Spinning Back Clique LIVE (noon ET): Bold predictions for 2024, Sean O’Malley’s lofty goal, Ngannou the boxer, more

January 8, 2024 8:00 am ET

Check out this week’s “Spinning Back Clique,” MMA Junkie’s weekly live show that takes a spin through the biggest topics in mixed martial arts.

This week’s panel of Farah Hannoun, Brian “Goze” Garcia and Danny Segura will join host “Gorgeous” George Garcia live at 12 p.m. ET (9 a.m. PT) to discuss and debate:

Francis Ngannou, rather than return to MMA for his next fight, has signed on to box against Anthony Joshua in March in Saudi Arabia. On the heels of his impressive boxing debut against Tyson Fury, is this Ngannou’s best move? It may be financially, but what will be the implications of staying out of MMA even longer? And does he have a shot against Joshua?
Don’t let it be said UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley isn’t ambitious. He said he wants to finish this calendar year as not only the biggest name in MMA, not only the biggest in combat sports – but the biggest in all of sports, period. He said it. We’ll lay out a path for him to become a bigger name than someone like Conor McGregor, for starters, and then we’ll see if there’s a way he can surpass Lionel Messi, LeBron James, Cristiano Ronaldo, Roger Federer, Neymar, Stephen Curry, Tiger Woods … you get the point. So what do we make of such a lofty goal, particularly one with such a short clock to make it the prediction come true?
Middleweight has been one of the UFC’s most interesting divisions over the past few years, without question. That doesn’t seem like it will change any time soon. Champ Sean Strickland takes on Dricus Du Plessis next week in Toronto, and then we’ll get a little clarity on the title picture after that. But ex-champ Israel Adesanya said a return may be sooner than everyone originally thought – and there’s speculation he might want to move to light heavyweight. And then there’s Khamzat Chimaev, whose struggles on the scale at welterweight have him at 185 now. But he also said a recent sickness has knocked him back a few stpes. We’ll look at the upcoming options and make some predictions.
Jim Miller and Andrei Arlovski are on the bill Saturday at UFC Fight Night 234 in Las Vegas, the promotion’s first event of the new year. Lightweight Miller and former heavyweight champ Arlovski have their names all over the UFC’s record books. They’re both at the top of the lists for total fights (42 and 40, respectively) and wins (25 and 23). Who’s most likely to extend those records in 2024?
Late Sunday, the UFC added two intriguing matchups to its pay-per-view slate in the first quarter of the year. Former lightweight champion Charles Oliveira will take on Arman Tsarukyan at UFC 300 in a No. 1 contenders fight. And in March in Miami, former interim lightweight champ Dustin Poirier meets rising standout Benoit Saint-Denis in the co-main event – and it’ll be a five-rounder. So the 155-pound division is about to have a lot going on for titleholder Islam Makhachev to have waiting for him. What do we think of those matchups and how it might affect the lightweight hierarchy when the dust settles?
We’ll hit quick and split to close out with some predictions for 2024 about UFC champs, the weight classes most likely to see some champion turnover, who’s ready to break into the next level, who’s ready to call it quits and more.

“Spinning Back Clique” is released each Monday LIVE on MMA Junkie’s YouTube channel at noon ET. You can also find each episode on your favorite podcast platforms – including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts, and more – on Tuesday mornings.

Be sure to visit the MMA Junkie Instagram page and YouTube channel to discuss this and more content with fans of mixed martial arts.

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