Poland’s Marcin Tybura found the finish inside of a round at UFC Vegas 88, where he faced off with Australian heavy-hitter Tai Tuivasa. The main event turned into a bit of a trainwreck on Saturday, meanwhile. Here’s our picks for what comes next for the main card winners (plus the No Contest in the co-main).
Marcin Tybura
Marcin Tybura’s win over ninth-ranked Tai Tuivasa on UFC Vegas 88’s main event solidifies his position as the gatekeeper to the top ten of the UFC‘s heavyweight division. After losing to Tom Aspinall the fight before that, Tybura is ready to fight up the rankings again. The most logical choice for his next opponent is the top heavyweight who just lost a fight: Jailton Almieda.
Almeida has shown to have potential as a grappling-heavy fighter, but needs to round out his game a bit more and work on his telegraphed takedowns. A matchup against a well-rounded Marcin Tybura is perfect to see if he can grow between his last fight and his next. As for the thirty-eight year old Pole, his title dreams are barely staying alive, so he needs a win here to have any shot of making it to the top.
Tybura’s Next Fight: Jailton Almeida
Bryan Battle and Ange Loosa
Before the anti-climactic eye poke stoppage, resulting no-contest, and post-fight scuffle between Battle and Loosa, Bryan Battle seemed to be cruising to victory. With Battle claiming that Loosa wanted to get out of the fight in his heated, curse-filled post-fight monologue, there is no option save for making the rematch as soon as possible.
Battle & Loosa’s Next Fight: Battle VS Loosa 2
Ovince St Preux
The former light-heavyweight top contender OSP turned back the clock at UFC Vegas 88, winning a split decision over Kennedy Nzechukwu as a five-to-one underdog. At age forty, St Preux could retire any time and be respected as he sails off into the sunset, but assuming he is going to continue competing he should face Marcin Prachnio next. Prachnio is coming off of a win, just like OSP, but has little in the way of knockout power, so fans can feel comfortable going into that fight, knowing they will likely not have to see a forty year old knocked out in the cage.
OSP’s Next Fight: Marcin Prachnio
Christian Rodriguez
A wild matchup bwteeen two prospects where each one had a 10-8 round scored for them on every judge’s scorecard ended with ‘CeeRod’ hurling Isaac Dulgarian from the ranks of the unbeaten by split decision. The 10-1 Rodriguez’s next opponent depends on which weight he will fight at; this last fight was fought at featherweight after multiple weight misses at bantamweight, but it seems undeniable that Christian is better suited to fighting at 135-lbs given his profile.
If he can make weight and if the UFC will let him fight there again, the stacked bantamweight division has a host of names for him to fight. Given CeeRod’s current four-fight winning streak, a grizzled, skilled veteran like Davey Grant makes sense. That fight would test Rodriguez to see if he has the potential to hang with the upper echelon of 135ers.
Rodriguez’s Next Fight: Davey Grant
Macy Chiasson
Macy Chiasson bounced back from a loss amd impressed at UFC Vegas 88 with her first finish since 2019 as she subbed sixth-ranked Pannie Kianzad. Chiasson will now move up in the ranks from her spot at #10. Given the fact that most women’s bantamweights are not currently booked to fight, she has several options, like Mayra Bueno Silva, Miesha Tate, Ketlen Vieira, or Irene Aldana.
Tate is a legend in the division but had two setbacks in 2021-22. However, Miesha bounced back with a win, just like Chiasson, and a fight between them would be a good eliminator, with the winner being one win away from a title shot, perhaps.
Chiasson’s Next Fight: Miesha Tate
Gerald Meerschaert
GM3 opened the UFC Vegas 88 main card by submitting Bryan Barbarena in the second round, tying Anderson Silva for most finishes in the UFC middleweight division’s history. However, that was his first win since 2022, and he is still more gatekeeper than contender at 185-lbs. Matching him up against a rising prospect could be interesting, but even more interesting would be to pit the UFC MW submission king against arguably the greatest grappler to ever enter the octagon: Rodolfo Vieira.
Meerschaert’s Next Fight: Rodolfo Vieira
