It takes more than good trash talk for a bout to be considered a grudge match. The single most important factor is genuine dislike - and in some cases, outright hate. In a sport that’s built on roughing people up, there is a compelling natural reason to want to watch two dudes who hate each other get locked in a cage and have at it. Let’s take a look at the biggest grudge matches in the next few months.
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TUF 23 FINALE, July 8
Women’s Strawweight Championship
Claudia Gadelha +160
Joanna Jedrzejczyk -200
Over/under 4.5 rounds, over -190, under +165
I’m calling it right now, this is the most heated grudge match in the UFC. These two chicks cannot be in the same room with each other without reenacting a Tazmanian Devil tornado impression. By now, you’ve heard that they got into a full-blown fist fight after they finished filming Season 23 of The Ultimate Fighter.
We’ve seen plenty of shoving matches and shouting between coaches on that show, but it’s mainly just posturing for good television. J-Check and Gadelha went at each other’s throats when they were alone, with nobody to separate them. Now, they’re squaring off again for Jedrzejczyk’s championship belt.
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UFC 197, April 23
Light Heavyweight Championship
Daniel Cormier +295
Jon Jones -360
Over/under 4.5 rounds, over -155, under +135
These guys just won’t stop mocking each other, whether it’s on Instagram, radio talk shows or on national interviews. Pretty much nothing is off the table when it comes to the trash talk, like Jones clowning on DC’s doughy frame and DC poking fun at Jones’ well-documented troubles with drug use. Most famously, they got into a pre-fight brawl that ended with Jones’ sponsorship by Nike getting revoked.
And now, Cormier has the belt that Jones never lost in the cage. The result of that? Jones is looking more ripped than ever and is reportedly training like a man possessed. That has to terrify the rest of the division considering he was already far and away the best fighter in the world.
UFC 199, June 4
Middleweight Championship
Chris Weidman +160
Luke Rockhold -200
Over/under 3.5 rounds, over -120, under +100
It was all cool at first. Mutual respect and admiration and all that good stuff. But then Chris Weidman and Luke Rockhold started getting all sensitive about what they were hearing from one another. You know what I mean: the typical “I’m better in every area” prefight talk. You could tell because they would respond to a specific comment made in some online publication, ad nauseum.
These guys are internalizing everything that’s being said, and an immediate rematch between the two isn’t helping matters. When you think about it, these guys have had to deal with each other dating back to mid-2015 when their first matchup was booked. That’s plenty of time to frazzle some nerves.
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