| Shamil Gaziev vs #14 Rodrigo Nascimento - |
Shamil came out in his debut and had a very dominate performance against Martin Buday who was 4-0 in the UFC prior to the fight. The UFC is clearly trying to push Shamil up the division anyway they can, I believe Rodrigo Nascimento is that guy that they match up with Shamil next. Rodrigo sits at #14 in the HW division and currently just beat Don 'Tale Mayes and looking back at his wins, none of them really stand out. This would be a good test for Shamil inside the rankings.
| Martin Buday vs Junior Tafa - |
Buday was ranked #15 a few weeks back but then got removed from the rankings before the fight, and looking at his resume, I can see why. His wins are Chris Barnett (2-2 in the UFC), Lukasz Brzeski (0-3 in the UFC), Jake Collier (5-9 in the UFC), and Josh Parisian (2-4 in the UFC). As you can see, all of these fighters are about as low as you can go in the division, so it's not wonder why Buday started 4-0 in the UFC, don't get me wrong he is not a bad fighter but definitely has not had a test whatsoever since he has been here. So let's give him Junior Tafa, younger brother of Justin Tafa who has been on a KO streak recently. Both brothers hold incredible power and can defiantly make a splash with another highlight KO. Tafa just came off a KO win over Parker Porter and before that took a decision loss to Mo Usman but if you go off damage you could arguably give it to him. I think this is an interesting fight and would love to see if Buday would be to much for Junior Tafa or if Tafa will catch him before Buday gets into rhythm.
| Andre Fili vs Cub Swanson - |
Andre Fili just came off an amazing first round KO over Lucas Almeida while taking little damage and man I gotta say, it is always good seeing Fili win. A veteran who has been here since 2013 and dates all the way back to UFC 166 has always been a fan favorite and would love to see him get a fight where all the fans would be loving the action between both men and I believe he should be doing that against the man and legend himself, Cub Swanson. Swanson just came off a win over Hakeem Dawodu and it was pretty controversial to say the least, I won't give my opinion on the results but it was a very close fight and the judges leaned towards Swanson with an unanimous decision victory. Before the scorecards were read out though, Swanson looked fine with taking the loss and almost looked like he was going to retire on the spot with his family in attendance, although it didn't happen as he was given the W. I would love to see this fight and I know the fans would also, I would love to see it on the UFC 300 card, possibly early prelims and give Cub Swanson a fun fight on his way out.
| #12 Tagir Ulanbekov vs #9 Matt Schnell - |
Tagir straight up dominated from start to finish against Cody Durden, even dropping him in the first round. He had lots and lots of submission attempts and finally submitted Durden in the second round. Considering I matched up Erceg and Elliott last week, I feel like this is the right fight to make considering Schnell sits at the #9 rank and Tagir is currently at the #12. Schnell was supposed to fight 2 times this year and pulled out both times. Tagir didn't take to much damage so maybe he can sneak on the Abu Dhabi card against Schnell here.
| #15 Cody Durden vs Allan-Nascimento - |
Wasn't a good showing for Durden, although he did have a few good moments it just wasn't enough to beat Tagir. Nascimento was supposed to have 2 ranked fights this year but pulled out of both of them. Allan's first fight in the UFC was against Tagir and he took him to a split decision, although losing I think this would be a pretty interesting fight and would be looking forward to it.
| Cody Garbrandt vs #9 Dominick Cruz 2 - |
It's finally time to see the rematch, Cody looks like he's got his grove back, but I mean to be fair he did get 2 wins in a row against bottom of the barrel guys so who really knows. Cruz has been out for a year and a half after losing by brutal head kick KO to Marlon Vera, although he was doing very well before the KO loss with the Judges having him up 2-1 entering the 4th round. Cruz was talking about calling out the winner of the Garbrandt vs Kelleher as a joke but you can tell deep down he wants to avenge the loss. Cody called for Figgy in April or May and that's just to much of a power puncher for Cody to deal with right now in my opinion. UFC 300 is going to be in April and I see no reason for this fight not to be made for the fans and have it put on the card.
| #14 Alonzo Menifield vs #9 Volkan Oezdemir - |
Menifeld landed the more powerful punches against Jacoby when it mattered and won the fight 29-28 clear. He is someone who can pack a punch for sure and so can Volkan Oezedmir who just fought in September and won by a pretty easy first round Submission against debut fighter Bogdan Guskov (Anthony Smith). Volkan took 0 damage but is pretty inactive in general, Menifield is already 36 and I think the time is now to push him up the rankings as he won't get any younger. Who will go to sleep first in this fight?
| #15 Dustin Jacoby vs Vitor Petrino |
Man it almost feels like Jacoby just lacks fight IQ every time it gets tough. In the 3rd round of the fight which he was clearly losing, he decides to hold Menifield against the cage instead of breaking and unleashing everything you have in the final seconds. Now don't get me wrong, Im not a fighter, far from it, but I feel like if you're in a fight you know your losing, got dropped twice already, you should at least throw what you can in the final minute and see if it sticks and lands. He even did the same thing vs Azamat where he was losing the first 2 rounds and in the 3rd has his opponent hurt and against the cage but decided to do the same thing and hold him against the cage and even had the commentating team in both fights confused. Petrino is 3-0 in the UFC, last 2 by finish, it's time he gets a ranked opponent.
| #6 Josh Emmett vs #8 Giga Chikadze |
Holy smokes Josh Emmett.... I've always loved Josh just because of the way he fights, pretty much closes his eyes and throws overhands and if it lands... goodnight... and unfortunately Bryce Mitchell was on the wrong end of that overhand. There isn't much to say other than this fight was originally made for the card but Giga had to pull out due to a torn groin. Emmett didn't even take one punch from Bryce so he is completely untouched and has 0 damage. I say rebook this fight in April, maybe on UFC 300 itself on the prelims and stack the card up even more.
