With the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s latest pay-per-view extravaganza in the rearview, the focus now turns back to Las Vegas and the UFC Apex once again. Where on Saturday night, several fighters and even a division will feel the heat as they look for a much-needed victory and enter the Octagon on the UFC Vegas 27 hot seat.
UFC Vegas 27 hot seat: Cody Garbrandt
I am sure you’re looking Cody Garbandt’s name and maybe a bit confused since he won his last fight. This is true, but one W doesn’t necessarily mean a fighter is back to their old selves in one fell swoop. “No Love” losing his three previous fights by knockout can’t be ignored. Not to mention, he is in the unique group of fighters that tested positive for COVID-19, lost a fight from it, and then needed a few months to recover from the deadly virus.
He not only has to prove his win 11 months wasn’t a victorious blip in a career downturn, but that he’s also truly 100% following his five-round scrap with coronavirus. And proving he has returned to his 2016 form will be no easy task when he’s confronted by Rob Font on Saturday night. A talented, surging, and hungry third-ranked bantamweight coming off a career win in December. When he dispatched former title challenger Marlon Moraes in less than a round. Font also has something to prove. He knows a win at UFC Vegas 27 could put him in line for a shot at the winner of the championship rematch between Aljamain Sterling and Petr Yan.
The 29-year-old Garbrandt’s spot on the roster is certainly not in any danger, but his place as a top-five bantamweight and a main event star will disappear faster than a Thanos snap if he fell to the New England Cartel lieutenant, and dropped four of his last five.
Heat rating: 6 out 10
UFC Vegas 27 hot seat: Felicia Spencer, Norma Dumont & the women’s featherweight division
The UFC’s women’s featherweight division is in a precarious place at the moment. Mainly because the promotion has turned it into a mess and seems more interested in tossing the whole thing out rather than cleaning it up. Currently, the organization’s website lists just eight competitors in the division, and half of them are currently in Bellator or not on the roster anymore. This also comes after several years of lacking official rankings as well. You really don’t need much more proof that the UFC could care less about 145-pound female fighters.
However, I’ll give you some more. Just a couple of weeks ago, the weight-classes current champion, Amanda Nunes told Combate, [UFC President] Dana [White] wants to end this division, but I told him that, as long as I’m champion, I want it open.” It’s no surprise that the champ feels that way because her recent title challenger Megan Anderson was not retained by the UFC just days after her first-round submission loss to the Brazilian superstar in March. It can’t be a good sign when an organization chooses to let elite talent in a division walk after competing in a championship fight and losing to the best female fighter alive.
This all leads to some added pressure for the bout between Felicia Spencer and Norma Dumont on Saturday. It almost feels like the last gasps of a division, when you consider there are no other women’s featherweight bouts planned for upcoming cards. “The Immortal” lost to Anderson in February 2020 by first-round knockout. Spencer had her chance at Nunes last June and was soundly dominated for five rounds. So outside of either woman landing something unprecedented like a helicopter kick knockout in the first 30 seconds, they are not strong candidates for a championship bout with “The Lioness.”
Yet “Feenom” and Dumont are in the unfair position of needing to put on a “fight of the night” level outing to prove to their boss that the division still has legs, and woman heavier than 135-pounds deserve a home in the UFC. For these women, it’s more than just pressure to win and maintain relevancy, they possibly have the weight of a whole division’s future on their shoulders heading into fight night.
Heat rating: 9 out of 10
UFC Vegas 27 hot seat: Court McGee
Did you know Court McGee actually holds a win over former UFC middleweight champion Robert Whittaker? If you did, kudos to you for being in that small group that recalls that 2013 moment. However, most are likely to remember that since 2017, McGee has lost five of six fights. Now granted, he hasn’t been getting knocked out and seeing his astral form leave his body. And every defeat came via decision. However, five of six is still five of six, and The Ultimate Fighter season 11 winner really needs to get a win against Claudio Silva at UFC Vegas 27.
At 36, the Utah native isn’t getting any younger and probably not better. Saturday night is all about proving he can still compete at this level. Plain and simple. Another defeat would be forcing the promotion to ponder life without “The Crusher” around. Especially, since he is not a highlight reel machine with all but two of his eight wins in the Octagon coming by decision. It would be a sad end for a fighter with a fantastic redemption tale of recovery from drug addiction. Considering that, and the toughness he has always shown in his fights, McGee knows how to survive when his back is against the wall and could get a huge victory this weekend.
