UFC Kansas City saw Max Holloway fend off the rising Arnold Allen in an action-packed featherweight fight, while Edson Barboza added to his highlight reel at the expense of Billy Quarantillo in the co-main event.

What’s next for Allen, Quarantillo, and others who had a rough night at the office on Saturday? Read on.

Arnold Allen

Arnold Allen’s impressive twelve-fight winning streak came to an end the way many featherweight runs come to an end, by facing the eternal number one contender Max Holloway. Allen’s performance was excellent in this fight, even in defeat, but Holloway is just a step ahead of every other contender. Still, with the division having been nearly cleaned out by both Holloway and Volkanovski soundly beating contenders there is still a chance that currently-fourth ranked Arnold could be one win away from a title shot.

With everyone else in the top five except Holloway being currently booked it makes sense for Allen to fight the one man who is not: Brian Ortega. Ortega injured his shoulder in a loss to Yair Rodriguez last summer but by the time Allen is ready to fight again at least a year will have passed. If Volkanovski beats Rodriguez and rising star Ilia Topuria is repelled by Josh Emmett then an impressive performance against third-ranked Ortega could see Allen earning his shot at Alexander ‘the Great.’ After all, he is still 12-1 in his UFC career, a record few can come close to matching

Allen’s Next Fight: Brian Ortega

Billy Quarantillo

Billy Q level changed right onto a knee of the ever-twitchy and explosive Edson Barboza at UFC Kansas City, not the first man to fall victim to that. This was his second shot at the rankings which he failed, but both times the fights were extremely entertaining, so the pace specialist should not be too far out of the rankings picture at featherweight. Still, he needs to fight a fellow unranked fighter to right the ship.

Last year, at UFC Long Island, Quarantillo was scheduled to face Bill Algeo before he had to withdraw from the fight with an injury. The fight had been circled beforehand by many of the more knowledgeable fans of the sport as a surefire banger, given their fighting styles. Algeo won on this very same card in the ‘Fight of the Night’ against TJ Brown by rear-naked choke. Both men are some of the most entertaining action fighters in the division and a matchup between the two Bills would be a big step in either man’s career.

Quarantillo’s Next Fight: Bill Algeo

Dustin Jacoby

Dustin Jacoby was undefeated in MMA since 2015 until his last fight, against Khalil Rountree, but even then many fans thought he deserved the nod in that split decision loss. That was not the case Saturday night as Russian sambo practitioner Azamat Murzakanov rocked the former GLORY kickboxer several times on his way to winning a clear decision. Now on a two fight losing streak Jacoby does have to fight outside of the rankings.

The unranked masses at light heavyweight are slim pickings, but Philipe Lins has finally turned a corner and may be ready for this test. The former PFL heavyweight tournament winner signed with the UFC in 2020 but lost his first two bouts in that division before moving down to 205lbs. Now Lins is on a two-fight winning streak, including a forty-nine second knockout of former interim title challenger Ovince St. Preux in his last fight. The Brazilian might be finally ready to live up to the likely relatively sizable contract which the promotion paid out for him as a champion of a rival organization. Dustin Jacoby is the fighter to test that.

Jacoby’s Next Fight: Philipe Lins

Tanner Boser

The Canadian was unsuccessful against Ion Cutelaba in his debut at light heavyweight after going 4-4 in his time as a smaller heavyweight. Cutelaba is always extremely explosive and has been ranked in the top-15 before, but Boser now has a losing record in the promotion and needs to get back to .500 to keep a tight grip on his job.

One fighter who knows all about that is Modestas Bukauskas, who was cut from the UFC following a brutal knee injury in his loss to Khalil Rountree. Bukauskas was able to return to Cage Warriors, regain his old title in that promotion, and now is back on the UFC roster, where he won his return fight. He would make a fitting opponent for Boser, who looked physically good at light heavyweight but could not deal with the explosiveness of Cutelaba. Bukauskas is a talented fighter, but not the knockout threat that Ion is and it would likely be a competitive fight between him and Tanner.

Boser’s Next Fight: Modestas Bukauskas

Chris Gutierrez

Gutierrez had not lost since 2018, eight fights ago, until he stepped in the octagon with Pedro Munhoz at UFC Kansas City. Munhoz was able to knock down Gutierrez early and then out-strike him the rest of the way to a decision which showed some shortcomings of the Factory X fighter. Gutierrez had just entered the rankings at thirteenth with his win over Frankie Edgar, but now will likely have to defend his spot against an unranked fighter like he once was.

Javid Basharat, Mario Bautista, Victor Henry, and Kyler Phillips are all talented fighters who are on the rise at 135lbs, but of those perhaps Basharat makes the most sense. Gutierrez has seldom had to deal with wrestlers on his rise to the rankings and Basharat has not faced a striker near the caliber of Chris. Javid and Chris are both well-rounded fighters, but in this match-up each would likely try to use the aforementioned styles to beat each other, as each seems to have somewhat of an advantage over the other in those departments. Javid Basharat, not to be confused with his also-undefeated brother Farid, is one of the brightest prospects in the division and if Gutierrez can take his zero then it will put him right back in contention at bantamweight.

Gutierrez’s Next Fight: Javid Basharat

Clay Guida

Thirty-five fight UFC veteran, fan favorite, and all-around great guy Clay Guida somewhat showed his age against Rafa Garcia at UFC Kansas City as he was eaten up by straight shots for all fifteen minutes of the bout. At age 41, in arguably the deepest division in the sport, Guida needs to be kept away from the most dangerous fighters lightweight has to offer, but his recent wins against Scott Holtzman, Leonardo Santos, and Michael Johnson show he does have something left in the tank.

Another wild man who would make a highly interesting fight for Guida is DWCS alumnus Trevor Peek. Peek has an all-out fighting style like Guida and an undefeated record, but at only 8-0 (1 NC) is quite inexperienced, having only begun his pro career in 2020. Trevor’s UFC debut did show some major holes in his game, so Guida would be an excellent test for finding out how ready he is to fight more in-prime competition.

Guida’s Next Fight: Trevor Peek