The UFC returns to Brazil for first time in three years with UFC 283 this Saturday

It was not too long ago that everyone in the world thought the end of modern civilization had arrived with the emergence of the COVID-19 global pandemic in March of 2020... But the world of MMA remained unphased as Charles Oliveira continued his tear through the lightweight division with a third-round submission against Kevin Lee in an empty arena in Brasília that same month. This was the last UFC event to take place in the country of Brazil, that is until this weekend!

Now although Oliveira will not be fighting this weekend, he has since his fight with Kevin Lee become a UFC champion and defended his championship. That is beside the point, lets highlight some of the match ups going down in Rio de Janeiro.

The culmination of an unmatched career and legacy

It is wild to think about the career longevity of Shogun Rua given the amount of violence he brought to his fights in his prime. From his early years in PRIDE FC to becoming a UFC champion, the wars with Dan Henderson etc. It would be sort of mind boggling to tell anyone who was an MMA fan in 2009 that the current UFC light heavyweight champion would be fighting in retirement fight in 2023. Even more crazy is the fact that he will be facing a young up and comer named Ihor Potieria in the featured preliminary fight of UFC 283. Potieria is a Dana White's Contender Series Alumni who made his UFC debut in 2022 against Nicolau Negumereanu losing by TKO. This narrative is so apparent in this sport especially in the past year, the old former champion going into his retirement fight against young hungry lion looking to bounce back from losing his UFC debut. This narrative usually results in an unfortunate finish for the young up and coming fighter, but can Shogun defy the odds and ride off into the sunset with one last win?

Durinho returns home

Another man who fought in that desolate arena in Brasília is welterweight contender Gilbert Burns. Since knocking out Damien Maia on that night in March 2020, Burns has firmly established himself within the top five of the UFC welterweight rankings with his most previous fight resulting in one of the best fights of 2022 against the undefeated Khamzat Chimaev. Burns was the first person to make Chimaev look human inside the octagon. Burns will be taking on the all-time winningest UFC welterweight in Neil Magny who is coming off a hard-fought submission win against Daniel Rodriguez.

First ever tetralogy for UFC flyweight title

There are plenty of people who have made it clear they are tired of seeing these two fight each other. The reality is that this is the most competitive rivalry in the history of the sport. The first fight was booked towards the end of 2020 and produced in my opinion the greatest title fight in the history of the weight class, the first fight concluded in a draw which prompted the rematch in the summer of 2021. Moreno would become the first Mexican born UFC champion with a submission victory. Obviously given Figueiredo's dominance as champion before Moreno came into the picture warranted the trilogy fight early in 2022 which produced another all-time great fight that was as close as could be. Figueiredo won a close decision and reclaimed his flyweight championship. Moreno would go on to face Kai Kara-France this past summer for the interim flyweight championship in a rematch from 2019, while Figueiredo recovered from injuries. Moreno would finish Kara-France with a vicious liver kick in a great battle to earn this fourth fight against Figueiredo. A rivalry best on pure competition does not get any better than this.

Main event features the old dog against the young lion

The UFC light heavyweight division has been pure chaos since Jon Jones vacated his title a few years the title is vacant again has been for over a month. There have been three different champions since Jones' vacnacy. One being Glover Teixeira who is fighting for the light heavyweight strap again this weekend. Teixeira took the championship from Jan Blachowicz at UFC 267. Jiri Prochazka was the last man to hold that championship after beating Teixeira in the 2022 fight of the year and was set to defend it in a rematch before suffering a severe shoulder injury leading up to UFC 282. Prochazka decided against keeping the championship if he is unable to defend it and the UFC instead gave Jan Blachowicz a chance to become champion against Magomed Ankalaev who would be fighting for a championship for the first time in his career in UFC 282's main event. The fight resulted in a draw which meant the title is still vacant right now and caused the UFC to book Glover Teixeira against Jamahal Hill. Do you see now just how ridiculous the circumstances of the division are? With that being said, this is the only logical match up to make at this point and brings great intrigue considering Jamahal Hills impressive winning streak as well as Glover's career resurgence in claiming UFC gold at 42 years old.