This past weekend at the UFC Apex two middleweights headlined yet another fight night, as they both looked to make it back-to-back wins and to climb back into title contention at UFC Vegas 75.
“The Italian Dream” Marvin Vettori was coming in off his closely contested battle with Roman Dolidze, which was a similar situation for his opponent Jared Cannonier, who was returning after his split decision victory over Sean Strickland back in December of last year.
Let’s take a look at what could be next for the main card winners.
Jared Cannonier
“The Killa Gorilla” put on one of his best performances to date, dominating Marvin Vettori from start to finish. With his emphatic win, Cannonier broke the middleweight record for the most amount of significant strikes landed in a 185lb fight. The lowest weight class that has seen more significant strikes landed in a fight is featherweight.
Despite starting the slower of the two Cannonier didn’t take long to pick his feet up. He was momentarily rocked in the very first round but was able to keep his composure and let his experience take over. The 39-year-old looked to cause Vettori issues from the Southpaw stance, but because that isn’t his predominant stance he couldn’t string much together.
In round two he went back to basics and what he is used to, managing to beat the brakes off Vettori, scoring a 10-8 round across the board. From then on, Cannonier set the pace and did things on his terms.
The ever durable Vettori could not be stopped though and it resulted in a five round beating. Although the performance was flawless, Cannonier likely won’t see himself challenging for the title without another impressive win.
In his post fight interview he made it clear that he won’t be accepting any bouts that don’t get him closer to a title shot. That’s where the case becomes interesting. Khamzat Chimaev has seemingly been looking for a dance partner for what seems like an eternity, and the rumoured fight with Usman at welterweight seems to be dead in the water.
Why not let Jared Cannonier be the man to welcome Chimaev to his new weight class? If Cannonier was to beat the soaring contender then he’d undoubtedly earn himself another shot at Gold. Cannonier didn’t love this suggestion when it was posed to him during the post-fight press conference, stating he’d only take the fight if it resulted in a title shot — but it almost certainly would, regardless of Chimaev being ranked or not.
Cannonier’s Next Fight: Khamzat Chimaev
Arman Tsarukyan
One of the sport’s best prospects picked up yet another impressive win this past weekend. Initially when this fight was announced, the large majority of the MMA fanbase were confused and were asking “why?”
The reason there was such confusion at the booking of Tsarukyan vs. Silva is because Silva is unranked and Tsarukyan currently occupies rank eight in the lightweight division. The 26-year-old claims that it was because no one else wanted to fight him and so Silva was the only one to accept the fight.
It wasn’t as plain sailing as the majority would’ve imagined. Throughout the fight, Tsarukyan looked great and worked his wrestling well when the openings allowed him too. Silva did hurt him on several occasions though, and that is something the fanbase have decided to lean with.
Having said that, Arman is the one with the W next to his name and will be looking for a fight further up the rankings again. In his octagon interview, he admitted that he believes the fight between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler won’t happen and he’ll be the one to face Chandler. But that is all if’s, but’s and maybe’s. He also stated that Beneil Dariush wants to fight in October but that’s too late for him, which is a shame as that fight would make a lot of sense.
With all that said, that only really leaves one man. Rafael Fiziev is coming off a closely contested fight with Justin Gaethje. As he will also be looking to climb back into contention, this is a spectacle that could easily headline a fight night card.
Tsarukyan’s Next Fight: Rafael Fiziev
Armen Petrosyan
Fellow Armenian Armen Petrosyan was the one to give Christian Leroy Duncan another welcome. Because his UFC debut ended prematurely, there were still many eyes on how Duncan looked under the UFC banner.
Petrosyan’s striking always had the capability of causing Duncan some serious problems as he hasn’t fought anyone of that ilk so far in his short career. The fight played out favourably for the Armenian as it was practically a kick-boxing match, and that played into the hands of Petrosyan.
The 32-year-old picked up his third win with the promotion since his win on Contender Series, with his only loss coming against the impressive Caio Borralho.
For his next outing, he is likely going to take a step-up in terms of credibility of name. Edmen Shahbazyan could be a competent dance partner.
Petrosyan’s Next Fight: Edmen Shahbazyan
Pat Sabatini
The only featherweight fight on the card was a match-up between Pat Sabatini and Lucas Almeida.
Sabatini was looking to return to the win column after being defeated by Damon Jackson in his last outing back in September of last year. Lucas Almeida on the other hand was looking to pick up his second win with the promotion after beating Mike Trizano in his debut.
Sabatini dominated the Brazilian on the ground from start to finish and successfully returned with a win. This marked his 12th win via submission, showing his clear threat in that aspect of the fight.
Fernando Padilla is someone who looked extremely impressive in his UFC debut two months ago, and a fight between these two dangerous 145lbers is one I’d be intrigued to see.
Sabatini’s Next Fight: Fernando Padilla
Manuel Torres
“El Loco” Torres’ stock rose this past weekend after his beautiful KO over Nikolas Motta. Back-to-back wins for the 28-year-old and Mexico have another fighter who looks to be a future contender.
Out of his 14 professional wins, 12 have come by way of first round finish, seven by KO and six by submission showing he has skills wherever the fight goes.
Natan Levy is someone who has looked impressive in his last few outings and a fight between these two men could be sensational, must see TV.
Torres’ Next Fight: Natan Levy
Nicolas Dalby
“Danish Dynamite” made it three wins-in-a-row for the first time since his Cage Warriors days with a win over Muslim Salikhov.
The ferocious pressure of Dalby is always something that is tough for his opponents to deal with, and despite being caught with the odd spinning back kick to the liver, it made it difficult for the Russian to put much together.
Since his move to the UFC in 2019, Dalby has only tasted defeat once and it came against Tim Means. Seemingly, the Danish 38-year-old might still be improving, bizarrely.
Alex Morono is another fighter who fights with high pressure and non-stop movement. A fight between these two welterweights could be fun.
Dalby’s Next Fight: Alex Morono
