Even the most talented and hard-working athletes need a little luck. That’s not to take away from the momentous feats we’ve witnessed in 2023, but some of combat sports’ biggest stars undoubtedly benefited from fortuitous circumstances that set the stage for them over the past year. Whether it was favorable matchmaking, questionable judging, or a crucial referee’s call, if there’s one thing we should be reminded of as we celebrate Thanksgiving this year, it’s that you have to be lucky to be good (and good to be lucky).
MMA Fighting’s Shaun Al-Shatti, Jed Meshew, and Damon Martin make their picks for those who should be a little extra thankful for how the cards played out for them in 2023.
Colby Covington
Martin: For the third time in his past five fights, Colby Covington will compete for the undisputed UFC welterweight title when he faces Leon Edwards in the main event of UFC 296. That’s a remarkable accomplishment, but it’s difficult to quantify exactly how he achieved that in such little time, which is why Covington should probably be grateful to find himself in this position … AGAIN.
Make no mistake, when Covington battled Kamaru Usman for the first time back in 2019, he deserved that opportunity. At the time, he had rattled off seven straight wins — including a brief moment where he held the interim welterweight title — and his last two victories came against former UFC champions in Rafael dos Anjos and Robbie Lawler.
Despite a valiant effort, Covington suffered a fifth-round knockout loss after Usman broke his jaw and thus ended his pursuit of the title — at least for a little while. Covington didn’t return to action until 10 months later, when he defeated former friend and teammate Tyron Woodley in a largely lackluster affair over five rounds. Truth be told, by that point Woodley had already lost two fights in a row, and after falling to Covington, he only had one last appearance left in the UFC before he was out of the organization and losing to Jake Paul.
In his second attempt at becoming undisputed champion, Covington came closer to beating Usman but ultimately still lost a unanimous decision. This time there was only a four-month layoff before his next fight, but a similar narrative unfolded as Covington beat another former friend and teammate in Jorge Masvidal, who only had one more appearance left in the UFC afterward before he was done.
Following that fight, Covington beat … hold on, let’s see … oh, that’s right — nobody. But despite that fact, UFC CEO Dana White declared him the unequivocal No. 1 contender for the title and actually stuck to his guns despite months upon months of waiting.
To put this in further context, Covington is about to get his third shot at becoming undisputed UFC champion with his last win over a fighter currently on the active UFC roster coming back in 2018 when he beat dos Anjos. Based on MMA Fighting’s current rankings — where Covington isn’t listed because he’s been out for more than 18 months — he doesn’t hold a single win over anybody in the top 15. The same goes for the UFC’s own rankings.
Regardless, Covington will get his third crack at becoming undisputed champion when he faces Edwards in the final UFC event in 2023, because why not?
That seems like something he should be rather thankful for.
Tyson Fury
Al-Shatti: Realistically, Tyson Fury serves as a stand-in for the entire sport of boxing here (or at least its heavyweight division), because y’all, Alan Krebs and Juan Carlos Pelayo saved a looooot of people from having the most awkward holiday dinner since the Berzatto family rang in Christmas on The Bear.
As you can probably surmise, Krebs and Pelayo were the two judges who parachuted Fury away from what would’ve been a historic embarrassment in Saudi Arabia on Oct. 28. I, like many functioning humans with eyeballs, watched Francis Ngannou pull off what should’ve been one of the unlikeliest upsets even seen in professional sports last month, and the list of people much smarter than me who saw Ngannou as the rightful victor is too long to repeat here. Ngannou toppled Fury like a redwood, confounded the lineal heavyweight king with surprisingly elegant ringcraft, landed nearly all of the most meaningful punches over 10 surreal rounds, and even ate Fury’s best (illegal) shot like it was a bowl of Frosted Flakes on a Sunday morning. By the truest of scoring metrics — Pride Rules aka Diaz Rules aka Street Rules aka Who-Would-You-Rather-Be-Afterward Rules — Ngannou won in a rout. Yet he also should’ve won by boxing rules too! When even some of boxing’s best admit that Fury probably received an early Christmas gift, that’s when you know we’ve stumbled upon a situation where the dreaded R-word finally applies.
All of which goes back to thankfulness, because good lord, can you imagine the sky-is-falling levels of copium we could’ve witnessed over the past several weeks had just one of Krebs or Pelayo scored the fight Ngannou’s way? Never before in combat sports has a legacy been rewritten as fast as Fury’s would’ve been. That big Usyk fight? Dead on arrival. Fury’s status as an all-time great heavyweight? Sayonara. Boxing’s ability to be taken seriously in any debate among casual sports fans for the next 30 years? Good luck. Between the inherent chaos caused by a rookie dethroning the champ in a non-title bout and the inevitable parade of excuses that would’ve followed, Ngannou’s ability to proclaim himself as the best in the world in a discipline he barely even practices would’ve been the most hilarious thing to happen in a year overflowing with combat sports hilarity.
But hey, at least the WBC’s No. 10 ranked heavyweight got the bag and locked up Photo of the Year honors in a sport that was supposed to be his side hustle. Fury vs. Usyk should be fun.
Alex Pereira
Meshew: Last year when we did this exercise, I chose Alex Pereira, and guess what? I’ll do it again!!!
“But Jed, you can’t do it again! That’s bad content! Variety is the spice of life!” and other such nonsense. Bollocks to that. Alex Pereira is the spice of life. This man is the gift that keeps giving.
Last year, I chose Pereira because he hacked MMA. In just his eighth fight in the sport, Pereira went to Madison Square Garden and knocked out Israel Adesanya to claim the UFC middleweight title, despite quite possibly not being one of the five best fighters in the weight class. This year? Pereira went to Madison Square Garden and knocked out Jiri Prochazka to claim the UFC light heavyweight title, despite quite possibly not being one of the five best fighters in the weight class! Are you sensing a theme developing?
Through 11 MMA fights, Pereira is now one of nine people to win titles in multiple weight classes inside the UFC. More people have walked on the moon than done that! It’s a remarkable accomplishment and one that makes him a no-doubt-about-it, first-ballot Hall of Famer. Think about that. If Pereira retired tomorrow, he’d be inducted into the Hall of Fame by next summer, and he would have done it despite the fact that there are probably a dozen fighters who would be betting favorites over him in any given matchup! That’s outrageous!
Let’s put this another way: Pereira started 2023 off by getting knocked out cold in what is currently the frontrunner for KO of the Year. Now he’s the No. 6 pound-for-pound fighter in the world and one of the frontrunners for Fighter of the Year! Who does that? Who else is able to get sent to the shadow realm in April and in just seven months bend the MMA world back to his will? It’s not possible, and yet, Pereira did it. Again.
There has simply never been anyone like Pereira. The closest comparison I can think of is Conor McGregor (not stardom-wise, obviously), but even Conor beat more high-quality opposition on his way to the featherweight belt. Pereira is upending the rules of MMA hierarchy seemingly every time he fights. At this point would you really be shocked if next November he was flatlining Tom Aspinall for the heavyweight belt? Surprised, sure. But you wouldn’t bet your life that it wouldn’t happen, because Alex Pereira walks in the light. Things tend to just happen for him. And for that, he should once again be incredibly thankful.
Who in combat sports should be a little extra thankful this year? Let us know your pick in the comments below! Happy holidays!
Roundtable: Who in combat sports has the most to be thankful for in 2023?
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