Agenda answer: yes Mihawk being surpassed before the final war is incredible for the Admiral agenda, but since I always thought this was going to happen, I’m not really caught off guard by these spoilers.
Real answer: so yes I did always believe Mihawk would fall before the final war against the Government, Zoro and Mihawk backing out of the final world war to go fuck off and fight a 1v1 was just always an extremely bizarre image in my mind, and Zoro vs Mihawk happening after we learn all the secrets of the Governmemt and such never worked either because such a 1v1 would just feel meaningless at that point for me. Like imagine Oda thinking Zoro vs Mihawk would be a bigger deal than the fall of Mariejois/Imu/800 years of Government tyranny…I just don’t see it. Zoro vs Mihawk for me was always destined to happen before all this.
Specifically I always thought Mihawk would be defeated in Elbaf since Zoro vs Mihawk would fit right in with the “honorable warrior” arc and all, but as the series progresses I’m starting to think Oda will not miss the opportunity to draw a 4 way Yonko war on Raftel.
Just in concept, the idea of all four Yonko fighting an all out war against each other after all these years of Oda stressing that just two Yonko fighting/meeting is a huge event, would be incredible.
As for the Admirals, like I said a few posts back, these guys are no longer destined to be the strongest fighting force of the Government before EOS, that honor will go to the Seraphim. So Mihawk falling before the Admirals honestly doesn’t mean much, especially if you think Kaido > Admirals as Kaido has already fallen as well.
Oda has spent the timeskip painting the Marines as an organization that is falling the fuck apart and splintering into smaller factions/groups with their own goals and ideas, and such a fractured faction cannot be expected to fully side with the Government at EOS. Really the only Marines who have shown absolute unquestioning obedience to the Government are Kizaru and Green Bull, we’ve even seen Akainu himself value the pride of the Marines over the Gorosei and the Nobles. I still think Luffy vs Akainu is 100% destined but the inner World Government are the true villains in this manga, not the Marines. I don’t think the Marines as a whole will support the Government when the Cleansing restarts, only the extreme ones like Sakazuki and Ryokugyu.
So yeah Mihawk will fall before the Admirals, that doesn’t mean Admirals > Mihawk (though yes, they are)
As for Kuzan, well many in this fandom are still not ready to accept that there is one Straw Hat character who has yet to join the crew and is absolutely Fucking perfect as an Aokiji opponent:
Seeing as how this character has had multiple interactions with Kuzan already and no one else in the Straw Hat crew has any real reason or purpose in fighting Kuzan lol. Aokiji is an absolutely perfect narrative Parrallel to EOS Straw Hat smoker and a fight between the two would work perfectly.
I honestly doubt Oda has Kuzan fall in a Blackbeard Pirate 1v1 fest, but if that is Kuzan’s fate then Smoker is his opponent.