of being the LHW champ, also had multiple wins at HW in UFC and was the strikeforce HW champ. You can't even pretend he didn't deserve that shot. If Stipe beat him it would have been the best win of his career too.

Its about matchup most of the time, Conor shouldnt even had a title shot at LW, he lost to Nate Diaz...a mid tier LW, GSP most likely wouldnt had gone past Luke, Weidman, Romero but he got the best of Bisping...BJ seems like he had Hughes number, once he tried WW again well, he was sent back down, DC is probably the only one that was able to compete and actually dominate at the higher weight class, but he didnt had to fight the current top contenders, its impressive to get both belts, but there are easier roads some had to get there.

 

[Rum]

Woodley is 36, don't see him doing it, yes I know Anderson did it, but that's Silva

That's also middleweight.

In general it gets tougher the closer you get to 155, simply because that's the deepest, most beast-rich division due to demographics, and the depth falls away either side as you slide down the bell curve to the shallow ends of the pool.

 

[Negator402]

Sadly, none.

-DC/DC retires well before getting closer at LHW. I would argue he won the belt against Rumble the first time, defended it against Gus and Rumble, the Jones fight never happened, and then Oezdemir. So I give him 3 defenses. Still not close.
-RW is a great young fighter, but injury prone, and that division is a good one.
-TW is at 3 (sorta) but is older and has weaknesses. He might have the best shot though.
-Khabib is injury prone and I believe will lose to MCG or Ferguson. Long way to go.
-Max is injury prone and taken too much damage. Little Robbie Lawler.
-TJ is awesome, but a LONG way to go.
-Cejudo...the division might not last 8 title defenses.
-Women, not that interesting. Does not even count, too thin.