UFC Vegas 104 gave us multiple stand out performances. Roman Dolidze exacted his revenge against Marvin Vettori while Chidi Njokuani, Da’Mon Blackshear and Brendson Ribeiro scored impressive finishes. We also saw 23-year-old newcomer Kevin Vallejos make a splash in his promotional debut. Let’s take a lot at what should be next for our main card winners!
Roman Dolidze
After Merab Dvalishvili upset Umar Nurmagomedov at UFC 311 and Ilia Topuria’s brother Aleksandre was successful in his UFC debut, Georgia had been garnering some momentum. The country was now looking to Roman Dolidze to keep the streak going in this main event. It wasn’t without adversity, but the Georgian got his hand raised after winning a unanimous decision and got his revenge on “The Italian Dream”.
Winner of now three consecutive fights, Dolidze called out former champions Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker. Personally, I doubt he gets either of these names. Yes, he has won three straights, but it isn’t exactly the sexiest three-fight stretch. The first of those wins came at light-heavyweight against an Anthony Smith on the brink of retirement. The next one was against a blown-up welterweight in Kevin Holland and the fight ended due to an injury. This was a nice win, but Dolidze will need to do more in order to force the UFC’s hand and get a top5 matchup.
Jared Cannonier is ranked inside the top 10 and is coming off a nice rebound victory over Gregory Rodrigues. He’s in a similar boat as Dolidze in terms of title aspirations and it’s a winnable fight for both men that could realistically headline another Apex show.
Dolidze’s next fight: Jared Cannonier
Chidi Njokuani
This is now three straight victories for Njokuani since dropping to welterweight, though it should be noted he weighed-in 1.2 pounds over the limit for UFC Vegas 104. This was the best opponent he’s faced in his new division, and he became only the second man to ever finish Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos via strikes. Under normal circumstances, Njokuani could justifiably call out a ranked opponent, but the weight miss will hold him back.
If he is to fight one more time before looking at the rankings, I think Punahele Soriano makes perfect sense for him. Soriano is another former middleweight who’s undefeated (2-0) since making the cut to 170. He also fought in January so the timing should align for them to face off early this summer.
Njokuani’s next fight: Punahele Soriano
Alexander Hernandez
This is the first time Hernandez has won back-to-back fights since coming into the UFC and defeating Beneil Dariush and Olivier Aubin-Mercier back in 2018. He’s been juggling wins and losses ever since, but he has actually won his last three fights at lightweight. His more recent losses came as a result of an unsuccessful stint at featherweight.
At 32 years of age, if the once highly touted Hernandez was ever to put it all together, now would be the time. I think a fight with against with someone like Myktybek Orolbai would tell us a lot. Orolbai is a young prospect who dropped his last fight, but his stock seems to still be quite high. This would represent a very respectable win for either man.
Hernandez’s next fight: Myktybek Orolbai
Da’Mon Blackshear
The 30-year-old might be 4-3-1 in the UFC, but that is a deceiving record. His draw came in his short-notice debut against the now ranked featherweight Youssef Zalal. His losses came to undefeated Farid Basharat and extreme short-notice bouts against Mario Bautista and Montel Jackson, both of whom are ranked. Also, all his win have come via finish, which includes one of the very few twister submissions in the promotion’s history.
For those reasons, I think Blackshear is closer to a ranked opponent than most might believe. After getting the kimura finish on the veteran Cody Gibson, I think Blackshear deserves a fight against another streaking bantamweight. Brady Hiestand has gone unbeaten (3-0) since losing a narrow decision in the 2021 TUF Finale. With both fighters on a similar trajectory, this fight would serve as a form of number 1 contender fight for who gets a ranked opponent next.
Blackshear’s next fight: Brady Hiestand
Brendson Ribeiro
Ribeiro scored the upset win over the undefeated Diyar Nurgozhay who came in heavy both in weight and as a betting favourite. This was by far his best showing since his win on the Contender Series.
Ribeiro now finds himself on a win streak, but even considering the division’s shallowness, I doubt he’s looking at anything other than a similar matchup in his next outing. Nurgozhay might still have a promising future, but a reset is in order. Ibo Aslan was also looking promising, but he lost his last fight. Let’s see if Aslan can pass the test Nurgozhay couldn’t.
Ribeiro’s next fight: Ibo Aslan
Kevin Vallejos
It’s not often a prospect shows this much promise this early. Vallejos is incredibly young, and he just dispatched a legitimate opponent with real UFC experience in SeungWoo Choi in the very first round of their fight at UFC Vegas 104. At just 23 years old, there is no reason to rush him towards the top. But it’s hard not to salivate at the thought when you remember he gave Jean Silva hell in his first Contender Series fight back when he was just 21.
A that age, I do believe gaining experience and cage time goes a long way. He should be matchmade for appropriately in terms of level of competition while fighting as often as possible. Having won in just 3:09, there’s no reason to think May 10th is a date that would be off the table for him. That is the date for UFC 315 in Montreal. Gavin Tucker is a Canadian fighter that could be fighting on that card and represents the level of fighter Vallejos should be looking at right now. Let’s put a prospect of that calibre in front of a crowd!
Vallejos’ next fight: Gavin Tucker
