The UFC offered another night of exciting fights with another Apex card featuring a middleweight showdown in the main event. #7-ranked middleweight, Jared Cannonier defended his gate keeper status at UFC Vegas 102, melting the unranked Gregory Rodrigues in the fourth. In the co-main event, virtually the opposite happened with the #10-ranked Calvin Kattar falling to an unranked Youssef Zalal. Fighters at all different stages of their careers on this main card so some wide-ranging matchups on this edition of Losers.
Gregory Rodrigues
40-year-old Jared Cannonier found an answer for Gregory Rodrigues as he stopped him in main event rounds on Saturday. ‘Robocop’ was riding a three-fight winning streak heading into this fight. Rodrigues had stopped Denis Tiuliulin and Brad Tavares before winning a unanimous decision against Christan Lerory Duncan in July of last year.
Tough loss for Rodrigues, as that was his chance as an unranked fighter to not just break into the rankings but potentially leapfrog inside the top 10. The losing performance still earned Gregory a fight of the night honors, but he needed that win to really move forward.
Gregory should look outside of the rankings for his next matchup. With an impressive finish he could be staring down another top 10 opponent in no time. A matchup against Jack Hermansson could be a good idea. Hermanson is a little over a year removed from his unanimous decision beatdown of hot prospect Joe Pyfer. Before that he had fights opposite of Roman Dolidze, Chris Curtis and the eventual UFC middleweight champion, Sean Strickland (who he only lost to by split decision). This matchup may be a little out of the way, but it’s a huge opportunity for Robocop to put a very large and colorful feather in his cap. Could potentially be a main event or more than likely a co-main event as well.
Rodrigues’s next fight: Jack Hermanson
Calvin Kattar
Calvin Kattar dropped a unanimous decision to Youssef Zalal in the UFC Vegas 102 co-main event on Saturday. Kattar had trouble with the movement of his opponent as the #10 ranked featherweight dropped yet another competitive fight. Zalal entered the fight unranked, so this result is sure to shake up the rankings a little bit.
Kattar has dropped five of his last six since the start of 2021, with his only win coming by unanimous decision against Giga Chikadze in early 2022. Kattar’s performance wasn’t the worst, and though a fight against #15 Edson Barboza could make sense and would give Kattar a shot to reestablish himself against an aging legend- the ball likely won’t roll that way. A way more likely matchup would be against someone like Alex Caceres. Alex is on a two-fight losing skid opposite of the last man Kattar beat, Giga Chikadze, and most recently, Sean Woodson in May of last year. Alex is a tenured and exciting staple of the division who always brings dynamic striking to the fight. It would give Kattar a chance to propel himself if he is able to produce a win. Not to mention, Alex’s style might produce a bit easier of a striking matchup for Calvin then his most recent opponent.
Kattar’s next fight: Alex Caceres
Dylan Budka
Dylan Budka lost a 95 second shoot out with Edmen Shahbazyan on Saturday. Fight was exciting while it lasted as Budka showed he was more than willing to sling leather with one of the more talked about strikers in the division.
Budka entered the fight at 0-2 in the UFC since signing with the promotion off of his 2023 Contender Series victory. He was stopped by Cesar Almeida in his promotional debut and lost to Andre Petroski in his last fight out after he missed weight for that bout (by 2.5lbs). Now this.
If the recent trend in the UFC continues Budka will likely be cut. Middleweight is pretty shallow and Dylan is a game fighter, so he has a solid chance to stay on the roster.
Budka should face the loser of Sedriques Dumas vs Michal Oleksiejczuk on April 12th. Michal has lost three in a row and has been stopped in two of those fights. Dumas is 3-2 with the promotion and coming off of a win last August against Denis Tiuliulin. Both of these guys are also on the hot seat. And needless to say, whoever loses this fight will be cut, if it doesn’t happen before that.
Budka’s next fight: Sedriuqes Dumas vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk loser
Ismael Bonfim
Despite his brother Gabriel Bonfim picking up a slick submission win on the undercard, the other Bonfim didn’t fare as well. Bonfim experienced some early success at UFC Vegas 102, but, Nazim Sadykhov, came storming back to trigger a doctor stoppage between the first and second round. Ismael is now 2-2 in the UFC since coming off the Contender Series in 2022. All of his fights have been bangers with his kill or be killed style. Bonfim’s other loss is to Benoit Sanit-Denis in July of 2023.
Bonfim should face the winner of the Elves Brener vs Daniel Zellhuber. That fight goes down on March 29th. Both of these men are five fights into both of their respective UFC careers. Brener is coming off of two losses and Zellhuber is coming off of one. All three guys like to throw big shots, keep the fight standing, and are exciting prospects. Great fight to see which of these prospects is going to evolve into more of a name.
Bonfim’s next fight: Daniel Zellhuber vs. Elves Brener winner
Rodolfo Vieria
Rodolfo Vieria lost a unaimous decision to Andre Petroski to start the main card of UFC Vegas 102 Saturday. Vieria struggled heavily to secure takedowns throughout the fight and now his 2-fight win, and finish streak is no more. Vieria is now 5-3 in his 6-year UFC tenure.
Rodolfo should have his fight with Jacob Malkoun rebooked. That was who Vieria was supposed to fight on Saturday. But Jacob got injured and had to withdraw from the bout. Malkoun in 4-3 with the UFC and stopped Andre Petroski in his last outing back in March of 2024. Two prospects who have stumbled a bit but still have huge upsides, great fight to make still.
Vieira’s next fight: Jacob Malkoun
