Light-heavyweight landscape poised to reset beginning at UFC 327

Since its dominant Jon Jones era, which stretched the better part of a decade until the ever-controversial star vacated his belt in 2020 to pursue the heavyweight title, the UFC’s light-heavyweight division has been in perpetual flux.

Following Jones's departure, the belt bounced from Jan Blachowicz to Glover Teixeira to Jiri Prochazka over the span of four fights. Then, after Prochazka blew out his shoulder, it spent several months vacant as Blachowicz and Magomed Ankalaev fought to a bizarre split draw while contesting it at UFC 282.

The promotion quickly pivoted to an entirely different title fight at the subsequent pay-per-view card, which is how Jamahal Hill became an unlikely champion, battering a 43-year-old Teixeira in his retirement fight. But Hill, too, was forced to vacate only six months later after rupturing an Achilles.

Enter Alex Pereira, the former middleweight champion, who moved up and finally brought order to the division by defeating Prochazka for the belt and successfully defending it three times in a six-month span in 2024. Even after Ankalaev swiped it from him in a shocker at UFC 313, Pereira returned seven months later to flatten the Russian grappler and reestablish his dominance.

Yet again, a title reign was short-lived, as Pereira never defended the belt during his second stint as 205-pound champion and left the division this February to move up to heavyweight. This Saturday at UFC 327 in Miami, the belt will be vacant for a third time since Jones left, and will have a new champion for the eighth time in the past 5.5 years.

That’s a lot of upheaval, which has disordered the division’s rankings. Ankalaev is technically the No. 1 contender, yet he will watch Saturday’s main event without a fight booked. Khalil Rountree Jr. remains in the top five despite losses in two of his last three. Volkan Oezdemir, ranked No. 9, is a 36-year-old with a 9-7 record in the UFC. There’s only one fighter in the top-15 — No. 15-ranked Zhang Mingyang — younger than 33.

But 205 pounds has an opportunity to reset in the coming weeks, with a new champion crowned and several top contenders in action.

Here’s a look at four upcoming fights among light-heavyweight contenders, including three taking place Saturday night at UFC 327.

Jiri Prochazka vs. Carlos Ulberg

No one was happier to see Pereira depart the division than Prochazka, a deeply intense and slightly off-kilter striker who’s been hovering around the title picture for years. The 33-year-old’s only two UFC losses came at Pereira’s hands, the second even more resounding than the first. Prochazka’s path back to the title he briefly held in 2022 was completely obstructed if Pereira hung around.

And Ulberg was a close second, as the poised, powerful Pereira presented a more difficult stylistic matchup than Prochazka’s wilder, at-times reckless approach.

It’s why Prochazka got caught both times he fought Periera — he embraces danger and great risk to pressure forward and overwhelm opponents. There aren’t many championship-level fighters who can get away with what Prochazka tries to, accepting punishment (5.6 strikes absorbed per minute in his UFC career) as often as he distributes it (5.7 strikes landed per minute).

Ulberg, on the other hand, has averaged 6.5 significant strikes landed per minute and only four strikes absorbed per minute over 10 UFC fights, which is how he’s strung together nine consecutive victories. Highly technical and efficient, the 35-year-old possesses the kind of patience and strategic chops that can systematically exploit a loose, chaotic fighter’s weaknesses.

Of course, fights aren’t fought on paper, and there’s a reason Prochazka’s hung around atop the division as long as he has, turning away emerging contender after emerging contender. He thrives in a messy, drawn-out fight and it isn’t like he hasn’t faced proficient strikers before.

Prochazka’s intangible big fight experience is worth something, and after spending so long so close to the belt, few ought to be as prepared to leave every piece of themselves in the Octagon when presented an opportunity like this one.

Paulo Costa vs. Azamat Murzakanov

If there’s a wild card who could upend this staid division’s inertia, it may just be Azamat Murzakanov, the 36-year-old Russian who took forever to reach the UFC but has been making up for lost time since.

Following his first professional fight in 2010, Murzakanov sat out for five years before returning to bounce around Russian regional promotions and rack up first-round stoppage victories. An initial UFC debut was nullified in 2017 when he tested positive for a banned substance, but he turned up four years later on the Contender Series, where he scored his first of three consecutive knockouts in the promotion.

He has since added three more around a unanimous decision, running his professional record to 16-0 with 12 knockouts. His base is technically grappling but he’s barely needed it thanks to the explosive power that’s fuelled his UFC victories, and if he can do it again on Saturday against go-for-broke highlight-machine Paulo Costa, he’ll position himself on the cusp of a title shot

Costa’s a madman and always liable to do something unexpected, but he ought to be at a significant skill disadvantage in this light-heavyweight bout. He’s going to push forward, trying to set a pace and create chaos, which is a dangerous game against a counter-striker as powerful as Murzakanov. That’s why Costa’s a +170 underdog according to BetMGM odds two days ahead of the event.

Anything can happen in the Octagon, but you can see what the UFC is trying to do here, booking Murzakanov as the co-main event leading into Saturday’s title fight. And if the late bloomer finds another show-stopping flurry, he’ll be as undeniable as anyone in the weight class.

Johnny Walker vs. Dominick Reyes 

Neither of these fighters is particularly close to a title shot, but their name value alone is enough to keep them hanging around the back half of a shallow top-15. 

Reyes was having a moment not that long ago, stringing together three consecutive victories to revive his floundering career. But he ran into a wall when he was finished by Ulberg in the first round of their fight last September and his ceiling now is likely as a recognizable gatekeeper and active opponent for up-and-comers, should this division ever stumble into any.

Walker, meanwhile, is a massive weirdo with an equally massive frame who consistently produces memorable moments regardless of whether he’s on the right or wrong side of them. Wild approaches produce wild results and Walker's a walking, grinning, gyrating example of that. He isn’t currently a legitimate contender, but he is a tremendously fun watch, which is enough to keep him around in fights like these for as long as he’s willing.

Bogdan Guskov vs. Jan Blachowicz 2

It says something about the lack of fresh contenders in the division that Blachowicz, now 43, remains semi-relevant. In five fights since he lost the belt to Teixeira in 2021, Blachowicz has won only once, lost twice, and somehow been involved in a pair of draws — the first in an oddly-judged title fight against Ankalaev.

Even his lone win during this stretch was unusual as the fight ended when Aleksandar Rakic blew out his knee. Yet Blachowicz also gave Pereira a very competitive welcome to the division at UFC 291 and lost to Ulberg by a razor-thin margin early last year in a fight some believed he deserved to win.

And you could say the same of his first encounter with Bogdan Guskov, whom Blachowicz fought to a draw in a back-and-forth contest in December. The result hinged on two judges awarding Guskov a 10-8 second round for dropping Blachowicz and battering him on the ground in a punishing. But Blachowicz won the first and third rounds handily, and if just one of those judges agreed with the third that the middle round was merely a 10-9, he would’ve had his hand raised.

Alas, they’ll run it back next month at UFC 328 and try to find a cleaner result. Blachowicz’s style lends itself to these close fights, as he’s shifted to a more measured, low-output approach in his 40s, taking fewer risks and frustrating opponents while looking for one or two openings a round to land a heavy shot. He’s also freakishly durable and has been finished with strikes just twice across his 19-year career.

Guskov learned last time how challenging it is to get Blachowicz out of a fight. But if the Uzbek pressure fighter can find a way in the rematch, he’ll gain a notable win over a former champion who’s extremely difficult to look good against, resuming a climb up the rankings powered by four wins leading into the first Blachowicz fight. That’s good enough to get a guy ranked top-five in this division. And from there, anything’s possible.