Hot Takes

Judge a fighter by who they beat in their prime, not by their final record.

Anderson Silva's middleweight run is still the most dominant stretch the UFC has ever seen.

Israel Adesanya was a great champion who stayed about two years too long.

Winning a belt by disqualification should come with an automatic rematch. Nobody wants a champion by DQ.

Fighters who miss weight should lose their whole purse, not 20 percent.

The Octagon should be bigger. More room means more striking and fewer cage-grinding decisions.

Light heavyweight is the best division to watch right now. Every fight is a finish or a war.

Heavyweight is the weakest division in the UFC and it isn't close.

MMA judging won't be fixed until judges are full-time professionals who study film.

The calf kick changed MMA more than any other technique in the last ten years.

Middleweight hasn't had a truly great champion since Anderson Silva.

Alexa Grasso submitting Valentina Shevchenko is the biggest women's upset since Holm and Rousey.

Mackenzie Dern holding a UFC belt is the best advert jiu-jitsu gyms could ever ask for.

Stripping a champion for inactivity should be automatic after 12 months. No exceptions, no favourites.

Petr Yan losing his first title run to one illegal knee changed the bantamweight division for years.

Ronda Rousey did more for women's MMA than anyone, and her fighting résumé is still overrated.

Charles Oliveira's UFC submission record will never be broken.

Leg kicks are the most underrated weapon in MMA. Ask anyone who fought José Aldo.

Sean O'Malley is a top-ten talent with a number-one personality. The skills never matched the hype.

Tony Ferguson's 12-fight win streak deserves more respect than the end of his career gets.