UFC Qatar featured one of the most exciting six-fight main cards in recent memory. Five of the six fights ended with finishes that had fans on the edge of their seats. In the main event, #1 ranked lightweight, Arman Tsarukyan defended his top spot against the likes of #6 ranked, Dan Hooker. In the co-main event, the former UFC welterweight champion, #2 ranked Belal Muhammad, was out-struck by #6 ranked Ian Garry, in was the only fight to go the distance on the main card. Lots of ranked fighters and formerly ranked fighters left to pick up the pieces in this edition of Losers.
Dan Hooker
Arman Tsarukyan battered and submitted Dan Hooker in the second round of their fight in the main event on Saturday. With the loss, Dan now falls to 14-9 under the UFC banner. The loss snapped a three-fight winning streak for Hooker which included a body kick finish to Claudio Puelles and a pair of split decisions opposite of Jalin Turner and Mateusz Gamrot.
A good next fight for Hooker, would be giving him the man who he asked for, Renato Moicano. The Brazilian is currently ranked at #10 within the division. Renato is 12-7 within the UFC and is currently riding a two-fight losing streak. Moicano stepped in on short notice and was quickly submitted by champion, Islam Makhachev back in January. In June, Renato took on Beneil Dariush and lost a unanimous decision. These two rangy strikers haven’t competed against each other yet and with their vocal and brash personalities this matchup would surely offer a fun fight week and bout for fans. Both were recently thwarted in top ranked fights. Could easily see these two fan favorites fighting on a pay per view card, a main event for an APEX card or a feature prelim on a PPV card.
Hooker’s next fight: Renato Moicano
Belal Muhammad
Ian Garry out styled and out struck Belal Muhammad on the way to a clean unanimous decision victory in the co main event of UFC Quatar on Saturday. Belal has now lost two in a row- after defeating Leon Edwards and capturing the welterweight strap last July. 37-year-old Belal is now 15-5, 1 NC under the UFC promotional banner. Could really see Belal getting a young fresh face to take on in his next bout.
This is one that could go either way. Belal could draw a lot of different fighters in his next bout. Two of the most likely would-be #11 Gabriel Bonfim or #13 Colby Covington. It’s doubtful that Belal draws a name like #8 Kamaru Usman or #4 Shavkat Rakhmonov.
There aren’t many fighters that Covington doesn’t have bad blood with and Belal is no exception. With their similar fight styles and the proper buildup/hype this fight could be massive for the division even if, at least on paper, a bit irrelevant. Chaos turns 38 early next year and has lost three of his last four, most recently a doctor’s stoppage at the hands of Joaquin Buckley last December.
Bonfim offers a good backup option as he’s is 6-1 within the UFC and is coming off a nasty KO against Randy Brown earlier this month, in his first UFC main event. Bonfim has a win over Stephen Thompson and has been steadily climbing the rankings.
Prediction here is that Belal will get a fresh face- could really see a fight against Colby materializing.
Muhammad’s next fight: Colby Covington or Vicente Luque
Alonzo Menifield
Volkan Oezdemir showed fans why they call him ‘No Time’ as he KO’d Alonzo Menifield in less than 90 seconds. Meniefield is now 10-6-1 with the UFC. The 38-year-old is 2-3 in his last five fights as the Contender Series alum has seen a notable step up in competition recently. Volkan entered the fight ranked at #9 in the light heavyweight division while Alonzo was ranked at #14.
Menifield should take on Mingyang Zhang in his next fight. Zhang is 3-1 with the UFC since being signed in 2024. Mingyang scored three first round finishes, securing three bonuses in his first three UFC fights against Brendson Ribeiro, Ozzy Diaz and Anthony Smith. In his most recent fight however, against Johnny Walker, Zhang was stopped in the second round of his first UFC main event. That fight was back in August so the timing wouldn’t matchup exactly, but this is the fight to make right now. Both guys are coming off of being finished and Zhang is currently ranked at #15 within the division. This is a guaranteed exciting fight with a KO finish being extremely likely. Winner could potentially crack top 10 while loser would slide out of the rankings.
Menifield’s next fight: Mingyang Zhang
Jack Hermansson
Myktybek Orolbai took less than a round to put Jack Hermansson out cold on the main card of UFC Qatar on Saturday. Hermansson, once a top ranked middleweight, was competing in his first bout at welterweight- what an unpleasant welcome. The Joker has now lost three of his last four fights and has been stopped in all three of those losses. The Joker’s only victory in some 3.5 years came against Joe Pyfer via unanimous decision in February of 2024. Jack is now 11-8 with the UFC.
Good matchup for Jack would be against Vicente Luque or Li Jingliang. Both fighters are available and both hold solid name values and offer good litmus tests for the Swedish fighter.
Vicente was last in action back in October when he welcomed Joel Alvarez up from the lightweight division. Luque lost a unanimous decision and has now lost three of his last four. Vicente was finished twice in that four fight stretch and is 16-8 in the UFC.
Li Jingliang last fought in August of last year when he was flatlined against Carlos Prates. Jingliang has also lost three of his last four and been finished twice in that span. Leaning toward Jingliang as he has been out of action for a while and is likely looking to reestablish himself as well. It would be an easy fight for fans to get behind as well and could fit on a lot of fight cards.
Hermansson’s next fight: Li Jingliang or Vicente Luque
Shamil Gaziev
Waldo Cortes-Acosta took advantage of a short notice opportunity and destroyed Shamil Gaziev inside of a round on Saturday. Cortes-Acosta had just competed on November 1st, so this was a fast and fruitful turn around for him. The loss snapped a two-fight win streak for Gaziev. Shamil, a 2023 Contender Series alum, is now 3-2 under the UFC banner. Shamil entered the fight ranked at #11 while Waldo Cortes Acosta was ranked at #6.
Easy one to book here. This bout, which was originally booked as Gaziev vs Serghei Spivac was referenced in a previous losers article. Even though the original matchup fell apart, after Spivac fell ill, the outcome and matchup produced as a result, is perfect. Spivac was ranked at #7 while Ante Delija is currently ranked at #10. This fight makes too much sense for the division at this point and both fighters would have similar recovery times and are close in the rankings.
Gaziev’s next fight: Ante Delija
Tagir Ulanbekov
Kyoji Horiguchi choked out Tagir Ulanbekov early in the final round of their bout on Saturday. Tagir entered the fight ranked at #11 within the flyweight division while Horiguchi was unranked within the UFC (but a former UFC flyweight title challenger, Bellator, and RIZIN champion). Ulanbekov is now 6-2 in the UFC.
Good next fight for Tagir would be a matchup against Alex Perez. Perez is currently ranked at #7 within the division and just lost to the #9 ranked Asu Almabayev on Saturday. That fight was on the undercard of UFC Qatar as Asu submitted Alex early in the third round via guillotine choke. Perez, a former UFC flyweight title challenger himself, has lost three of his last four bouts. Alex was also scheduled to take on Tagir back in June of last year. The fight fell through as both fighters rebooked with Perez drawing Tatsuro Taira and Ulanbekov taking on Clayton Carpenter, eventually (it was supposed to be Joshua Van, but Ulanbekov missed weight). Perez is 0-2 since that booking while Tagir is 2-1. Rebooking this bout makes sense as Perez faced ranked guys while Ulanbekov did not during this time period.
The bout would be very important for the 125lbs. division.
Ulanbekov’s next fight: Alex Perez
