Blockbuster trades in MMA don’t happen like in other sports, and free agency only usually occurs when a fighter is either on the decline or a prospect is ready to rise up.
Yet, many fighters are at a crossroads. Some find themselves perennially just outside of title contention, while others have peaked in their current promotions and need new challenges. In 2018, UFC and One Championship agreed to trade the contracts of Ben Askren and former flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson. “Mighty Mouse” would go on to win the 135-pound title at One, while Askren would struggle to find his footing in the UFC.
Andreas Hale, Brett Okamoto, Jeff Wagenheim and Dre Waters crafted up potential transactions that could reposition fighters for greener pastures and assist promotions in giving fans the fights they could only dream of.
PFL adds another contender to its best division
UFC receives: Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen
PFL receives: UFC women’s flyweight Alexa Grasso
Why this makes sense for Eblen and the UFC: Eblen doesn’t have a place in the PFL. Sure, he fights for its sister promotion, Bellator — in fact, he will defend his middleweight title at PFL Super Fights next month — but Bellator seems to be hanging on by a thread.
The problem is, there is no 185-pound division in the PFL, so unlike other fighters brought over in the purchase of Bellator, there’s no crossover potential for Eblen. He’s stuck with whatever fights he can book in Bellator. That appears to be a dead end. Eblen’s opponent on Oct. 19 is Fabian Edwards, whom Eblen knocked out less than a year ago. Eblen is undefeated and 32 years old — the prime of his career. Let’s see what he can do in a UFC middleweight division bursting with exciting matchups.
Why this makes sense for Grasso and the PFL: Grasso is the second-best in the world at women’s flyweight. However, the former UFC champ has fought No. 1 three times. And even though their head-to-head record is 1-1-1, the widespread perception seems to be that Valentina Shevchenko has proven she’s better, especially after dominating the trilogy fight at UFC 306 last weekend.
No one is knocking down the door for Grasso-Shevchenko 4, so Grasso should look elsewhere for opportunity. That means fighting in the PFL, where women’s flyweight is the most competitive and highest-level division. A fight against Dakota Ditcheva, Taila Santos or Liz Carmouche would be no step down from what’s left for Grasso in the UFC. — Wagenheim
One Championship trades for two UFC stars
UFC receives: One Championship lightweight and welterweight champion Christian Lee
One Championship receives: UFC strawweight Amanda Lemos and men’s bantamweight Cory Sandhagen
Why this makes sense for Lee and the UFC: Lee is a two-division champion who would be an interesting addition to the 155- or 170-pound division. He’s currently on hiatus following the death of his sister, fellow fighter Victoria Lee, but has said he will return to MMA. At 26 years old, Lee has a lot of tread on the tires and comes from a remarkable family of fighters. Lee would also bring youth and skill to the promotion. Not to mention that he’s a heck of a finisher, with only one of his 17 wins going to the scorecards. There’s a lot there the UFC can sink its teeth into.
Why this makes sense for Lemos, Sandhagen and One Championship: One desperately needs someone to challenge its long-reigning strawweight champion Xiong Jing Nan, who has defended her title seven times. Lemos is a former UFC title challenger who could present some issues for Nan with her power and grappling. Lemos could also use a new start following her loss to Virna Jandiroba in July, and at 37 years old, she doesn’t have time to take a long road to a championship.
To match a two-division champion, the UFC would have to toss in Sandhagen. He’s one of the most underrated talents on the roster, but his loss to Umar Nurmagomedov pushed him out of the title picture. The tall bantamweight would be a headache for the entire One Championship 135-pound division and he would be the perfect fighter in terms of skill and notoriety to fill the void left by Demetrious Johnson’s retirement. — Hale
PFL has options to add a star at lightweight
UFC receives: Bellator lightweight AJ McKee
PFL receives: UFC featherweight Brian Ortega
Why it makes sense for McKee and UFC: McKee is essentially a hybrid fighter for PFL and Bellator, splitting time in both promotions. And there’s a reason for that. He isn’t a traditional fit for either brand. He’s too proven (and expensive) to compete in the PFL regular season. And in Bellator, he was sort of floating after back-to-back title fights against Patricio “Pitbull” Freire at 145 pounds. He has all the talent in the world, but unfortunately, the past two years of his career have lacked direction. I’d love to see him fight Bellator champion Usman Nurmagomedov, but I’d also love to see him go to the UFC, where the matchups are endless.
Why it makes sense for Ortega and PFL and Bellator: Ortega still has gas in the tank at age 33, but he is at a point in his career where it’s like … what that gas goes into matters. He’s taken a lot of damage throughout his career, but I wouldn’t say he’s fallen into “No Man’s Land” at featherweight. He’s talked about going to lightweight, but he’s not even that big for a featherweight. If he were to go to PFL, he’s young enough to still take on that kind of active schedule, and frankly, he’d fit right into their lightweight division. He’d be money for their lightweight division. — Okamoto
Or …
PFL receives: UFC featherweight/lightweight Brian Ortega
UFC receives: PFL light heavyweight Impa Kasanganay
Why it makes sense for Ortega and the PFL: Ortega is coming off a tough loss to Diego Lopes at UFC 306. And he has dropped three of his last four fights, so it’s safe to say he is out of the featherweight title picture. As Brett pointed out, this trade would allow him to get a reset in a new promotion and division while immediately entering the mix for his first belt in a major MMA promotion. Ortega’s ability to blend striking with his world-class jiu-jitsu would make him a good fit for the PFL’s season format. And with back-to-back PFL lightweight champion Olivier Aubin-Mercier announcing his retirement after last season, the division is wide open and looking for a new star. “T-City” could fill that void.
