Brendan Allen vs Marvin Vettori
Paul Craig vs Caio Borralho
Michael Morales vs Brady/Gastelum loser
Jake Matthews vs Santiago Ponzinibbio
Chase Hooper vs Joe Lauzon
Jordan Leavitt vs Austin Hubbard
Payton Talbott vs Johnny Munoz
Nick Aguirre CUT
Myktybek Orolbai vs Vinc Pichel
Uros Medic vs Jonny Parsons (rebook)
Joanderson Brito vs Dan Ige
Jonathan Pearce vs Nate Landwehr
Jose Johnson vs Raul Rosas Jr.
Chad Anheliger vs McGhee/Bolanos loser
Christian Leroy Duncan vs Cesar Almeida (rebook)
Denis Tiuliulin vs Chidi Njokuani
Mick Parkin vs Karl Williams
Caio Machado vs Josh Parisian
Jeka Saragih vs Morgan Charriere
Lucas Alexander vs Austin Lingo
Ailin Perez vs Joselyne Edwards (scuffle at PI)
Lucie Pudilová vs Tamires Vidal
Trey Ogden vs Ottman Azaitar
Nikolas Motta vs Maheshate
Rafael Estevam vs Ronnie Lawrence (135)
Charles Johnson vs Felipe dos Santos
-- Allen vs. Vettori - I like it. Vettori just got showed levels by Cannonier and Allen has now defended his rank twice -- first against an unranked Silva, then against #13 Craig, both of which were very dangerous guys. Given Allen doing this while maintaining a finish streak... I think he should be rewarded with a jump up against a #5 guy coming off a loss like Vettori, who is notoriously difficult (read: seemingly impossible) to stop. It would be a good litmus test to see where he's at. Hermansson and Dolidze are decent runners-up, especially since Brendan has been offered/booked against each recently.
-- Craig vs. Borralho - This needs to happen. Caio has been shafted -- badly -- by UFC matchmakers. They are doing everything in their power to keep him out of the rankings despite his win streak, probably because they think his fighting style isn't fan-friendly. Craig is a guy in the lower Top 15 now coming off a loss and makes it hard for the other guy to grind out boring wins especially if they want to grapple, so I would enjoy seeing this.
-- Morales vs. Brady/Gastelum Loser - Eh, if Gastelum loses he's unranked at 170. He's on a four-fight win streak, he deserves a ranked name. If Brady loses to Gastelum then that works out, but it might be better to just book him against Chiesa, Holland, or to rebook the Rinat fight which got scrapped back in the day.
-- Hooper vs. Lauzon - Lauzon is essentially retired as of June 2022. Hooper just beat a Top 50ish guy at Lightweight and is 2-0 at the weight class. Give the man a step up, albeit not too much of one. I would look at names like Nurullo Aliev, Christos Giagos, Claudio Puelles, or Vinc Pichel.
-- Leavitt vs. Hubbard - This works. We just need to find out where Leavitt fits. He's looked good in some fights and way behind in others. Other possibilities include Natan Levy, Loik Radzhabov, Francisco Prado, or Chris Duncan.
-- Talbott vs. Johnny Munoz - Reasonable step up in competition. Talbott looked phenomenal other than the first round where he got outgrappled quite badly, so might as well keep the grapplers coming until he proves he has shored up that area of his game.
-- Nick Aguirre - I'm on the fence about this one. Bantamweight isn't exactly hard up for talent and while Aguirre is 0-2, he's had a rough go of it. His debut was up a weight class on short notice against a stud in Argueta and then he gets fed to Talbott. There are other dudes at 135 with as bad or worse records and without the same excuses to fall back on, lol. I'm tempted to say put Nick against any of them in a "loser goes home" match: Kazama, Oliveira, Garcia, Lacerda, Mitchell, Gafurov...
--
Orolbai vs. Pichel - I like it, actually. Medic and Semelsberger (who Medic just beat) are both in the Top 40ish range at Welterweight. Orolbai just beat him on short notice, so moving down he should get a decent exchange rate. Pichel is probably in around the same spot down at Lightweight and is a crafty veteran who's good at giving guys fits. He just had a wasted camp thanks to the Bonfim fight falling through, so why not? I also wouldn't mind seeing him fight Zellhuber, Ziam, Diakese, Davis, Garcia, or Bahamondes.
-- Medic vs. Parsons - Might as well. Medic didn't take a ton of concussive damage, so as long as he's not too beat up from the training camp and Parsons recovers quickly from whatever his issue was. Ange Loosa is another possibility.
