UFC Vegas 95 took its share of criticism ahead of the card and didn’t have much to live up to. After a rocky start, it did produce some exciting fights on the main card. Among them, Serghei Spivac earned his revenge against Marcin Tybura in a heavyweight rematch. What comes next? Let’s do some matchmaking.
Serghei Spivac
Moldova’s Spivac redeemed himself twofold in UFC Vegas 95’s main event against Marcin Tybura, making up for his recent TKO loss to Cyril Gane and for his first fight against Tybura back in 2020, which Serghei lost by decision. This time he made it look easy, taking the Pole down and tapping him with an armbar after less than two minutes. Despite his recent loss, Spivac is 4-1 in his last five, so he should be in position for a higher-ranked opponent.
There are not many other available, highly ranked heavyweights coming off wins. Gane and Alexander Volkov won their last fights but have been scheduled to rematch each other, as well, in two months. With the title picture stagnant due to Tom Aspinall being forced to defend his interim belt the division feels a bit empty at the top of the rankings, since the erstwhile #1 contender has been a champion, not just a contender, for over a year now while Stipe Miocic and Jon Jones endlessly circle each other. That leaves just Jailton Almeida for Spivac.
A strong grappler, Almeida has flawed wrestling but is freakishly athletic and has the best top game in the UFC heavyweight division. With a 7-1 UFC record and his only loss coming against Curtis Blaydes – in a fight he was winning – Jailton needs maybe just one or two more wins to earn a title shot, as does Spivac. This matchup would also be a grappler’s delight, with interesting scrambles sure to ensue.
Spivac’s Next Fight: Jailton Almeida
Chepe Mariscal
With his impressive and dominant win over Damon Jackson, Chepe Mariscal got his fourth straight win. Staying perfect in the UFC matters a lot, but missing weight by 4.5 pounds is egregious, so perhaps Chepe will not be given a ranked opponent just yet. Hovering just outside the rankings at featherweight are fighters like Sodiq Yusuff, Nate Wood, and Nate Landwehr.
Any of those would be excellent fights; Yusuff was ranked at featherweight for years until his last two losses, and never puts on a bad show. Wood and Landwehr are also talented; Landwehr in particular is one of the most action-oriented fighters in the sport today. His brawl-or-die style matches up perfectly with Chepe’s own, and would create an excellent fight where the winner could compete against a ranked foe next.
Mariscal’s Next Fight: Nate Landwehr
Danny Barlow
Memphis’ young, new striker Danny Barlow also missed weight for his UFC Vegas 95 fight, but unlike Mariscal it was by less than a pound. Barlow earned a split decision win for his efforts against short-notice debutant Nikolay Veretennikov. He remains undefeated and moves to 2-0 in the UFC, but this prospect clearly wanted to win more dominantly. As a 29-year-old welterweight his time is now to make a run.
A good step up to test if Barlow is capable of bigger things would be Phil Rowe. ‘The Fresh Prince’ lost his last two fights after a three-bout winning streak put him on the verge of being ranked, so while it is a big step up for Barlow, its also a fight he is capable of winning and will be a new style for him to face. He may only be 9-0, but when a fighter has that zero in their record they are going to ascend quicker than others may.
Barlow’s Next Fight: Phil Rowe
Chris Gutierrez
‘El Guapo’ made it look easy, though not necessarily attractive to look at, when he beat the debuting Quang Le on Saturday. Using his infamous leg kicks, Gutierrez chewed up the former LFA fighter from the outside en route to a comfortable, if tepid, decision. With his last two losses coming to ranked fighters, and due to holding no wins against ranked bantamweights, Chris will have to do more to get back his top-15 spot.
He was originally scheduled to face Javid Basharat in the UFC Apex, so that fight can be rebooked with no hesitation. It would be an excellent addition to the pay-per-view in Abu Dhabi later this year, with Basharat being from the region and fans loving to see talented bantamweights in action.
Gutierrez’s Next Fight: Javid Basharat
Yana Santos
Twelfth-ranked UFC women’s bantamweight Yana Santos, née Kunitskaya, won her first fight since returning from giving birth to a child with her husband, former UFC title challenger Thiago Santos, in April of 2022. Santos largely outclassed fourteenth-ranked opponent Chelsea Chandler, another fighter from UFC Vegas 95 who missed weight badly, even scoring a her first-ever UFC knockdown in the second round.
After three straight losses to ranked opponents, Santos had to win this to hold onto her ranking, and she did just that. Another fighter who is not in the best form of her career is Julia Avila. Thirteenth-ranked Avila won her first three UFC fights, including beating now-ranked fighter Pannie Kianzad, but has now lost two of her last three and clearly needs work on her wrestling. Yana Santos would be more than happy to oblige her by testing that particular skillset of Julia’s.
Santos’s Next Fight: Julia Avila
Toshiomi Kazama
Japan’s Toshiomi Kazama lost his first two UFC fights by knockout but impressed in his rebound against Charalampos Grigoriou on Saturday. Despite getting dropped after a strong first round, Kazama survived and choked out his opponent from his back with a triangle choke, a somewhat rare submission to see in the UFC nowadays.
However, Kazama is not totally in the clear, even after that; a 1-2 record in the stacked bantamweight division is not ideal. Toshiomi will need to win his next fight to make sure his job is safe. One fight which would be interesting is Kazama vs Ricky Turcios. Turcios is not a knockout artist, but he is chaotic and a good scrambler that would give Kazama a new style to deal with. Also, Ricky will not gas out quickly like Grigoriou.
Kazama’s Next Fight: Ricky Turcios
