Now that UFC 325 has been and gone, I thought I would look at what matchups I would make, with the UFC 325 main card fighters, if I were Dana White.
And there is only one place to start: what to do at the summit of the featherweight division.
Alexander Volkanovski:
Many people believed Diego Lopes would get a rematch against the champ Alexander Volkanovski, which was undeserved and too soon after the original matchup.
They ended up being proved correct as the fight ended in a similar way to the first, with Volkanovski getting an even clearer unanimous decision, the second time around.
After the official announcement that came out today, there is only one fight that makes sense: the winner of Lerone Murphy/ Mosvar Evloev vs Alexander Volkanovski.
Both fighters are currently undefeated, and I believe whoever wins this fight and keeps their 0 is the clear number one contender.
Arman Tsarukyan and Jean Silva have also been mentioned in interviews with the champ as potential opponents for Volkanovski.
Volkanovski, during the 325 media day regarding Silva earning the title shot, stated, “Has he earned a title shot yet? I don’t think so.”
In regards to Tsarukyan he has not fought at 145 in the UFC and should not be in title contention in a division he is not even in.
Diego Lopes:
After losing two title shots against Volkanovski, Lopes is in a tough spot as it is very unlikely he gets a title shot any time soon.
So, I believe he has two options: fight he way back up or move up to the 155 division.
Me personally, I would try and convince him to move up to the 155 division as he is a popular fighter with a lot more exciting matchups instead of relying on Volkanovski to get dethroned to hv a chance of another title shot at 145.
Lets explore both possibilities.
If he moved up I believe the best fight they could make, to introduce to the division, is against Michael Chandler.
This is because Chandler is also a fan favourite with a similar brawler style who currently is not booked and has just been told he will not get the Connor McGregor fight.
Having been a company man I do believe he will be rewarded with a big fight, and with Lopes’ popularity this seems like a no brainer to introduce him to the division and get him into the lightweight rankings.
If he stays in the featherweight rankings he will effectively become a gatekeeper at the top of the division similarly to how Holloway was during Volkanovski’s first reign as champion.
If Lopes chooses to stay in the division, I think he should fight Yair Rodriguez.
This fight again would be a Fight Night headliner due to their position in the rankings (#2 vs #3) and their previous altercations at the UFC 314 press conference, giving this fight a lot of hype and making it easy to market.
Benoit St Denis
Benoit St Denis is now riding a four-fight winning streak and rightly so called out the top 5 of the lightweight division.
With Oliveira and Holloway booked for the BMF and Topuria announcing he will come back and defend against interim champion Justin Gaethje, via Instagram, there is only one fight that makes sense for BSD: Arman Tsarukyan.
Despite being the clear number one contender, with Gaethje having the interim belt, it will be a while before Tsarukyan gets his heavily anticipated title shot and has stated he wants to stay active, via Ariel Helwani, so this fight makes perfect sense for both of them.
Dan Hooker
Dan Hooker is riding a two-fight skid, and I do not believe the fights are going to get any easier for him.
Despite the recent back and forth with Paddy Pimblett, I would not make the fight (more on Paddy later).
I believe they should give him an up-and-coming contender like Manuel Torres to build Torres up and make further progress in gaining the Mexican market that Dana White has wanted for years.
Torres, like Hooker, has a fan-friendly style, so it would be an entertaining fight on paper and makes sesne rankings wise, as after losing to BSD, you can imagine Hooker will be between 7th-10th ranked and Torres is 13th on a two fight winstreak, so he will probably fight up the rankings.
Mauricio Ruffy:
Ruffy got back in the win column with a TKO in the second round against Rafael Fiziev and looked the best we have seen him in the octagon after training with Alexander Volkanovski at the Freestyle Fighting Gym.
However, there is still questions over if he has the defensive grappling to deal with the top of the 155 lbs division.
I have the perfect opponent: Paddy Pimblett.
These two are arguably the most popular fighters in the lightweight division outside the top 5, so with Pimblett needing the bounce back why not put them together?
Pimblett will be a good stylistic test to see if Ruffy can handle a good grappler, if Pimblett uses a more grappling-heavy game plan in comparison to the Gaethje fight.
For Pimblett, it will be a good test to see if his stand-up defensive work has improved, as Ruffy’s has an unorthodox style and sniper-like striking.
Also, both fighters have fought in the past two events, so they should be ready at a similar time.
Rafael Fiziev:
Now 1-4 in his last five, Fiziev will be fighting to keep his ranking in his next fight.
I believe he should fight #15 Fares Ziam, who is on six fight winstreak and deserves a fight against a battle tested lightweight who has fought a lot of the top of the division like Fiziev.
Fiziev needs to prove once again he belongs in the top 15 in the division and I think this is the perfect fight for that and the perfect fight for Ziam to showcase his ability to the top of the lightweight division.
Tallison Teixera:
After that slugfest with Tuivasa, I think Teixera still needs some more fights before he gets a shot at the top 10 of the division.
I would give him Shamil Gaziev, who in his last fight, got TKO’d by Waldo-Acosta in round one.
Both have KO power and like to change levels and use this wrestling, so I think it would be an interesting bout, style-wise.
Also, both have had issues with their cardio in the past, so it is a good test to see if that has improved for either fighter.
Tai Tuivasa:
Tuivasa is now riding a six fight lsoing streak, the highest active losing streak, and should fight someone not in the rankings next.
On the Josh Emmett vs Kevin Vallejos fight night in March, Vitor Petrino is facing off against Steven Aplund.
I believe the winner of that fight deserves the step up to face Tuivasa and get a chance at getting ranked to try get some new contenders in what is quite a shallow division.
Quillan Salkilld:
Salkilld beat Jamie Mullarkey by neck crank in round one and is currently on a four-fight win streak in the UFC, if you do not include the Contender Series.
With all four wins ending in a finish and three of them in the first round, I believe Salkilld deserves a huge jump up in competition and the perfect matchup has just presented itself.
Brain Ortega has just pulled out of his fight with Renato Moicano at UFC 326 and after taking little damage, I believe Salkilld showed put his name in the hat to get that fight and jump into the rankings.
Jamie Mullarkey:
Mullarkey has lost 3 of his last 4 and throughout his UFC tenure, has been given to the next up-and-coming lightweight to test them.
I think the UFC should continue that trend and put him up against Tom Nolan, who is riding a four-fight win streak.
This would be a good way to gauge Nolan’s level as Mullarkey has also fought Ruffy, Salkilld, Ziam, with many who pass the Mullarkey test ending up in and around the rankings.
