UFC Macau was one of the rare occasions where North Americans got to experience a UFC card the way Europeans usually do: during the night. But the ones who got up early (or stayed up late) to watch weren’t disappointed as the card delivered tremendous highlights including a thoroughly entertaining main event in what was a very consequential fight at bantamweight.
Petr Yan
Petr Yan has to be in the conversation for Comeback Fighter of the Year. Despite his three consecutive losses across 2022 and 2023 all coming against champions, some thought his total loss of momentum would derail his career. Here is now in 2024 recording his second win in a row, this one over former two-time flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo who was on a tear at 135 lbs coming into this contest.
Had he won, there was a chance that Figueiredo could have leapfrogged Umar Nurmagomedov as the next title challenger, the man most expect to be next in line. We can’t make the same claim for Yan, as his loss to Merab Dvalishvili was too convincing to have them rematch already.
Though, a rematch that is in the cards is one with the now former champion ‘Suga’ Sean O’Malley. Their first encounter was a surprising booking since O’Malley was ranked outside the top 10 at the time, but it was still an absolute barn burner. It was one of the very best fights of 2022 and the controversy attached the outcome is what usually fuels a good rematch. And this time, there is no excuse not to have it be five rounds. This is precisely the type of non-title fights that get five rounds as Pay-Per-View co-main events.
Yan’s next fight: Sean O’Malley
Yan Xiaonan
This was a somewhat puzzling, yet understandable booking. As the most recent title challenger at strawweight, Yan is still ranked #2, but she took on #10 ranked Tabatha Ricci. The UFC obviously wanted Yan to fight on this card and the most sensical options out of the available ones was Ricci. For someone who was recently winning narrow decisions over fighters like Angela Hill and Tecia Pennington, this fight indeed proved to be too much too soon for ‘Baby Shark’. Yan comfortably took all three rounds to get back in the win column and defend her high ranking.
If Tatiana Suarez was a more reliable title challenger, then booking Yan against Virna Jandiroba would make sense. However, with Suarez’ health issues preventing her from being a sure thing to make it to the cage against Zhang Weili, keeping Jandiroba as an option for the Chinese champion would be wise. Amanda Lemos and Iasmin Lucindo are plausible next opponents for Yan, though I would prefer if they fought each other.
That leaves us with the winner of the Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas rematch in Tampa. If Dern wins, she’ll be just outside the top 5 on a two-fight win streak which should be enough to justify a rematch with Yan. A lot of people, including one of the judges, thought the fight should have been a draw. On the other hand, if Ribas wins, she represents a fresh opponent for Yan.
Yan’s next fight: Dern/Ribas 2 winner
Muslim Salikhov
The 40-year-old wonder became the first UFC fighter to score two spinning wheel kick knockouts in the history of the promotion. And he did it in the very first round, taking virtually zero damage in the process. That’s now back-to-back wins for the ageless Salikhov after suffering a brutal KO at the hands of Randy Brown back in February. The ‘King of Kung Fu’ called for a fight with Stephen Thompson in what would undoubtedly be a fun striking affair between two of the oldest guys at welterweight. And while that isn’t a bad idea at all, and could be fight we see one day, I doubt the UFC books it while ‘Wonderboy’ is still a relevant player in the division. As long as he’s hovering around the top 10, I can see the UFC try to squeeze as much juice out of him as they can with more Joaquin Buckley-type matchups.
Also, Salikhov took no damage in that fight and said he wants to keep fighting regularly. As for Thompson, he got knocked out badly in his last fight and hasn’t been super active in the last couple years, so I doubt their timelines are going to align right now. That means Salikhov can fight someone else in the meantime.
I think Khaos Williams makes sense. Wins over the now lessened version of Santiago Ponzinibbio and Song Kenan likely isn’t enough to get a shot another shot at the rankings. But a win over a young knockout artist like Williams would surely bring Salikhov closer to that Wonderboy fight he’s looking for.
Salikhov’s next fight: Khaos Williams
Gabriella Fernandes
Gabriella Fernandes pulled off what might go down as the upset of the year, submitting the over -1000 betting favourite Wang Cong in the second round. Fernandes was getting chewed up until she dropped Cong and immediately grabbed a rear-naked choke before Cong could recover.
Cong was coming into this fight undefeated with some hype behind her for having a win against Valentina Shevchenko in kickboxing. There is a decent chance Cong would have gotten a shot at the rankings with a win, so why not give that shot to Fernandes? Being on a two-fight skid at #14 means Ariane da Silva will probably find herself needing to defend her spot against unranked opposition next. I say give that opportunity to Fernandes.
Fernandes’ next fight: Ariane da Silva
Carlos Ulberg
Ulberg has now won seven straight fights since losing his debut to Kennedy Nzechukwu. Veteran Volkan Oezdemir was the best and most experienced fighter he had faced yet, but Ulberg used his speed advantage to earn the unanimous decision victory.
There are so many options for Ulberg because he hasn’t faced anyone in the rankings aside from Oezdemir and Alonzo Menifield. The options also vary if the UFC is looking to book him on the Sydney card in February, though it is unclear whether Ulberg himself will be able to make that turnaround. There are no wrong answers, but the option I landed on is the winner of the Dominick Reyes/Anthony Smith fight at UFC 310. Ulberg was scheduled to fight Reyes on more than one occasion, so there is unfinished business there. The fight admittedly doesn’t make as much sense if Anthony Smith wins, but at 34 years of age, Ulberg is still a young light-heavyweight so there is no reason to rush him. A fight with the veteran Smith won’t launch him into the top 5 of the division, but it won’t hurt his development.
Ulberg’s next fight: Reyes/Smith winner
Zhang Mingyang
Zhang has 18 professional wins with all 18 of them coming by finish in the first round. That is an insane statistic. He’s a pure action fighter that should be a fan favourite for years to come. I mentioned how young Ulberg was for a 205er being 34 years old; at just 26, that makes Zhang a baby in this division. Being this young could mean that the UFC will be content feeding him fighters of a certain calibre for the foreseeable future so he can accrue as much experience as possible. However, he already has 24 professional fights under his belt, so I say let’s start to gradually push him up the ranks right now.
If Ulberg taking on the winner of Reyes/Smith makes sense for him, Zhang taking on the loser of that fight also makes all the sense in the world. This could set up the UFC for a changing of the guard between a veteran and a surging, unranked prospect like we recently witnessed when they booked Neil Magny versus Carlos Prates. Whoever that opponent ends up being after UFC 310, the promotion will be presented with an opportunity to inject new blood into the light-heavyweight rankings.
Zhang’s next fight: Reyes/Smith loser