-- Brito vs. Ige - No complaints here. Hard to hold Brito's loss to Algeo against him at this point, especially since it was incredibly razor-thin. People forget Brito also holds a pretty dominant victory (other than the foul) over Diego Lopes on DWCS prior to that. Four-fight win streak... dude needs a ranked opponent. Caceres or Yusuff would also be good choices.
--
JSP vs. Landwehr - Not a terrible match-up by any means, but I think these two are pretty much adjacent to one another. Nate just attempted to get into the rankings from the Top 20 range and came up short. JSP fought another Top 20 guy and lost. I think Pearce should be used to play gatekeeper against another guy currently coming off a win, like Algeo, Shore, Onama, or Naimov.
-- Johnson vs. Rosas - Not a bad option. Johnson would be the most dangerous striker Rosas has faced to date and someone who can match his physicality, plus Rosas presents an opportunity for Jose to show off more of his improved grappling. Other options are Quinonez, Argueta, HIestand, and Aoriqileng.
--
Anheliger vs. McGhee/Bolanos Loser - Sure, I guess. The other options would be Argueta, Martinez, or any of the guys I mentioned up above for Aguierre. Sort of at the end of his rope at his age, I think.
--
CLD vs. Almeida - No, I don't think so. Almeida isn't even a Top 100 guy in the world. He's 4-0 in MMA and hasn't even made his UFC debut. CLD has progressed far beyond this level by now. None of his UFC accomplishments thus far are spectacular, but he's technically 2-1 inside the promotion. It's time to start talking about giving him someone like Anders, Malkoun, Duraev, or Vieira. If you want a fun kickboxing match, then give him Magomedov (either one) or Njokuani instead.
-- Tiuliulin vs. Njokuani - I know Chidi hasn't looked good lately, but IMO he got robbed against Duraev and I still feel like he's a level above Denis. While I wouldn't be opposed to him being fed Denis, I think more appropriate opponents for Denis's level of competition would be someone like Woodburn, Dobson, Ribeiro, or maybe Fremd.
-- Parkin vs. Williams - This division is starved for talent. IMO, as long as you have two guys moving up the ranks that are undefeated in the promotion, keep them away from one another for the time being. Let Parkin fight Mayes or Barnett or one of the Tafas.
-- Machado vs. Parisian - This works. Brzeski and Lane also make sense.
-- Saragih vs. Charriere - Solid. You could also use Saragih to build-- err, "test" someone like Francis Marshall or Gabriel Santos, both of which were perceived to be great prospects but which have had a rough go of things lately. Probably a waste of an Indonesian star who likes to scrap, though.
-- Alexander vs. Lingo - See above. Or put him against Errens if you want to give him a real step down rather than feeding him to perceived prospects.
-- Perez vs. Edwards - Might as well at this point.
-- Pudilova vs. Vidal - Sure, I guess. That or give it to Rendon who just beat Vidal.
-- Ogden vs. Azaitar - Ogden pretty much beat Motta and should be matchmade as such. Trey beat a pretty solid dude in Zellhuber not too long ago, which shouldn't be forgotten. I think Azaitar is just irrelevant at this point. IMO give him someone like Borshchev, Aliev, Herbert, Radzhabov, or Ribovicz.
-- Motta vs. Mahashate - I think that's four and out for Motta; I strongly suspect he gets cut. 1-2 (1) is not a strong end to a contract, especially when he got brutally stopped in his losses and his only win was over a nobody who went winless himself before getting cut. The NC was unfortunate, but Motta was getting shut out in that fight and was likely en route to being submitted or 10-8'd in the third round regardless. If by some miracle the UFC decides to keep him around because he likes to sling leather and get KO'd in highlight reel fashion, then sure... Mahashate, Campbell, Azaitar, Peek, Yayha, or Jubli all make sense.
-- Estevam vs. Lawrence - Lawrence said he's taking an extended time off from MMA. The weight is concerning, but I'm willing to give Estevam one more chance to figure it out. To that end, I'd say someone like Osbourne, Altamirano, Filho, or Costa would be fine.
-- Johnson vs. Felipe dos Santos - Again, good chance we might see Johnson get cut. Not sure what his contract status is in terms of when he signed and for what length, but 2-4 isn't a good look. He's yet to shore up the deficiencies in his game. If they decide to keep him around, he needs a major step down in competition. Any of the dudes who are currently winless at Flyweight would be fine, or maybe Nate Maness.
I like most of these match ups but I think Morales should fight Magny.
Magny is booked against Mallott.
