International fight week always takes place during the July pay-per-view in the UFC. This year for UFC 290, Jon "Bones" Jones will face Stipe Miocic in the main event. The greatest fighter of all time against the greatest UFC Heavyweight of all time! If that isn't enough rumors are flowing that a fight for the Undisputed Featherweight Championship between Alexander Volkanovski and Yair Rodriguez is being talked about to be the co-main event. It makes a lot of sense considering Rodriguez got a six-month medical suspension after winning the Interim Featherweight Championship in February. Yair took minimal damage, so he should be ready to go by July as well as that is when the suspension will end. Medical suspensions aren't anything new for fighters. Typically most fighters get some sort of medical suspension after fighting. Alexander Volkanovski received a two-week suspension. They don't mean a thing, I'm only mentioning them for the sake of timing.
Dana White made it clear at multiple press conferences since UFC 284 that Volk's next fight will be Yair Rodriguez. Since the main event was a spectacle that ended controversially in the eyes of many, Dana White has had to answer many questions about a rematch between Volk and Islam Makhachev. Yair definitely deserves a shot to become the undisputed champ, especially considering the Lightweight title picture is a little crowded for Volk to skip the line again. UFC fans would love this card. The duel of GOATs in the main event, plus an Undisputed Title fight sounds like fireworks to me.
Light Heavyweight Champ Jamahal Hill tweeted his idea of UFC 290. I'd buy his pay-per-view for any price the UFC listed. Hill vs Jiri Prochazka as the co-main and Volk vs Yair as the third fight on the card. That would be a historic card.
I think it would be more realistic if they booked three titles on the card that Volk vs Yair would still be the co-main while the co-co-main would be a Strawweight Championship bout. The only thing is Zhang Weili doesn't really have a clear-cut opponent to face. Yet, international fight week headlining with Jones vs Miocic and Volkanovski vs Rodriguez will certainly put eyes on the Strawweight division. I imagine Jamahal wants to share a card with Jon jones so he can call him out and try to move up to Heavyweight, but I don't know if that's necessarily what the UFC wants to do. Jamahal's card would probably be the most historic card of all time with the popularity of Jones, Miocic, Hill, Prochazka, Volkanovski, and Rodriguez. It doesn't matter what other two fights opened the main card.
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