Saturday’s UFC Vegas 113 marked the promotion’s first Fight Night event of the Paramount+ era, and took place at the freshly rebranded Meta Apex.
Thankfully, the new and improved Apex comes with more than a new name. There’s seating for fans, and while limited, it’s nice to have an actual cheering section in the building. It certainly made a difference in the broadcast, though it’s worth noting that as with every other UFC card, half the fans didn’t turn up until the back half of the night.
Four finishes peppered UFC Vegas 113, with two coming on the main card portion of the event. That included the main event, which saw bantamweight contender Mario Bautista submit Vinicius Oliveira.
What comes next for the losing half of UFC Vegas 113? With Bryson Hester down (but not out) with the flu, I’m filling in this week. Time to shake off the match-maker rust!
Vinicius Oliveira
The big story coming into UFC Vegas 113 was Vinicius Oliveira’s weight. A week out from the fight, he claimed to be 30 pounds heavy. That’s a lot of weight to lose in just days. Credit to his dedication, Oliveira did make weight for the fight, but he also gassed early. For a fighter in his first main event, claiming he’d fight for the bantamweight title inside of a year, it wasn’t a good look.
Oliveira noted during his media day appearance that he won’t be long for 135lbs and will move up to featherweight at some point. Honestly, he might want to consider that sooner than later. Arriving off the Contender Series in 2023, the now-30-year old took the long road to the UFC, with a 20-3 record when he made his promotional debut. He’s in his prime, and if the cut to 135 is that draining, he needs to move up now and get on a proper run.
It’s hard to justify a ranked opponent for Oliveira after Saturday’s showing, but since he’s coming off a main event, how about #15-ranked David Onama for a featherweight debut? Onama himself is coming off a loss to Steve Garcia. This probably works as a co-main event on another Apex card.
Oliveira’s next fight: David Onama, at featherweight
Amir Albazi
Flyweight Amir Albazi’s toughest opponents thus far have been injury and consistency. Oh, and Kyoji Horiguchi and Brandon Moreno.
Honestly, Albazi can take a mulligan on this one. He was out-worked by a savvy veteran with a speed advantage. Horiguchi, frankly, is a top three flyweight in the world, whatever his UFC ranking might be. He’s held gold in multiple major promotions, and is back in the UFC hunting the last title to have eluded him. Albazi, meanwhile, was yanked from a fight last year, not medically cleared, and had been out over a year when he stepped into the cage on Saturday.
What he needs is a reasonable turnaround, and honestly, a tune-up style fight. He’ll drop a bit back from his #6 ranking this week, but someone hovering around the #10 spot could work. Alex Perez, coming off a win over Charles Johnson in which Perez missed weight, holds that #10 ranking, and fits the bill.
Albazi’s next fight: Alex Perez
Jailton Almeida
With all due respect to the fighters, who no doubt put in hard training camps, there were no winners in Rizvan Kuniev vs. Jailton Almeida. Stepping in on short notice to replace the unranked Ryan Spann, Almeida, who holds the #6 spot at heavyweight, fought with a puzzling lack of urgency. When Kuniev held him against the fence, Almeida chose to more or less stand and wait for the ref to restart the action. Which he did, several times, but it led to a rather tepid fight that had fans at the Meta Apex raining down jeers.
Just a year or so ago Almeida was being looked at as a potential future champion. A former light heavyweight, he has speed and power, but he sometimes seems to forget just how good he is. All the tools needed to smash through an opponent like Kuniev, but he just couldn’t pull the trigger. You could blame the short-notice nature of the bout, but then he did choose to take the fight after all.
Almeida has now lost two straight, but that won’t hurt him much in the heavyweight division, which is so shallow that Gable Steveson, yet to fight in the UFC, is being looked at as the possible savior of the division. England’s Mick Parkin, ranked #12, is coming off the first loss of his career (to Marcin Tybura), and is 4-1 in the UFC. It’s hard to see that one going the distance. Just what the doctor ordered.
Almeida’s next fight: Mick Parkin
Marc-André Barriault
Canada’s “Power Bar” is about as fan-friendly a middleweight as you’ll find. Three straight post-fight bonuses. Two straight Fight of the Nights. Unfortunately, he was on the losing end of both of those. Still, his bank account is happy, and the UFC isn’t about to cut the Quebec Bonus Machine.
A former TKO double champ, Barriault is 1-5 in his last six fights however. He needs a win, stat.
Enter Sedriques “SD” Dumas. “The Reaper” has practically harvested his own soul during his UFC run, with inconsistent results and multiple arrests for shenanigans outside of the octagon. It’s rather impressive that he still has a job; Dumas must have dirt on someone at the UFC. All joking aside, Dumas literally had to pull out of UFC 317 because he couldn’t get a judge to sign off on removing his ankle monitor in time. Dumas has two losses and a No Contest (accidental foul) in his last three assignments. Barraiult might finally send him packing from the UFC.
Barriault’s next fight: SD Dumas
Jean Matsumoto
Bantamweight Jean Matsumoto fell to 1-2 in his last three with a loss to Farid Basharat at UFC Vegas 113.
Brazil’s Matsumoto started his UFC run with a couple of quick wins, then landed a short-notice fight with Rob Font when Dominick Cruz pulled out and retired. It’s hard to count that loss against him, but the Basharat loss will stall his momentum a little more (in between those setbacks, he earned a split decision win over Miles Johns).
Next up? TUF winner Ricky Turcios needs an opponent after Cameron Smotherman collapsed at the UFC 324 weigh-ins, cancelling their bout. That’s as solid a match-up as any.
Matsumoto’s next fight: Ricky Turcios
Julius Walker
The “Juice Box” Julius Walker fell to 1-2 in the UFC on Saturday, after being stopped by Dustin Jacoby. Gutsy effort, but the light heavyweight is now in a tough spot. He was originally supposed to face Uran Satybaldiev at the event, and if that fight can be rebooked, it makes the most sense.
Walker’s next fight: Uran Satybaldiev
