Despite an entertaining and fun Apex card earlier this month, UFC Seattle has a legitimate claim as the best event of 2026, thus far. The card had enough of everything to keep the fans talking. It started off with some judging controversy, then had a Bruce Buffer announcement mistake, all while Casey O’Neill, Lance Gibson Jr., Terrance McKinney and more gave us exciting finishes to talk about. The event was then capped off with Joe Pyfer and Alexa Grasso putting on statement performances in relevant matchups at the top of their divisions. With UFC Seattle now in the books, let’s look at what’s next for the winners.
Joe Pyfer
Some will argue about the value of Pyfer’s win on Saturday, considering how diminished Israel Adesanya has kept looking every time out for the past two and a half years. But Pyfer was tasked with beating the man in front of him and he did just that. He may not look like a title contender right now, but he has steadily shown some signs of improvements and at this stage of his career, there is no reason to think he’s a finished product.
With the title picture looking like it currently does, I wouldn’t book Pyfer with the top 3 just yet (although a fight with Dricus Du Plessis does sound like a blast). I would instead look at someone like Caio Borralho. Both Pyfer and Borralho sound like they would be good measuring sticks for one another, right now. And with Nassourdine Imavov clearly being the most deserving contender, there’s no reason to rush either of them against the winner of the UFC 328 main event.
Pyfer’s next fight: Caio Borralho
Alexa Grasso
The former champion was in such bad need of any win that I think she would’ve taken a closely contested split decision if that’s what was presented to her. However, there’s was no need for any of those hypotheticals as she put Maycee Barber out cold in a way that I can’t quite recall a flyweight doing since Valentina Shevchenko head kicked Jessica Eye into oblivion. Statement needed, statement made.
Despite being around for a long time, Grasso still has a couple fresh faces to fight at the top of the division. Erin Blanchfield would be a great opponent, but I prefer the idea of Blanchfield against the other flyweight who had a fantastic first round KO victory on this card. I’d like to see the striking matchup between Grasso’s boxing and Manon Fiorot’s kickboxing. Fiorot still needs to do more work to get back in a title shot, so a former champion like Grasso makes a ton of sense as her next opponent.
Grasso’s next fight: Manon Fiorot
Michael Chiesa
Too often, a four-fight win streak would give a fighter the illusion that they should stick around for another run. Calling it a career in Seattle was the right move. Happy retirement, Maverick!
Lerryan Douglas
The ”Gunslinger” is not just a super cool nickname, it also turns out to be a very accurate one for Lerryan Douglas. Defense has never been a staple of Julian Erosa’s game, but not everyone has been skilled enough to make him pay for it. Of Melquizael Costa a six-fight heater, four have come by finish, yet Erosa went the distance with him. Douglas made short of ”Juicy J”, getting him out of there in just 3 minutes and 33 seconds. Douglas already deserves a step up in competition. A more skilled version of Erosa would be Andre Fili, who has proven to be beatable while being a tough out for anyone.
Douglas’ next fight: Andre Fili
Yousri Belgaroui
Belgaroui has come a long way from failing to earn a contract on the Contender Series twice. Since then, he has won by knockout in back-to-back fights as a betting underdog against young up-and-comers who had momentum behind them. This was probably his best MMA performance yet. At 33 years of age, I’d be in favour of pushing Belgaroui up the food chain a bit quicker than usual. For that reason, I would book him against Roman Dolidze next.
Belgaroui’s next fight: Roman Dolidze
Terrance McKinney
The Evel Knievel of MMA as Luke Thomas calls him, had a vintage performance as he dismantled Kyle Nelson in just 24 seconds. We are most likely passed the days of thinking McKinney will evolve into a top10 lightweight contender. Since he’s not the one the UFC is testing, they can use him as a way to test other fighters. With T-Wrecks, it’s not complicated; you either survive the storm, or you don’t. Kyle Nelson couldn’t, so now McKinney moves on to another test. I think a fight with Manoel Sousa would be perfect to test the Brazilian, but would also make for maximum chaos, which is the best way to use a fighter like T-Wrecks.
McKinney’s next fight: Manoel Sousa
