5 non-title UFC fights that would be worthy of headlining a major pay-per-view event
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.
Report: UFC 257 earns 1.6 million pay-per-view buys | themaclife.com/featured-posts… https://t.co/gwRowymOwT
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.
Conor McGregor fought Max Holloway 8 years ago today.
Since then, McGregor became UFC's first-ever double champ and headlined 8 of the top 10 UFC PPVs of all time, according to reports.
Holloway reeled off a record 14 straight featherweight wins, including three title defenses. https://t.co/5MarssotWt
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.