What Would Stipe Retiring Mean for The Heavyweight Division?

By: Zane Farrow

There have been several indications that Stipe Miocic will not return to the octagon. If he doesn't return, what happens to the Heavyweight title?

So in the past few weeks rumours have emerged that UFC Heavyweight Champion Stipe Miocic, may not be able to recover from the Eye injuries sustained is his fight against Daniel Cormier for the belt at UFC 241. Now, while I must stress at this point they are only rumours and are yet to be even addressed by UFC President Dana White, the prospect of the Heavyweight title being vacant poses some very interesting questions.

What Will Happen to the Belt?

Well, most likely we will see the belt vacated, meaning no one will officially be the champion. We've seen this happen before as well in the UFC, with Daniel Cormier himself, he vacated the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship upon Jon Jones' return against Alexander Gustafsson.

In that case what we saw was two contenders fight for the vacated belt, with Jon Jones coming out on top. I think we would likely see the same situation play out here with two heavyweight contenders fighting for the vacant belt.

But who are the contenders? There are a few fights coming up which may help us narrow down the field, let's take a look.

Junior Dos Santos Vs. Curtis Blaydes:

With Junior Dos Santos at the tail end of his career and Curtis Blaydes managing to find his feet in the division, what we may see here with the right performance from Blaydes is a jump up the rankings and mention in the conversation of contenders. Even though he would likely need another fight or two to really make the impact needed to get a title shot.

Both of these fighters having previously fought fellow contender Francis Ngannou and lost, we would need to see some real drastic improvements from them both if they were to be in the conversation for a title shot.

Francis Ngannou Vs Jairzinho Rosenstruik

With Francis Ngannou on an absolute tear through the division once again. With wins over the likes of Cain Velasquez and Junior Dos Santos in the first round, he is undoubtedly the most clear cut contender that there currently is at Heavyweight.

With this being said, the man he faces is no easy fight, having put away the likes of Andrei Arlovski and Allistair Overeem, Jairzinho Rosenstruik has more than proven he can hang at the top of the division. On top of being undefeated if he can beat Ngannou he will have without a doubt earned his shot. Whoever wins this one will fight for the title next, this is a very important fight for the division.

Jon Jones Vs Dominick Reyes

Although this fight is at Light Heavyweight, I think no matter the outcome Jones will move to heavyweight, he was very open about his desire to fight there when he spoke to the press in December.

Without a true contender at Light Heavyweight I don't think anything stops him from doing just that. Obviously with achievements and accolades like Jon has, we would likely see him in some sort of "superfight" situation where he immediately fights for the belt. However, if he loses to Reyes, I think he still makes the move up, but in that situation he would likely not be put into an immediate title shot.

Other Options

Among other contenders, without fights currently booked are Walt Harris and Daniel Cormier, who we very well could see fight for a vacant belt. However, with Daniel being open about retirement and Walt Harris coming off a layoff due to some horrific personal issues involving his daughter, I don't think either of these two would be put into the fight.

So, in conclusion, if Stipe is never to return, we are most likely going to see a "superfight" at heavyweight. Who is going to be in that fight is yet to be answered, but in the coming months it will be for sure.

Provided Francis Ngannou can win his fight against Jairzinho Rosenstruik then a fight between him and Jon Jones would be great for not just the UFC but the fans too. Everybody wants to see this fight, so if Stipe retires and leaves the belt open, that would provide the perfect opportunity for the UFC to put this fight on and have a new face of the heavyweight division.

Whatever happens in sure it won't be long until we see both Jon move to Heavyweight and fight Francis Ngannou, but until anything is confirmed, like Dana White always says, we've just got to see how it all plays out!

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