Why it makes sense for Kasanganay and the UFC: This trade would also offer Kasanganay a shot at redemption inside the Octagon. He was cut from the UFC in 2021 after earning a contract on “Dana White’s Contender Series” in 2020. He was 2-2 in the promotion before being released.
Since then, Kasanganay has seen plenty of success in MMA, winning the 2023 PFL light heavyweight title and earning a spot in the 2024 PFL Championships later this year. He also narrowly dropped a split decision to Bellator middleweight champion Johnny Eblen in February. If there were doubts about his ability to compete with the best in the sport, all of those have been put to rest. A Kasanganay return would also give the UFC some much-needed juice in the light heavyweight division, as champion Alex Pereira appears to be running out of potential challengers. — Waters
UFC lands one of MMA’s best prospects
UFC receives: PFL women’s flyweight Dakota Ditcheva and Bellator lightweight AJ McKee
PFL and Bellator receive: UFC strawweight Mackenzie Dern and men’s bantamweight Petr Yan
Why this makes sense for Ditcheva, McKee and the UFC: Ditcheva is as good as gone once she gets the opportunity to leave PFL, and the UFC could use a woman who has star power written all over her. If you’re the PFL, why wait? They may as well get something back for Ditcheva instead of watching her walk out the door with nothing in return.
At 25 years old, Ditcheva is frighteningly good and would add firepower to a loaded UFC women’s flyweight division. As for McKee, he’s another stellar talent who could shake things up in either the featherweight or lightweight division. Both weight classes could use a shake-up in the matchmaking. McKee is exceptionally talented and needs to be tested by the best fighters in the world on a major platform.
Why this makes sense for Dern, Yan and PFL/Bellator: Dern could use a new start in the PFL as she’s stuck in the UFC with losses to three of the top five strawweights. A bump up to flyweight could breathe new life into her career and put her on a fast track to a world title. PFL desperately needs to add fighters who are still relatively young and bring a significant following with them. Dern’s age (31) and social media following (1.5 million Instagram followers) check both boxes. She’s established, and the promotion doesn’t have to make a star out of her.
Yan is a former champion who appears far away from a title fight after suffering three straight losses, with one of those in dominant fashion to current champion Merab Dvalishvili. Yan could do some damage in Bellator’s bantamweight division, and a fight with Patchy Mix would either cement the Bellator champion as one of the best bantamweights in the world or prove that Yan is still a viable threat. Adding another former UFC champion to the Bellator roster who could still be one of the best fighters in the world will only help raise the company’s profile. — Hale
Three-way trade sends three-division champion to PFL
PFL receives: One Championship heavyweight, light heavyweight (225 pounds) and middleweight (205 pounds) champion Anatoly Malykhin
One Championship receives: UFC strawweight Yan Xiaonan and women’s flyweight Jessica Andrade
UFC receives: PFL women’s featherweight champion Larissa Pacheco
Why this makes sense for Malykhin and the PFL: Malykhin is undefeated and the only fighter to reign in three weight classes simultaneously in a major MMA promotion. Yet many fans outside of Asia don’t know about him and probably would dispute that One is even a major promotion. Malykhin surely would find an audience fighting in the United States. He would also be an interesting addition to either of the PFL divisions regarding his weight range.
Why this makes sense for Yan, Andrade and One: Yan is one of the best strawweights on the planet, but she is stuck behind the UFC champion, her Chinese countrywoman Zhang Weili, whom Yan lost to just five months ago. As good as she is, Yan might be too low-profile for a one-for-one trade. So the UFC can toss in Andrade, a former strawweight champion and don’t-blink powerhouse. She is just 32 years old, but appears to be out of options even while toggling between strawweight and flyweight. Bringing on these two would fortify One’s 115-pound weight class, already one of the company’s strongest.
Why this makes sense for Pacheco and the UFC: The UFC has done away with its women’s featherweight division, so adding Pacheco to the roster might seem like a head-scratcher. Even star signee Kayla Harrison had to drop to bantamweight to be allowed inside the Octagon. However, this deal would still be worthwhile for the UFC if only for one fight. Pacheco is the only fighter to defeat Harrison, and she did so in Harrison’s final PFL appearance. That was their second meeting, with each woman winning one of them, so let’s trade for a trilogy. — Wagenheim
Conor McGregor becomes a free agent?
This is fantasy, right? Yes, a trade between MMA promotions did happen once, but the chances of it happening again are next to none. But we’ve agreed to live in a fantasy world for this entire thing, so let’s jump into the enormous fantasy of McGregor as a free agent. If there were no more fights left on his UFC contract, where would he go? Here are two answers.
Where he would go: Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship
The world of bare-knuckle boxing apparently sank its hooks into McGregor this year, as he became a co-owner of BKFC. He’s been a regular presence at the events, and of course, if he were ever to take his gloves off and compete in bare-knuckle, the world would tune in. I will say he’d fight Eddie Alvarez, the same guy he fought back in 2016 to earn his “champ-champ” status at Madison Square Garden. Obviously, there is lots of history there, and he’d be confident in winning that fight. It also would be cool to see him fight Jeremy Stephens, the victim of the infamous “Who da f— is that guy?” line, but that would give Stephens an opportunity to have the last laugh in one of the most iconic lines of McGregor’s career. Can’t risk that.
Where he should go: Boxing with Real Fight Inc.
If he won’t compete against the best in the UFC, the next best thing is a trilogy against Nate Diaz. That’s always been the case. And I’d be good with the trilogy fight being a boxing match. Seeing them in the cage for a third time would be good, too, but at this point, so much time has gone by, and there wouldn’t be any stakes attached to an MMA fight anyway. Keep them standing and throw bigger gloves on them. There would be something classic about seeing McGregor and Diaz standing across from one another in a boxing ring. — Okamoto