Madison Square Garden Rumors: Who Will Be Fighting on This Year’s Penultimate UFC Card?
The past week has provided glimpses and whispers into the possible happenings of the UFC’s annual Madison Square Garden card. Since its inception in 2016, the MSG card has provided spectacular moments and clashes year after year. It’s the superstar card, the time when the UFC’s crown jewels come together and fight for the biggest pay-per-view numbers of the year. With so many big names still searching for a place to land at this year’s end, it only makes sense some rumors would pop up as to who will be fighting who on this momentous card. For years prior, we can assert that the headliner and co-main will be two fights that hold both tremendous star power and title implications. With that being said, I think it’s time to go over the rumors and deduce who is likely to be fighting on the card and where.
Islam Makhachev is a name that holds weight with anyone privy to the happenings of the UFC. The Dagestani wrestler has defended his Lightweight title four times against some of the toughest names in the promotion. This year, he vacated his title so he could move up to Welterweight to fight for the opportunity of being a two-division champion. The MMA world has been abuzz with the news for quite some time now. If Makhachev loses, will this squander the chance of a super-fight between Makhachev and the newly established Lightweight champion, Ilia Topuria? Will Islam come back down to Lightweight if he wins? Will he stay at Welterweight and keep defending his title? Many questions surround this nailbiter of a fight, but when it will happen is still unanswered. In an interview with MMAJunkie, Makhachev stated that he “asked Dana White if we have some opportunity to fight in Madison Square Garden. It would be an honor for me to fight in the biggest arena for MMA and boxing.” His coach, Khabib Nurmagamedov, later verbally confirmed this on the Cornell Combat Sports Show, stating that the date at Madison Square Garden was confirmed and the opponent would be Welterweight champion Jack Della Maddalena. All of this is to say that all signs point toward Islam fighting JDM at the Garden, that is, until this past week.
As with all speculation, nothing ever seems to be as good as it seems. Yesterday, former Lightweight title contender Renato Moicano spoke to Laerte Viana, a Brazilian MMA reporter, and claimed that Madison Square Garden would be headlined by none other than Ilia Topuria and Justin Gaethje, with the co-main being a Flyweight title fight between Alexandre Pantoja and Joshua Van. This comes days after Leon Edwards also stated he would love to fight at MSG this November as part of the main card for the evening. Edwards was called out two weeks ago by Carlos Prates, who asked to fight the former champion at UFC Rio in October. As of seven hours ago, Prates' hopes of fighting in Rio have been struck down, according to the Brazilian sector of ESPN, which states he will now be facing an unnamed opponent at MSG. It seems the stars are aligning for a Prates v. Edwards fight under the brightest lights the MMA world has to offer.
Many questions continue to bubble toward the surface as we draw closer to this November’s magnificent fight card. Will we see Islam? Ilia? Both? Will Carlos Prates once again prove he is one of the best strikers Welterweight has to offer, or will his hype train be derailed once again? Is Edwards due for a comeback, or are his best years behind him? All we can do is sit, wait, and speculate as to what will surely be one of the most historic cards in all of UFC history takes place before our very eyes. I, for one, am greatly looking forward to the reveal of these fights over the coming weeks. I hope you are as well.
