The UFC is a juggernaut that seems to get bigger and more successful year after year. 2024 was another record year for the biggest MMA promotion in the world and the goal of the promotion is to have an even bigger year for 2025. With that in mind, they plan to make some huge cards for this year.
They’ve already started stacking the deck with UFC 311 in a couple of weeks which is headlined by two massive title fights right after a stacked undercard. A few weeks after that there are massive cards in Saudi Arabia and Australia. Some of the biggest names in the promotion are already on the books.
With that in mind, I wanted to look at some potential dream title fights that I’d love to see materialize this year. To fall on this list, it has to be a championship fight that’s not already booked. Here are three dream matchups that I would love to see the UFC book here in 2025.
UFC Dream Title Fights
Jon Jones – Tom Aspinall
Alright let’s start out with the one that needs no explanation. The number one dream matchup that everyone should want to see this year in terms of title fights is the UFC heavyweight title fight between champion Jon Jones (28-1, 1 NC) and interim champion Tom Aspinall (15-3).
Dana White is confident that he’s going to get this fight done and my guess is that the target is to have this fight headline International Fight Week in Las Vegas which should be in the June / July timeframe. This is and would be the biggest title fight in heavyweight history.
In one corner you’d have the greatest of all time in Jon Jones. Jones is 2-0 with two finishes over Stipe Miocic and Ciryl Gane since moving to heavyweight. In the other corner, you’d have Jones’ toughest challenger to date. The interim champion has looked unbeatable and his only blemish inside the octagon was due to a knee injury. Could the young lion dethrone the GOAT? That’s a question we all need the answer to this year.
Islam Makhachev – Shavkat Rakhmonov
This is a fight that has a few hurdles to clear before it could become a reality. While many are thinking of Ilia Topuria moving up to challenge the lightweight champion as a dream matchup this year, my dream matchup is for lightweight champion Islam Makhachev (26-1) to move up and challenge Shavkat Rakhmonov (19-0) for the welterweight title.
Rakhmonov is 19-0 with 18 finishes and he’s currently next in line to face Belal Muhammad. We know that if Muhammad is champion, Makhachev wouldn’t move up to challenge for the welterweight title. In my dream scenario, Rakhmonov would dethrone Muhammad to move to 20-0.
Makhachev would get through Arman Tsarukyan in a couple of weeks and he would be 27-1. If you’re asking me, I don’t think there’d be a more compelling challenger to Rakhmonov than the lightweight champion. I could totally see this fight coming together in order to headline the annual UFC Abu Dhabi PPV in October.
Alex Pereira – Heavyweight Champion
You could make the argument that the biggest star in the UFC is light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira (12-2). What a crazy stretch Poatan’s been on for the last year and a half. After losing the middleweight title in a rematch to Israel Adesanya, Pereira made the move to 205 and he’s been sensational.
Pereira has gone 5-0 with four finishes in a year and a half. He’s finished Jiri Prochazka twice, knocked out Jamahal Hill, stopped Khalil Rountree in a war and won a close decision over former champion Jan Blachowicz. Pereira is getting up there in age and I think the UFC wants to capitalize on his star power.
Jon Jones really wants to fight Pereira because that is the biggest money fight he can take. A far bigger fight in terms of dollars than Tom Aspinall. However, Dana White has been firm on Jones fighting Aspinall first. If you ask me, I think the perfect scenario would be Jones and Aspinall fighting in the summer with the winner headlining the November MSG card against Poatan for the heavyweight title.