| #10 Bryce Mitchell vs #15 Lerone Murphy if he beats Dan Ige |
Trust me, I want Bryce to take as much time off as possible but knowing him, he'll want to get back in there so im assuming this fight would take place late 2024, maybe in October or November, a full year for Bryce to recover. Knowing Lerone Murphy isn't the most active person possible, this could work. Although if Murphy loses we would have to find a different fight for Bryce, because although he did get brutally KO'd by Josh Emmett, he still holds a valuable ranking of #10.
| Tony Ferguson vs Clay Guida |
Trust me if this was any other year, I would sadly say that it about time to cut Tony, the boogie man himself... but we are so close to UFC 300 and we might as well keep Tony for one more fight so he can make the card and why not put him against another well respected veteran fighter in Clay Guida. Clay has been here since 2006 for god sake and Tony has been here since 2011. Both of these men deserve this fight and at 42.. Guida can still get it going inside the cage, having an impressive showing against Joaquim Silva, although losing, was very impressive for his age. For Tony? Not so much, he's about to be 40 and has taken such bad punishment it's quite honestly sad to see. Hopefully both men retire together inside the octagon after this fight.
| #14 Bobby Green vs Paddy Pimblett |
I see a lot of people saying Paddy shouldn't get a ranked opponent yet and he should keep fighting unranked guys. Paddy is 5-0 inside the UFC and sits at a 21-3 record overall, he deserves a ranked fighter, he's about to be 29 and entering his "prime" so we might as well do with what we can and give him a ranked foe. Who better than Bobby King Green himself who has been calling for this fight for quite awhile actually. Green just suffered a very bad KO loss by Jalin Turner where he took so much unneeded damage while the Ref just watched after being KO'd stiff. If we know the UFC, they will for sure take advantage of all that damage Bobby took and will look to send Paddy in against him to hopefully get Paddy that ranked fight, although his cardio is very questionable... we shall see.
There's a reason why Shavkat doesn't have anyone matched up and that's because I think personally that he should just sit out and wait his turn for his chance at a title shot, and I believe that will more than likely be late 2024. You might be saying, "Dude did you just see Colby after a long layoff.... why Shavkat?" Well Shakvat apparently fought this fight with an injury and refused to pull out and fought through it and will require surgery and will take about 6 weeks to get fully healed. By the time he gets back into a grove, we could be looking at maybe May but I believe someone else is in line to fight Leon over him right now, I would just sit and wait until later 2024 to get your chance, I mean look at what Leon did, waited his turn and look how that turned out for him.
| (C) Alexandre Pantoja vs the winner of Moreno/Albazi. |
Dana White already said it himself that he see's Moreno vs Albazi as a #1 contenders fight. With that being said I actually don't mind the idea of it at all. Moreno vs Pantoja at UFC 290 was a blast to watch, possibly FOTY. Albazi is 5-0 and with a win over the former champion Brandon Moreno, I don't see how he could be denied a title shot...
| #3 Brandon Royval vs #4 Kai Kara-France 2 |
Royval couldn't get anything going on the ground vs Pantoja, his takedown defense was lacking and especially his guard game on the ground. At 31 he's gonna need to go on a pretty decent streak to have another chance at a title, especially the prospects the 125 division is starting to produce. This fight was Royval's 2nd fight in the UFC and it was a banger while it lasted, it opened up with Kai Kara France knocking down Royval 30 seconds into the fight with a crisp overhand right where Royval was on wobbly legs and drop down to his knee's and got up with a spinning elbow that landed on a oncoming Kai Kara France that dropped him also, 2 knockdowns 30 seconds into the fight. The fight ended with Royval getting a 2nd Round submission but seeing as Kai Kara France was going to fight #1 ranked Figgy at UFC 290, I would say this fight is pretty much justified, both men are in awkward spots in their careers and can both use a win for sure. Their first fight was amazing to watch, let's see if Royval can make it 2-0.
| #3 Colby Covington vs #6 Stephen Thompson |
I see a lot of people matching up Colby with Shavkat. I can bet you any amount of money that Colby would never take that fight in a million years, he is 35 about to be 36 and is clearly only looking for money fights or fights that he think he can easily win. Colby had a dreadful performance against Leon after a almost 2 year layoff from the octagon. He went on to his post fight press conference with the media trying to make a fight with Wonderboy and honestly... seeing as how there isn't a fight for Wonderboy lined up with now and knowing how much he loves to fight up the rankings, I can see this fight being put together, both men are in weird situations of needing a win and wanting to get to back to the "title", although being at the older side of the division. Wonderboy will be 41 in early 2024 as Covington will be during 36. If I know anything about Colby, this fight will more than likely happen very quickly, Im talking about April or May, and in his eyes he think he can outwrestle Wonderboy to a decision victory, and not saying he can cause he definitely can knowing that's Thompson's weakness. I was gonna throw Colby vs Dustin on here but I thought that's a bit to childish right now and doesn't make to much sense. Expect this fight to be a fight night main event, Infront of fans, especially after Colby's performance on PPV.
| (C) Leon Edwards vs #2 Belal Muhammad |
Belal literally can not do worst than what Colby just produced on Saturday night. There is also backstory to this fight as it happened before and ended in no contest with Leon eye pocking Belal so bad that it had to be stopped, it was a horrific eye poke. I'm gonna keep this short and simple because Leon want's to look up a division and fight at 185 for the title and that just isn't going to happen with all the killers up there with Khamzat and DPP and possibly Izzy wanting to return soon, it just won't happen for a while. Leon needs to fight in his division against his contenders for about 2-3 more title defenses before he can move up and right now, Belal should be next.
