After Saturday night’s Fight Night in Seattle, we could see many exciting potential matchups in the coming months based on this weekend’s results. Here are some of my picks of who some of this weekend’s main cards should face next.
Henry Cejudo & Song Yadong:
Due to the technical decision that went in Yadong’s favour after a controversial eye poke, Yadong agreed to a rematch in his post-fight interview. I think it is the just conclusion that a rematch is needed. However, Dana White seems to be opposed to seeing that fight again so maybe they will have new matchups.
Anthony Hernandez:
Anthony Hernandez moves into the top 10 of the middleweights after grinding to a 29-28 decision victory against Brendan Allen, using his superior wrestling to win the last two rounds. On the mic, when Michael Bisping asked who he wanted next, he did not say a name; he just said that he wanted someone above him. Thankfully, I’m here to matchmake him! Hernandez is currently riding a seven-fight win streak, so I would grant him his wish. I also agree with Hernandez again in his post-fight press conference in that he can show more as his incredibly skilled on the ground. To prove he is championship quality I believe there are two viable options:
- Jared Cannonier: Jared has become a gatekeeper of the middleweight top 5, with Imavov and Borralho beating him in the past year to prove they are ready to challenge the middleweight elite. After beating Gregory Rodrigues in a recent fight night, Jared is in an odd spot as he has lost to four top six and will probably need to fight down again. It is the perfect fight to see if Hernandez can beat the best as Cannonier is a veteran in the Octagon with wins over Strickland and Vettori on his resume.
- Winner of Marvin Vettori vs Roman Dolidze: Another viable option would be the winner of Vettori and Dolidze with Vettori, like Cannonier being a veteran of the middleweight division, only losing to the elite. Dolidze, if he beats Vettori would be on a three-fight win streak and would in all likelihood stay above Hernandez in the rankings, so it would be a viable matchup either way.
Brendan Allen:
Brendan Allen finds himself on a two-fight skid with his loss against Hernandez demonstrating a lack of urgency to get Hernandez off his back in the final round being the deciding factor in the bout. However, he did show improvement in his standup game catching Hernandez on the feet. He clearly has enough quality to be ranked and I believe would be the perfect test for an upcoming star…
- Bo Nickal: Bo remained on the feet in his decision victory against Paul Craig but to truly test the All-American wrestler he needs a step up in quality. Allen has shown he is well vast in all aspects of MMA getting eight submission wins in the UFC, including the contender series, and has TKO’d guys in the past. This would be now no.15 ranked Bo Nickal’s thought test, where the UFC can judge if he truly is worth the hype.
Rob Font:
Rob Font held up to his reputation as a gatekeeper in the bantamweight division by beating previously undefeated fighter Jean Masumuto via split decision. Font has been a company man and beat two surging prospects in Masumuto and Phillips and I believe deserves a chance to climb the rankings himself. Due to Cejudo and Yadong likely to rematch, there is another rematch that needs to take place in its own right:
- Chito Vera: Riding a two-fight skid after losing to Sean O’Malley and Deiveson Figueiredo, Vera needs to demonstrate he still deserves to be up at the top of the bantamweight rankings. Font and Vera are in opposite places from their first meeting with Font on the winning streak and Vera on the losing streak and would give Font one final chance at 37 to climb to the top of the division.
Jean Matsumoto:
Matsumoto came in on short notice and at just age 25, with limited experience, just came up short against Rob Font who has been in the bantamweight rankings for over 5 years. As well as he did, due to his age and this being his first MMA loss, I think it would be smart for the UFC to give him a more winnable next fight against someone similar in age:
- Adrian Yanez: Yanez was very recently a ranked bantamweight, however after losing to Jonathan Martinez and Daniel Marcos has fallen down the bantamweight pecking order. Yanez got TKO’d by both Font and Martinez and would benefit by having a fight against Matsumoto who has not won via TKO or KO in the UFC. For Matsumoto, it is a step up from his last win against Brad Katona and a step down from Rob Font to give him a tune-up fight before facing someone on the verge or in the bottom half of the rankings.
Jean Silva:
Jean Silva just increased his hype train with a round one stoppage against Melsik Baghdasaryan which many fight fans were confused about when the two were originally matched up due to the gulf in quality. Silva demonstrated in this fight and his UFC career so far that along with some of the other fighting nerds, he is ready to be fast-tracked to the rankings. Dan Ige would have been a good opponent however he is booked to face Sean Woodson already. However, there still are a couple of interesting fights that you could make for Silva:
- Calvin Kattar: Kattar is on a four-fight skid after recently losing to Youssef Zalal and although this fight makes perfect sense ranking-wise, I think Kattar has been thrown to the wolves as of late and it is someone else’s go-to take on featherweights biggest upcoming star. However, saying that with Kattar’s boxing, this would make for a great viewing stylistically. However, there is another match I would rather see.
- Bryce Mitchell: If the UFC want to get the most out of the fight nerds’ surge in popularity I think it would make sense to give Jean Silva a fight with Bryce Mitchell due to his massive popularity fall off due to some of his recent political comments on a podcast. This would be a good test for Silva’s grappling and to see if Mitchell’s chin has recovered from the right overhand by Josh Emmett over a year ago. Also, Silva called him out so it makes logical sense.
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