Saturday night in Miami, the most talent-rich event of the year still managed to exceed expectations, with UFC 299 turning into a night that saw new contenders emerge, established contenders hold steady, and a fluorescent titleholder turn back an indefatigable rival to close out the night.
This was the kind of pay-per-view show that gives you plenty to think about and talk about when the dust finally settles and everyone adjusts to having lost an hour somewhere between Sean O’Malley retaining his bantamweight strap and stumbling out of bed on Sunday morning.
As has become tradition here following UFC pay-per-view extravaganzas, we’re here to offer up thoughts and opinions on what might be next for some of Saturday’s biggest winners.
Sean O‘Malley
As much as “Suga” called for UFC CEO Dana White to gas up the private jet and fly him to Spain for a champion vs. champion clash with newly minted featherweight ruler Ilia Topuria, that cannot be the next fight for either man for a myriad of reasons.
First, O’Malley has Merab Dvalishvili waiting for him at bantamweight, which he off-handedly acknowledged after expressing his interest in facing Topuria. The Georgian Energizer Bunny ran through Henry Cejudo last month to extend his winning streak to 10 and quite literally has no one left to face to make his case for title contention.
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Secondly, Topuria needs to defend his belt within the division before welcoming athletes from other weight classes to challenge for the featherweight title. While there isn’t a clear No. 1 contender now at 145 pounds, there are a bunch of decent options available, including my personal choice, unbeaten Russian Movsar Evloev.
Thirdly — and this is the biggest one of all — that fight could be massive down the road, so let’s give it a chance to be something special, rather than cobbling it together now and ultimately saddling one of two young, talented, potentially special new titleholders with an unnecessary loss.
There are scores of quality fighters in both divisions. Let the champions defend their belts three, four, five times (if they can) and then maybe we can revisit the idea of O’Malley versus Topuria in Madrid or anywhere else.
But first, the reigning bantamweight titleholder should be standing across from “The Machine” to see if he can be the one to slow down Dvalishvili.
Dustin Poirier
Poirier bucked the odds and showed he still has at least a little something left in the tank on Saturday night, settling Benoit Saint Denis with a clean right hook early in the second round to get back in the win column and re-affirm his standing as a threat in the lightweight division.
After getting knocked out by Justin Gaethje last summer at UFC 291, “The Diamond” switched roles and halted Saint Denis’ ascent, again avoiding losing consecutive fights for the first time in his career. He also might have punched his ticket to one final title shot.
Here’s what I’m thinking: lightweight champ Islam Makhachev currently doesn’t have a fight announced and generally likes to compete on the October PPV in Abu Dhabi, but he’s unlikely to go an entire year between bouts when, to the best of my knowledge, he doesn’t have any significant injuries.
With the UFC headed to Saudi Arabia in June, why not pit Makhachev against Poirier in the main event of a card set to be broadcast on network television?
Everyone else towards the top of the division is booked, Poirier is the bigger of the two lightweight names that won on Saturday (Mateusz Gamrot being the other), and it would be a fitting swan song for the veteran contender; one last kick at the can before calling it a career and riding off into the sunset.
Michael “Venom” Page
He has to fight Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson next, right?
Page earned a unanimous decision win over Kevin Holland at UFC 299 in a fight that was good but not great, as Holland struggled to find ways to cut off the Octagon and have sustained, meaningful offence. The former Bellator star was solid, darting in and landing several heavy shots, including three of the same spinning back elbows, but the frustration some felt watching him live on the outside and offer sporadic entries is understandable as well.
Putting Page and Thompson together creates a matchup of two welterweight veterans of a similar age, at similar points in their careers, with similar styles, and if anyone is going to be able to understand how to deal with someone that utilizes a point-fighting style, it’s “Wonderboy,” who has been the poster boy for the approach under the UFC banner for the last decade.
Thompson is still a top-10 fighter at 170 pounds and Page should be ranked following his debut win, but neither feels like a legitimate title contender at this point, and so rather than running each out there against ascending names or other veterans, pair them off, give them five rounds to work as the main event in London later this year, and see how things shake out.
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Jack Della Maddalena
If there were an individual “Breakout Performer” from UFC 299, it had to be Della Maddalena, who ran level with Gilbert Burns for two rounds before hurting and finishing the former title challenger and top five fixture in the third to post his seventh consecutive UFC victory.
And then he politely requested a fight with Shavkat Rakhmonov.
Beating Burns in the manner in which he did is no easy feat, but adding to it by asking for the opportunity to share the Octagon with the undefeated mauler from Kazakhstan that no one else has been raising their hand to face was a serious “real recognize real” moment and fight fans are all the way here for it.
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It also makes a great deal of sense from a divisional standpoint too.
Both are unbeaten in the UFC and on lengthy winning streaks — Della Maddalena has won 17 straight after losing his first two pro bouts; Rahkmonov is 6-0 in the UFC and 18-0 overall — and the bout could, in theory, determine who is next in line for a championship opportunity, provided the UFC ever gets around to affording Belal Muhammad the chance to challenge for UFC gold.
There is one caveat that should be attached to this hypothetical fever-dream of a fight though: it has to be a five-round affair and should, honestly, be a main event. These are two of the top emerging names in both the division and the promotion and they should be showcased as such next time out.
Petr Yan
The former bantamweight champion halted a three-fight slide with a unanimous decision win over Song Yadong in the main card opener, warming into the fight as it progressed before pulling away from the Chinese prospect down the stretch.
Yan declared that “rematch season” was open following his win, but there are no rematches that make sense for him at the moment. Aljamain Sterling has moved up to featherweight, O’Malley has the title, and Dvalishvili is next in line to fight for the belt. Given those realities, can I interest you in a clash with Deiveson Figueiredo should the former flyweight ruler get through Cody Garbrandt in the UFC 300 opener?
“Deus de Guerra” looked sharp in his bantamweight debut against Rob Font in Austin last December, and most would agree that a win over Garbrandt next month is likely. Stylistically, a pairing between the two would be guaranteed excitement and a win for either man gives the UFC something solid to work with: either Yan further cements his top-five standing by turning aside another talented fighter not yet ready for title contention at 135 pounds, or Figueiredo puts himself in the championship mix by knocking off a former titleholder; win-win.
