Briedis was great. But let's be real, he was past it. That's why he's retired now. I think Opetaia was right to get the decision both times, but both fights were close. He needs to beat the current best guys in his division in order to be the best in his division. Same with the rest of them. Zurdo has a better resume at CW than Opetaia.
As for Zuffa, a recent post of mine seems relevant to paste here:
Dana tries to make it like MMA has one champion per weight class. That isn't the case now nor has it ever been the case as there have always been competing promotional outfits, each with their own champions. Certainly, UFC is the #1 promotional outfit, but they've also acquired others along the way (Pride, Strikeforce, etc) and there are still competitors such as PFL (who acquired Bellator), ONE, Rizin, etc. I'm not an MMA guy. I'll watch something rarely, as I have over the years, but what I do know is it is RARE for the champions in other promotional companies to fight each other. I know it's happened on occasion, but I'm pretty sure UFC doesn't participate in these events.
In boxing, however, the best champions (and contenders) from the different sanctioning bodies and promotional outfits DO fight each other. Often. Not as often as we'd like, sure, but it happens. WAY WAY WAY WAY more than it does in MMA. Not even close. So, what is this "one belt, one champion" BS about?
Zuffa isn't going to fix anything. It's just going to make things even more convoluted. I'm open to them being in the boxing game, but this BS about "You’d have one champion in every weight class" & "We want to make the biggest fights that you can possibly make in the sport." needs to stop. The history and track record is there. Don't try to gaslight me.
Briedis may have been on the slide but he was still best in the division at the time, his only loss to Usyk. And Ramirez got absolutely washed by Bivol a weight class down and got a competitive decision against Hart the first time around. Benavidez struggled against Gavril and looks good against smaller opponents or guys who've already been knocked out before. Plus, he's never fought at the weight class, his rightful weight class. Opetaia has been on a streak and has been avoided for a reason.
I have to strongly disagree about the second part. UFC has competition but on this side of the ocean they've acquired the best talent pool and pit the top fighters against each other at or close to their primes. That's the whole reason for a ranking system in the first place. Their interim champs are only stand-ins until the actual champ comes back from a documented injury, as any other reason goes under review and usually leads to stripping, (unless you're Jon Jones).
In the last decade or so alone, boxing has misses than wins in superfights. May-Pac was 5 years too late, Joshua still has never fought Wilder or Fury, none of which are in their prime anymore, Canelo-Benavidez a no-ski, Loma-Garcia never happened, Tank has never fought Teo, Haney, or Shakur, Kovalev never fought Stevenson, etc.
Once Zuffa finds it's footing in the next year or two, we're going to have a boxing renaissance like the UFC did when they had Anderson Silva, George St. Pierre, Jon Jones, Ronda Rousey, etc.
If most everyone fights under one roof, we have much to look forward to.