The last UFC Pay-Per-View event of 2024, UFC 310, was not the most star-studded or the most anticipated one, but it was a hardcore fan’s delight on paper. It had a bit of everything from young up-and-comers, to older veterans still trying to hold on, a hyped co-main event and a title fight at the top. Now that it’s in the books, let’s look ahead to what should be next for the fighters who left Vegas with W’s.
Alexandre Pantoja
The flyweight champion kept strengthening his case as the second most accomplished 125’er of all-time on Saturday when he submitted former RIZIN champion Kai Asakura in the second round. These types of performances should make Pantoja a bigger star, but the fact that he has cleaned out his division to the extent where the UFC has to go outside the promotion to find contenders also kills some of the hype and momentum they are trying to build.
‘The Cannibal’ has multiple victories over the top two contenders in his division in Brandon Royval and Brandon Moreno. If you count the exhibition bouts on The Ultimate Fighter, he sits at 9-0 against the top 10 at 125lbs. A matchup with Muhammad Mokaev could have made sense, but Mokaev was infamously not re-signed when his contract ended last July.
It also won’t be Mighty Mouse, who has declined Pantoja’s post-fight callout and is staying retired.
Royval has arguably earned his way back to a title shot with wins over Moreno and then undefeated Tatsuro Taira. However, there are a couple factors working against him besides being 0-2 against Pantoja. It’s not just that he was submitted in their first fight, it’s that we’re still only one year removed from their second meeting, and it wasn’t that close (50-45, 50-45, 49-46).
As for Moreno, his last fight with Pantoja might have been the greatest title fight in flyweight history, so no one would complain seeing it again. It was a split decision that some people thought should have gone his way. Though once again, he also has some things working against him. For one, he lost his following fight to Royval, so he should not be ahead of him in title talks, and he has only won one fight since then. With both Brandons being 1-1 against each other, a trilogy fight makes a whole lot of sense to determine who will get their next crack at Pantoja (there’s a bit of bonus matchmaking).
That leaves Pantoja with Kai Kara-France. When Kara-France was booked against Steve Erceg back in August, he was a near 2-to-1 underdog. Fans thought that with a victory, Erceg would earn a rematch with Pantoja since their fight was so competitive, with some thinking he had won it. But the Kiwi completely destroyed those plans with his stunning first-round KO of ‘Astroboy.’ Yes, this represents Kara-France’s only win in over two years, but with the state the division is currently in, that is enough. Pantoja defeated him on TUF, so this is a chance for Kara-France to get some revenge almost 10 years in the making.
Pantoja’s next fight: Kai Kara-France
Shavkat Rakhmonov
This is pretty straightforward: it’s Belal Muhammad. Rakhmonov was already supposed to face the champion on this very card, but Muhammad had to pull out due to a nasty toe injury. Rakhmonov could have chosen to wait for Muhammad but opted to stay on the card and accept a fight with fellow undefeated rising contender Ian Machado Garry.
Undefeated no more is Machado Garry, as Rakhmonov earned a unanimous decision victory (48-47, 48-47, 48-47) in the UFC 310 co-headliner. This was not only the very first time Rakhmonov has gone the distance, but the first time he entered a fourth round. It was a great showing by the Irishman and by far the most adversity Rakhmonov has faced thus far.
It has since been revealed that Rakhmonov might have suffered a torn MCL before the fight, so it will be interesting to see how long his recovery takes. If he is out for some time, Muhammad might face someone else in the meantime. It’s only a matter of scheduling, but Rakhmonov’s next fight will undoubtedly be for the UFC welterweight title, whether Muhammad is still the champion by then or not.
Rakhmonov’s next fight: Title shot
Ciryl Gane
‘Bon Gamin’ had a lot of detractors coming into this fight. On paper, his two career losses don’t look too bad considering they came against Francis Ngannou and Jon Jones, but it’s the way he lost them that had fans concerned about his real upside. And Gane didn’t do much to restore his image in the court of public opinion on Saturday at UFC 310.
While he showed improvements in his ability to get back up, he still made some head-scratching decisions. He sat back for a heel hook, giving up top position, which is what cost him round five against Ngannou. He also held on to a kimura grip that wasn’t going to result in the sweep he was looking because Volkov had tucked his arm, surrendering the entirety of round three.
Yet, he was rewarded by the judges, earning one of the most controversial decisions of the year. While consecutive wins over streaking contenders can often be enough to get back to the title, there’s very little chance that will be the case for Gane as even Dana White was very vocal in his disagreement with the decision.
There are two important fights at heavyweight early next year and either of them could produce a worthy opponent for Gane. Jailton Almeida is facing Serghei Spivac at UFC 311 and Sergei Pavlovich is fighting Jairzinho Rozenstruik in Saudi Arabia. I went with the winner of Pavlovich/Rozenstruik, partly because Pavlovich would be a fresh matchup. Even though Gane has already beaten Rozenstruik, that was back in February of 2021. Gane beat Spivac not that long ago, so a potential rematch should ‘Polar Bear’ beat Almeida would not make that much sense.
Gane’s next fight: Pavlovich/Rozenstruik winner
Bryce Mitchell & Doo-Ho Choi
I am lumping those two together because I am matching them up.
The man who most people know from his Hall of Fame fight with Cub Swanson and his association with The Korean Zombie looked as good as he ever has on Saturday when he destroyed Nate Landwehr. After losing four years of his prime due to mandatory military service in South Korea, he’s now 33 years of age, turning 34 in April. The time is now for him to make a run, so I like that he called for a ranked opponent in ‘Thug Nasty.’ And his performance warrants it.
As for Mitchell, he impressively slam-KO’d Kron Gracie in what was a peculiar matchmaking move to say the least. It’s good that he got back in the win column, but he’s still just one fight removed from his scary KO loss to Josh Emmett. It’s not like he has earned beyond the shadow of a doubt the right to fight up the rankings. ‘The Korean Superboy’ makes sense as a matchup for him as well.
Plus, Choi has since gone to Instagram to call out Mitchell for a fight in the spring with a picture of our round Earth. He should be granted his wish for that alone.
Mitchell’s next fight: Doo-Ho Choi
Choi’s next fight: Bryce Mitchell
