5 UFC rivalries that could turn into trilogies in the near future

#4. Israel Adesanya vs. Marvin Vettori – UFC middleweight title

Could Marvin Vettori earn himself a third crack at Israel Adesanya?

Aside from an ill-advised move up to 205 pounds in an attempt to become a two-division champion, Israel Adesanya has thus far been perfect in his UFC career. He's won a total of 10 bouts and claimed the promotion’s middleweight title in the process.

However, while ‘The Last Stylebender’ was able to destroy dangerous opponents such as Paulo Costa and Robert Whittaker with ease, he was unable to do the same to Marvin Vettori, despite fighting him on two occasions.

Their first meeting took place in 2018 and was Adesanya’s second appearance in the octagon. It saw ‘The Italian Dream’ push him to a split decision. While Adesanya won their second bout last June more clearly, Vettori was still able to last the distance.

So even though he holds two losses to Adesanya, could the Italian find himself in a third fight with the Nigerian-New Zealander at some point in the future? It’s definitely possible.

Since his loss to Adesanya, Vettori has defeated Costa in a thrilling performance, essentially elevating himself to a spot as the world’s third best 185lber, at worst.

Given that Adesanya will be fighting Whittaker again in the early part of this year, if he can get past ‘The Reaper’ then he’ll probably be short on viable opponents.

That means that should he win maybe one more fight in impressive fashion, Vettori may well find himself at the front of the queue again. Sure, his first two fights with Adesanya weren’t barnburners, but if he keeps winning, it may become untenable to avoid giving the Italian a third shot.

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#3. Rose Namajunas vs. Jessica Andrade – UFC strawweight title

Could the UFC strawweight title be on the line in a third bout between Rose Namajunas and Jessica Andrade?

After regaining the UFC strawweight title by beating Weili Zhang and then defending it against ‘Magnum’ in a rematch, Rose Namajunas is clearly the top 115-pound fighter in the world right now.

However, could a trilogy bout with the last woman to defeat her in the octagon, Jessica Andrade, be in the future for her? It’s definitely possible.

‘Bate Estaca’ famously captured the gold by knocking Namajunas unconscious with a slam in mid-2019. The two women rematched in a non-title fight in 2020 after Andrade lost her title to Zhang, with ‘Thug Rose’ winning via split decision. Since then, the Brazilian has been fighting at 125 pounds.

However, her one-sided loss to flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko may have made her reconsider her future. So, despite knocking out Cynthia Calvillo in her last bout, Andrade’s future may well lie at strawweight.

If she does make the move back down to 115 pounds, then it’s arguable that she’d still be the biggest threat to Namajunas’ title right now.

Given that she remains the last fighter to beat ‘Thug Rose’, one big win for her could be enough to make the promotion set up a trilogy bout between the two, with the title on the line once again.