Lynch's Mailbag: Where does Zhang-Jedrzejczyk rank among all-time fights?

Welcome to Lynch's Mailbag, a weekly feature by senior MMA news editor James Lynch.

Send James a DM @LynchOnSports or an email at james.lynch@thescore.com to submit questions for next week's article. The following questions have been edited for clarity and grammar.

After that war between Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk at UFC 248, where would you rank it in terms of the best fights of all time? - Andrew Wood

First off, I agree with you, Andrew. Zhang's split-decision victory over Jedrzejczyk certainly deserves consideration as one of the best fights of all time.

But does it crack my personal top five? Unfortunately, it does not.

In no particular order, I would rank the following fights ahead of that epic strawweight title fight: Michael Chandler versus Eddie Alvarez at Bellator 58; Jon Jones versus Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 165; Robbie Lawler versus Rory MacDonald at UFC 185; Dan Henderson versus Shogun Rua at UFC 139; and Frankie Edgar versus Gray Maynard at UFC 125.

With that said, Zhang-Jedrzejczyk certainly makes my top-five list of best women's fights of all time. I'd also rank it among the top 10 matchups in MMA history.

With Yoel Romero coming up short against Israel Adesanya at UFC 248, is it time for him to move to light heavyweight? - Peter Johannes

I'm in the minority here, but I think this is the best move. Romero's manager wants the 42-year-old to stay at middleweight and wait until the title picture clears up. But as I've mentioned before, Romero has had four title shots at middleweight and a fifth seems very unlikely.

Yes, Romero would be undersized for the 205-pound division, and I doubt we'd ever see him fight friend and current champion Jon Jones. But if he wants to keep fighting, the light heavyweight division always needs new contenders and seems like a better option. Not to mention all the fun potential matchups. Can you imagine Romero against Anthony "Rumble" Johnson? Sign me up.

Will Israel Adesanya vs. Paulo Costa be on the same card as Jorge Masvidal vs. Kamaru Usman in July at UFC 252? - Peter Johannes

Despite rumors, nothing has been officially signed between Masvidal and Usman, so I wouldn't count on that fight taking place during International Fight Week. Still, I do think Adesanya fights Costa in July. The current middleweight champion took very little damage at UFC 248 and the Brazilian contender appears healthy enough to fight again.

What’s next for the winner of Kevin Lee vs. Charles Oliveira this Saturday at UFC Brasilia? - Nate Lahey

Great question. I think it really depends on who wins. If Lee comes out with the victory, we can scratch Al Iaquinta off the list. They've already fought twice, with Iaquinta winning both bouts. Paul Felder and Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone, who are both ranked higher than Lee, could be potential opponents.

If Oliveira wins, Iaquinta is a fresh matchup and a notable name in the 155-pound division. The 30-year-old could fight Felder or Cerrone too, but I'm not sure how much leverage he'd have given he's currently ranked No. 13 in the division.

Given the long travel to Brazil and his struggles in the past, will Kevin Lee make weight? - Aaron Weinbaum

This was something I brought up during theScoreMMA podcast's UFC Brasilia preview. It could be a factor. This is Lee's second fight back at 155 pounds since he lost to Rafael dos Anjos at welterweight in May 2019.

The 27-year-old has only missed weight once in his career, coming in a pound over (157lbs) against Edson Barboza at UFC Fight Night New Jersey in April 2018. Lee's had plenty of notice for this main event matchup and he's doing his camps at Tristar Gym in Montreal without any distractions, so I don't see the "Motown Phenom" missing weight Friday.

Do you think Johnny Walker needs an impressive victory on Saturday? I feel like he lost a ton of steam getting finished by Corey Anderson at UFC 244 - Nate Lahey

It's true Walker was on the fast track to a title shot before losing to Anderson, but I don't think a loss here would be too detrimental. Walker also said during our interview on theScoreMMA Podcast that he's no longer rushing to reach the light heavyweight championship.

That's partly due to the Brazilian fighter's decision to switch camps and train full-time at Tristar Gym in Montreal. A loss would certainly hurt, but the 205-pound division is so shallow beyond the top contenders that I don't see it being a major factor. I also believe he'll defeat Nikita Krylov this Saturday.

Do you think Amanda Nunes vs. Valentina Shevchenko 3 will happen in the future? If so, how do you see that trilogy playing out? - @Yusuf233Yusuf

I do think that fight happens given the lack of contenders for both Nunes at bantamweight and featherweight and for Shevchenko at flyweight. Should they meet again, I expect another close matchup, but I think the current UFC flyweight champion could pull out a victory this time.

Is Leon Edwards vs. Tyron Woodley at UFC London the best fight nobody is talking about? - @LyndenVothMMA

It's an awesome fight and a pivotal one for the welterweight division. I do feel it's being somewhat overlooked, but that's mainly because the sole focus has been on the two title fights at UFC 248. Expect more talk about this UFC London main event after Saturday's card.

What's your take on the Islam Makhachev backlash? - Tyler Gerhardt

For those who didn't see it, Makachev sent a controversial and since-deleted tweet during the Zhang-Jedrzejczyk title fight at UFC 248. The problem here is that English isn't Makhachev's first language, and Twitter can be a tough environment in which to understand the opinions expressed.

Was he saying women shouldn't fight? Was he being insensitive? I can't answer either question because I don't truly know his intent. All I know is that professional athletes need to be careful about what they tweet.

With the coronavirus being a global threat, what precautions has the UFC taken and what are its plans if the threat escalates? - Rick Clarke

First, I'm not sure most people realize this, but this question was actually submitted by the father of former UFC lightweight Mitch Clarke. Thank you for that, Rick.

I have yet to learn of any precautions taken by the UFC, either through a press release or another source of information. To my knowledge, at the time of writing this, there don't appear to be any upcoming events impacted by the coronavirus.

New York has declared a state of emergency due to the coronavirus and UFC 249 is one month away. Could you see a UFC event being broadcast only? - Tyrone Mackenzie

We're seeing athletes across other sports compete in empty arenas, so it's entirely possible the UFC goes that route if things continue to get worse. You hope that isn't the case, especially since the UFC 249 main event between Khabib Nurmagomedov and Tony Ferguson has been rescheduled many times already.

Piggybacking off of Rick's question, I expect to see the UFC make a formal announcement regarding the coronavirus soon.

What are the pros and cons of changing the weigh-ins to the day of the contest? - Prentice Martin Southwell

I personally think the only reason to have same-day weigh-ins is that it's a change from the current method, which clearly has its issues. But I see far more potential problems in doing it this way.

First, if a fighter misses weight, the matchup could potentially be canceled and the promotion wouldn't have time to find a replacement. The second concern is that some fighters will still excessively cut weight. Doing so on the day of a fight would give a fighter less time to rehydrate, leaving that fighter more susceptible to a knock-out.

Weigh-in procedure continues to be a big issue in MMA. Personally, I think one step in the right direction would be having the United States Anti-Doping Agency check weights during fighters' camps. USADA already conducts random drug tests - why not have the agency put a fighter on a scale? Commissions could implement weight thresholds for fighters to maintain during camp.

Let's say a fighter is 40 pounds over the weight limit two weeks out from a fight. Cancel the fight and find a replacement. It would force fighters to be more disciplined during camp, or force them to change weight classes if a cut appears too severe.