UFC Sacramento was the fourth road Fight Night card on the promotion’s summer schedule. It saw a slew of standout finishes from Jackson McVey and Marcio Barbosa to Shamil Gaziev Jamall Emmers, Carli Judice and MarQuel Mederos. It was capped off by a great main event between Anthony Hernandez and Gregory Rodrigues who duked it out over five rounds received Fight of the Night honours. With UFC Sacramento now behind us, let’s look at what’s next for the main card winners.
Gregory Rodrigues
After suffering what looked like a damning setback against Jared Cannonier just last year, there is something quite admirable about Gregory Rodrigues being able to rebuild himself and obtain the best win of his career against “Fluffy”. We never doubted Rodrigues’ physicality, but there were doubts about his ability to go five rounds after succumbing to Cannonier in the fourth round 18 months ago. While he definitely slowed down in the championship rounds, “Robocop” still got the job done, earning a unanimous decision win.
With the way the division is currently constructed, Rodrigues could face Joe Pyfer, Caio Borralho or Brendan Allen next. But from a pure entertainment standpoint, I can’t think of a cooler matchup than Dricus Du Plessis. That matchup has car crash written all over it.
Rodrigues’ next fight: Dricus Du Plessis
Vitor Petrino
Vitor Petrino now moves to 4-0 since making the move to heavyweight. The division change has given his career a new life and with this win over Serghei Spivac, he will now enter the division’s top10. With half the top8 already being booked and Ciryl Gane seemingly set to rematch Tom Aspinall, there aren’t a ton of options for Petrino, at the current moment. However, there is Sergei Pavlovich, who sits comfortably at #3 and is in need of an opponent has hasn’t already faced.
Petrino’s next fight: Sergei Pavlovich
Reinier de Ridder
While he wasn’t facing an established light-heavyweight, you could tell going in weight did RDR some good. He looks healthier and made quick work of Roman Dolidze, who is a good grappler in his own right. RDR has a name that can garner some interest in the fanbase, which is why I believe the UFC will be interested in inserting him at the top of division sooner rather than later. I think a matchup with Paulo Costa could be in the books for de Ridder.
de Ridder’s next fight: Paulo Costa
MarQuel Mederos
After going to a draw in April, both Chris Padilla and MarQuel Mederos had standout wins at UFC Sacramento, with Mederos earning what should be seen as the more impressive one. Mederos took on a streaking Mason Jones who had looked much improved in his second stint in the promotion and he stopped him inside two rounds. There a ton of options at lightweight for Mederos, such as any of the winner of the Klose/Grantt, Camilo/Herbert or Ziam/Sola matchups. I went with the Frenchmen, since I believe they are the closest ones to a shot at the rankings.
Mederos’ next fight: Ziam/Sola winner
Carli Judice
Carli Judice got a shot on the Contender Series at just 3-0 and 24 years of age. That is incredibly early, even for the most talented of fighters. She then lost back-to-back split decisions and moved to 3-2. She has since won four consecutive bouts, three of which came by finish and earned her performance of the fight bonuses. She asked for a shot at the rankings and she has earned it. I say have her face the winner of the Aldrich/Tarin matchup at Noche.
Judice’s next fight: Aldrich/Tarin winner
Anthony Wint
Anthony Wint had to face more adversity than what was probably expected, given the fact that he was a 10-1 betting favourite, but he still got the job done inside the first round. While there can be some enthusiasm about his ceiling, he should be getting a lot more reps against this level of competition to hone his skills. Anyone at the bottom of the heavyweight division would do, but I landed on Louie Sutherland, who was submitted quite quickly not too long ago.
Wint’s next fight: Louie Sutherland
