Carlos Ulberg proposes wild UFC title contender tournament

The light heavyweight champion suggests a four-man bracket to decide his next challenger after his injury comeback.

UFC light heavyweight champion Carlos Ulberg has his own opinion on who should challenge him for the title. As soon as he returns from his injury, he’ll have to defend his title, and there are plenty of contenders for that.

Carlos Ulberg suffered a knee injury during his last fight, in which he won the title, and therefore has to take a break for now. After the fight between Magomed Ankalaev and Bogdan Guskov, he shared his thoughts on Instagram about how his challenger should ultimately be decided. Instead of simply letting the number one contender step in, he proposed holding a four-man tournament featuring Magomed Ankalaev, Jiří Procházka, Paulo Costa, and Khalil Rountree Jr.. The winner of that tournament would then be allowed to face him.

"After last night's fights, here's my thoughts. Ankalaev vs. Jiří. Give them both a full camp. It's a fight the division deserves, and stylistically it's one the fans would love to see. Costa vs. Rountree. That's the wildcard. High risk, high reward. Someone's leaving with serious momentum. By the time the dust settles...I'll be ready. Whoever earns it. See you in 2027"

he wrote on Instagram.

Magomed Ankalaev improved his chances of another title shot with his dominant victory over Bogdan Guskov. Paulo Costa and Khalil Rountree Jr. remain among the best-known contenders in the weight class, even though both still need to build momentum.

So if this proposal really goes through, it would be an interesting format that hasn’t existed before. However, one thing is certain: when the champion returns, there has to be an opponent.

In my opinion, it’s a very crazy idea, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. I actually think it’s a solution that would generate a lot of excitement. On the other hand, it would, of course, put a lot of pressure on the four contenders. It remains to be seen whether this will actually happen, but I don’t think it’s very likely.