Jean Silva

Diego Lopes delivered a spectacular spinning elbow KO to finish Jean Silva in the main event of Noche UFC. The back-and-forth fight was action-packed, for as long as it lasted- a couple more rounds and fans may have been calling for a rematch. Who knows, one could still materialize down the road. But the loss snapped Silva’s 13-fight win streak dating back to 2018. Silva is now 5-1 with the UFC.

Jean’s ideal matchup moving forward would be against either Brian Ortega or Patricio Pitbull. Matchups depend on a lot of Jean’s time of recovery after the damaged suffered Saturday. Ortega was in previous editions of losers however that’s in the event the featherweight moves to lightweight (after badly missing weight ahead of his last bout, opposite Aljamain Sterling last month). Ortega is ranked at #7 within the 145lbs. division.

Another good matchup for Silva would be against Patricio Pitbull who is ranked at #11. Pitbull got his first UFC win against #14, Dan Ige, in July, so he’s 1-1 now. Pitbull, due to his age and fight miles, has little time to make an impact within the UFC. A matchup with a prospect like Silva could perform a heavy lift for both gentlemen. Either matchup is fight night co main or main event material. And main card material for a pay per view card. Winner of that fight could be propelled into the top 5.

Jean’s next fight: Brian Ortega/ Patricio Pitbull

Rob Font

David Martinez defeated Rob Font in a very competitive unanimous decision in the co-main event of Noche UFC. Rob is now 3-3 in his last six over the past two years. Font just lost to a fighter in Martinez that was making his UFC debut.

At this point, Font should just rebook the fight with Raul Rosas Jr. Raul is currently unranked but has a lot of name value. Raul was scheduled to fight Font at Noche UFC but withdrew due to injury. Considering Font headed into the octagon Saturday ranked at #9, he’ll likely fall a ways in the rankings. Another chance to prove himself against another hungry young fighter may be just what the doctor ordered for the 38-year-old bantamweight.

Rob’s next fight: Raul Rosas Jr

Jared Gordon

Rafa Garcia finished Jared Gordon in the final round of their bout Saturday after treating fans to a couple rounds of edge-of-your-seat action. Gordon is now 2-2 in his last four fights since his no contest against King Green in early 2023.

Low hanging fruit type matchup here, would be pairing Gordon with Diego Ferreira. Jared is 38 and Diego is 40. Both fighters were finished at Noche UFC. Gordon is 9-7, 1 NC with the promotion while Ferreira is 10-7. This fight would make a lot of sense as Ferreira was supposed to take on King Green, a former opponent of Gordon’s a couple of months ago. Both fighters are on the exact right trajectory for this fight to go down. Both fighters are fan friendly, and it could easily be a fight on the main card of a fight night.

Jared’s next fight: Diego Ferreira

Dustin Stoltzfus

Dustin Stoltzfus was out-boxed in his unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Kelvin Gastelum on the main card of Noche UFC. The 191lbs. catchweight bout (Kelvin missed weight) was a big opportunity for Dustin to take down a former title challenger and TUF winner. With the loss, Stoltzfus is now 3-7 with the UFC since being signed on the 2020 season of the Contender Series.

Dustin should fight Jackson McVey in his next fight. Jackson is a 6-1 LFA product that lost his UFC debut back in July to Brunno Ferreria. Jackson and Dustin both suffered stoppage losses to Bruno Ferreira. Brunno stopped Dustin in June of 2024 with an elbow. Jackson had struggled to get his first bout with the promotion having a fight cancelled against Christopher Ewert and Sedriques Dumas before taking on Brunno. A fight between Jackson and Dustin is a much more appropriate of a matchup for both fighters. Has the makings to be a real barn burner. Strong possibility for the loser to be one loss away from being off the roster.

Dustin’s next fight: Jackson McVey

Diego Ferreira

Alexander Hernandez dropped and finished Diego Ferreira in the second round of their fight on Saturday. The 40-year-old lightweight dropped to 10-7 within the UFC since being signed with the promotion in 2014. Ferreira has lost five of his last seven bouts since early 2021 but is 2-2 in his last four.

Diego should take on Jared Gordon as mentioned previously in the article. Ferreira has had a long UFC career and proving legitimacy with a win over Gordon could keep the ball rolling for the Brazilian.

Diego’s next fight: Jared Gordon 

Quang Le

Santiago Luna flatlined Quang Le to open the main card of Noche UFC on Saturday. Le came out the gate hot landing a few power punches, but the tide was quickly turned as Quang lost his third fight with the promotional giant. Quang is now just 1-3 with the promotion after being signed on short notice in August of 2024 (was scheduled for 2024 Contender Series fight).

