Heavyweight (265 lbs.)
Current title holder: Junior ‘Cigano’ Dos Santos
The heavyweight division has always been the most captivating to avid and casual fans alike. Enormous men throwing around malicious bombs will always be a hard attraction to best in combat sports. However, in recent years we have seen a shift in the UFC’s heavyweight division. The monsters of the division like Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, and Tim Sylvia have been replaced by smaller, quicker, and more technically sound heavyweights like Junior Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.
Dos Santos will be facing Velasquez once again on December 29 at UFC 155 to determine whether the current champs’ blitz first round knockout over his Mexican-American foe earlier this year was nothing more than a lucky punch.
After the rematch between Dos Santos and Velasquez, many believe that Alistair ‘The Demolition Man’ Overeem will be in line for a title shot after his decimation of Brock Lesnar in his last outing. If Overeem does not get the nod, another slim possibility would be Daniel Cormier, the winner of Strikeforce’s heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.
Cormier was slated to fight Frank Mir in November but is now left without an opponent since Mir has sustained an injury. If the UFC can line up another top ranked heavyweight to fight Cormier in November, the winner could be in line for a title shot if the marketing is executed effectively.