UFC Vegas 108, the 108th Fight Night stop on the UFC schedule, may have looked like just another Apex show on the surface, but ended up delivering some history after an unexpected pullout in the main event.
The first Apex card since May was initially supposed to be headlined by young star Tatsuro Taira opposite Amir Albazi. It then became the first ever all-Asian main event in UFC history when the undefeated Korean Hyun Sung Park stepped in on short notice to face Taira. Now that the event is behind us, let’s look ahead at some matchups that could be ahead for the victorious fighters from Saturday.
Tatsuro Taira
The young Japanese rising star bounced back nicely after suffering his first professional loss to Brandon Royval last October. The promotion clearly thinks highly of Taira as this was his third consecutive main event opportunity, and it’s easy to understand why after the performance he put on. Despite not being known to the masses yet, Park came in as an undefeated 29-year-old on a 9-fight finishing streak with a Road to UFC tournament win to his name. This is a win for Taira that has the potential to age quite nicely if Park can bounce back and keep steadily rising the way he was.
Considering the flyweight champion, Alexandre Pantoja, seemingly has a date with Joshua Van in December, it’s an almost certainty that Taira will have to win one more fight before getting his shot at the title. Manel Kape is another name that had a lot of momentum before falling to Muhammad Mokaev a year ago. He has since gained back this momentum, but an untimely pullout against Brandon Royval in June opened the door for Van to steal his spot. To me, locking Taira and Kape together in the cage is an easy call to make as this fight would inevitably produce the next worthy contender. Putting it on the same card as Pantoja vs Van so the UFC can have a backup fighter ready is also an obvious call to make.
Taira’s next fight: Manel Kape
Chris Duncan
The UFC Vegas 108 card was blessed with two lightweight bangers right before the main event. In the co-main, we had Chris Duncan outlasting Mateusz Rebecki in very similar fashion to how Rebecki narrowly outlasted Myktybek Orolbai in his Fight of the Year contender at UFC 308. Now 5-1 in the UFC, the Scottish fighter has clearly been adding layers to his game since his two Contender Series bouts. He’s an action fighter who’s been producing results worthy of a steady increase in competition. Even if Esteban Ribovics had not competed on this card, there’s a good chance I would’ve picked him as Duncan’s next opponent anyway. With both of them escaping this card with hard-fought wins, the timing is almost sure to work out for them to meet a couple months down the line.
Duncan’s next fight: Esteban Ribovics
Esteban Ribovics
Not unlike the co-main event, two action fighters faced off in the feature bout. Both Ribovics and Elves Brener were looking to get back in the win column and it was the Argentinian who ended up with his hand raised. Ribovics landed some nice combinations, but Brener’s insane toughness allowed him to survive long enough for the Argentinian to start to slow down a bit, but not enough to steal the victory. My reasoning for matching up Ribovics with Duncan is the same as the one explained above. Even if Duncan didn’t fight on this card, I still would’ve matched them up together as they are in very similar spots in the division.
Ribovics’ next fighter: Chris Duncan
Karol Rosa
Brazilian Rosa, who’s been a mainstay of the women’s bantamweight top 10, has been juggling wins and losses for her past eight fights. I think the way the promotion has been using her as a gatekeeper to the top 10 has been effective. Fighters like Norma Dumont, Irene Aldana and Ailín Pérez have gotten passed her, while at UFC Vegas 108, Nora Cornolle couldn’t. We now know what kind of expectations we should have for the Frenchwoman. Mayra Bueno Silva got on a hot streak and rode it to a vacant title shot, but what kind of expectations should we realistically have for the former title challenger? Let’s have her fight Rosa and truly find out.
Rosa’s next fight: Mayra Bueno Silva
Neil Magny
After getting viciously getting knocked out by rising stars Michael Morales and Carlos Prates in just two and a half months, most of us thought it was end for Neil Magny. The savvy veteran still has enough gas in the tank to get some wins at the UFC level, as demonstrated by his TKO finish over Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos. Even though it seems Magny has seemingly fought everyone already, there is a matchup out there that I find intriguing. Chris Curtis recently went down to welterweight and was victorious doing so. Curtis is former middleweight, but always looked small for that weight class, while Magny is tall and lanky for his division. It’s an age-appropriate matchup between two fighters with similar roles in the division. Why not?
Magny’s next fight: Chris Curtis
Kevin Vallejos
While Danny Silva clearly offered more resistance than Vallejos’ last two opponents, he still couldn’t get past the youngster. Vallejos is a blue-chip prospect whose only professional loss is his Contender Series fight with Fighting Nerd Jean Silva. The 23-year-old Argentinian does appear to have a bright future and when the UFC knows that they have a potential star on their hands, they usually try to put them up against names the fans will recognize. This is a cut-throat business and despite losing his 5th fight in a row, all signs point to Calvin Kattar still being under contract with the MMA leader. If they’re not going to cut him, it wouldn’t be surprising to see them use what is left of him to best serve their future interests. A couple years ago, Kattar would’ve been too much too soon for a young prospect like Vallejos. But now, the Bostonian has the exact profile you would want as Vallejos’s next opponent. He’s a recognizable name with several main events under his belt, but clearly long enough in the tooth that you would favour the Argentinian to win.
Vallejos’ next fight: Calvin Kattar
