While the featherweight division remains one of the deepest in the UFC, 2020 was a relatively quiet year for the weight class. Volkanovski bested Max Holloway in a razor-close decision win that had many blasting the “robbery” horn, but regardless, the Australian, at the very least, proved his qualities as champion. He’ll likely face a refreshed and revamped Brian Ortega after “T-City” dismantled Chan Sung Jung on Fight Island.
Other than that, not many title-shaping fights went down as Zabit Magomedsharipov and Yair Rodriguez never made the walk in 2020. Somebody who stayed busy, however, was Massachusetts’s Calvin Kattar. The Boston Bomber scored a huge knockout win over Jeremy Stephens to establish himself in the division’s elite before taking home a hard-fought main event win over Dan Ige just a couple months later. His calendar-opening date with Holloway is important for both men in terms of establishing the next in line for a title shot, priming much more movement in the weight class in 2021.
Names To Watch For In 2021: Chan Sung Jung, Josh Emmett, Arnold Allen, Sodiq Yusuff, Dan Ige