UFC Vancouver was a fun card that saw Canadian fighters go 5-2 on the night, 6-2 if you count Brendan Allen, who walked out with the Canadian flag since his mother is from the Great White North. In the main event, the aforementioned Allen broke the streaking Reinier de Ridder, whose corner had to throw the towel between the 4th and 5th rounds. A standout performance from Allen who filled in for Anthony Hernandez on short notice. We also saw important divisional wins from Mike Malott, Aiemann Zahabi and Manon Fiorot. Before we move on to Abu Dhabi, let’s first look at what’s next for Saturday’s winners.
Brendan Allen
Like him or not, what Brendan Allen pulled off on Saturday was pretty badass. He went on a seven-fight win streak before losing two straights. After that, he admittedly did some soul searching before coming back with a win over Marvin Vettori in July. Then, he accepted a fight on short notice against the red hot Reinier de Ridder, with nearly everyone counting him out. He survived the first round and followed it up with three dominating rounds on top, landing ground-and-pound and making RDR throw the towel on the stool.
It’s by far the best win of his career and it puts him in an interesting spot. I don’t think it makes him the number 1 contender like RDR may have been, but it does put him either one or two fights away. He called out Khamzat Chimaev, Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland. Out of those, the Strickland rematch is the most appealing to me. A lot has changed from where they were in their first meeting and given current circumstances, they would both be coming into it with something to prove.
Allen’s next fight: Sean Strickland
Mike Malott
For as strange as this fight was, with the low blows and the not-taking-a-point of it all, Kevin Holland is still without a doubt the best scalp of Mike Malott’s career. The Ontario native now once again finds himself on a three-fight win streak, just like he did when he first came into the promotion. And while this win over the ranked Holland may very well get him into the top15, it’s quite obvious that Malott has lost some of the swagger he had when he first broke into the UFC. The KO over Charles Radtke was nice, but it’s sandwiched between two very tepid decision wins over this current win streak. His confidence may still be a bit shaken from the collapse against Neil Magny, which is why I wouldn’t push him up the welterweight ladder just yet. Someone who’s also on the brink of the top15 makes more sense, someone like the winner of the Gabriel Bonfim vs Randy Brown Apex headliner.
Malott’s next fight: Bonfim/Brown winner
Aiemann Zahabi
Aiemann Zahabi will be turning 38 in a month, yet you wouldn’t know it if you looked at the streak he’s on. Usually, when fighters get to this age, they’re on the downswing, but Zahabi has kept improving and is on by far the best stretch of his professional career. He was awarded a controversial decision in May against Jose Aldo, and while this one was a bit more convincing, I don’t think a split decision against Chito Vera will be enough to grant him a shot at the title.
With Merab Dvalishvili cleaning out the division at the pace he is, someone like Zahabi could become next in line by virtue of everyone in front of him already having lost to the champion. Still, I think he needs a signature win to get his ticket to the dance. The perfect opponent is Deiveson Figueiredo. A known name, a former champion, and someone who’s just outside the top5 and is coming off a win.
Zahabi’s next fight: Deiveson Figueiredo
Manon Fiorot
Part of the reason it took so long for Manon Fiorot to be awarded her title shot last May was because she was coming off five impressive, but unassuming decision victories. Having now lost to the champion, it was probably going to take just as long to earn it all back. That’s unless she went back to her finishing ways as she did in her first two UFC fights. Well, I don’t think the Frenchwoman could’ve asked for anything more than a 74-second KO of Jasmine Jasudavicius, who was coming in on a five-fight win streak.
As good as this KO was for her stock, Fiorot will need at least one or two more of those before the UFC throws her back in a title shot. There’s a fight coming up between two top10 flyweights, Maycee Barber and Karine Silva, if Fiorot knockouts the winner of that fight like she did Jasudavicius, then she might force the UFC’s hand.
Fiorot’s next fight: Barber/Silva winner
Charles Jourdain
Charles Jourdain showed us while they call him “Air” on Saturday when he leaped in the air to land a massive flying knee that floored Davey Grant. The ever-durable Grant was still so stunned he had no chance of defending Jourdain’s guillotine. The fan favourite and known action fighter is now 2-0 since making the move down to 145 lbs. Going from Victor Henry to Davey Grant was a reasonable jump in competition, so I think Jourdain deserves another similar increase. I think someone like Chris Gutierrez, who was ranked at one point and whose recent losses are to names like Pedro Munhoz, Song Yadong and Farid Basharat, would tell us a lot about what we have with Jourdain at bantamweight.
Jourdain’s next fight: Chris Gutierrez
Kyle Nelson
Even though Kyle Nelson might have thought he had scored a late first-round TKO, he still ended up walking out with a unanimous decision victory. The Canadian’s had a little bit of a career resurgence as of late. It’s flown mostly under the radar, but he’s 4-1 in his last 5, with his only loss coming against the upcoming main eventer Steve “Mean Machine” Garcia. After flip-flopping between featherweight and lightweight, if Nelson plans on staying at 155 lbs, I think the perfect opponent is the one that fought right before him on Saturday. Drew Dober, who knocked out Kyle Prepolec in the prelims headliner, would undoubtedly make a fun scrap with Nelson.
Nelson’s next fight: Drew Dober