Le will likely get one more shot before he is axed from the roster, if he’s lucky. A good matchup would be against Toshiomi Kazama. Toshiomi is also 1-3 with the UFC. Toshiomi has been finished in all of his appearances (Le has been finished in all but his debut). Both fighters only victories have come by way of stoppage. Not sure where a matchup like this would land on a fight night card but it would likely end with a stoppage and the loser being released from the promotion.

Quang’s next fight: Toshiomi Kazama

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The pairing kicked off the event’s main card, and had been Frankensteined together after Le’s original opponent, David Martinez, was shifted to a fight with Rob Font (Le himself was replacing Carlos Vera in the Marinez fight).

The fight started Le buckling Luna with a punch and head kick seconds in. Luna was already forced to shoot a takedown. He did get it but the underhook from Le allowed him to get right back up. Le was throwing the jab controlling the range until Luna landed a left hook and floored him. Le back up but Luna didn’t let up. He swarmed with a right that buckled Le and another left for another takedown. A hammer fist put the lights out for just a second and that was enough for a stoppage.

Official Result: Santiago Luna def. Quang Le by KO (punches), round 1, 2:46

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Deiveson Figueiredo went down to a knee injury in the UFC Des Moines bantamweight headliner, where he faced Cory Sandhagen. That might have taken the fight, and victorious Sandhagen, out of the running for a bonus, but the UFC still opted to reward Sandhagen for his efforts to that point.

The night’s co-headliner was much clearer. Reinier de Ridder, who earned a TKO finish of the previously undefeated Bo Nickal, cashed in, pocketing $50,000 U.S. for serving up the first loss of the NCAA champion wrestler’s career. Some nasty knees helped put Nickal away, giving RDR his third win under the UFC banner in three trips to the octagon.

Defeating a stud prospect might also put de Ridder on the fast track at middleweight.

Those were two of four Performance of the Night bonuses awarded at UFC Des Moines, which skipped a Fight of the Night despite Jeremy Stephens and Mason Jones putting on a very solid showing in the main card opener. Instead, Sandhagen, de Ridder, Azamat Bekov (who put away TUF winner Ryan Loder), and Quang Le all earned themselves performance bonuses.

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Bolaños (8-4) run in the UFC thus far has him at 2-1. Coming off a decision victory over Cortavious Romious last November the Peruvian fighter hopes to continue the win streak for his country.

Le (8-2) has had a couple rough outings as of late dropping two fights in a row. Losses to Chris Gutierrez and Long Xiao had him possibly on the chopping block unless he got past Bolaños in Iowa.

Round 1 Bolaños came out firing on Le trying to discourage the takedown. That did not work at all as Le flew in and got a quick takedown and worked to keep Bolaños down. Le took the back early in the first round forcing him to fight the hands.

Bolaños was able to get back to his feet, but Le wasn’t letting him off the hook staying on him and taking him right back down. Le took the back as Bolaños continued to defend the position.

Round 2 Bolaños came out on fire throwing bombs at Le and forcing him to strike with him. He landed big shots on Le, but the got taken down rather easily. Le put pedal to the metal on the submission, grabbed the rear-naked choke and ended Bolaños’ night in the second round.

Official Result: Quang Le def. Gaston Bolaños via R2 SUB (RNC), 1:54

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Both fighters were 0-1 under the UFC banner, seeking their first win inside the octagon.

Le connected with a sharp left hook inside an opening minute that was fairly busy. Long ate that punch and carried on, but Le continued to find success with his hands, forcing Long to retreat more than once. As the round progressed, Long had a few moments of his own, while Le mixed in kicks and proved that his left hand was the most dangerous weapon in the early going of the fight.

In the back half of the round, Le got his jab going, while continuing to find a home for both left and right hooks. Long caught a kick and dumped Le with just over a minute remaining, but Le scrambled and quickly got back to his feet. Long went to the body once or twice, and finished the round on the attack, pointing to the floor and clipping Le.

Round two started hot, and Long mixed things up, ripping a leg kick. Wrestling was nowhere to be found as the pair decided instead to make it a pure fistfight, often fighting at close quarters. That finally changed, after more scrappy action, with 90 seconds to go, as Quang Le pursued, and briefly landed, a takedown. Long didn’t stay down long, excuse the pun, however. In the stand-up department, both men continued to put considerable power behind their attacks, with Long coming on strong at the end of the round once again, even firing a jump knee.

The final round saw Long take himself out of position off a punch, with Le just barely missing out on a takedown as a result, Instead, they went back to the feet, where Long would fall short on another jump knee. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, Xiao Long fired and connected with a perfectly placed right hand off a 1-2! Le fell back, and the ref was all over it, waving it off!

Official Result: Xiao Long def. Quang Le by knockout (punch), Round 3, 1:28

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Marcin Tybura

Marcin Tybura was submitted via armbar by his opponent Serghei Spivac in the main event of UFC Vegas 95. Tybrua entered the fight as the #8 ranked UFC heavyweight while Spivac was ranked at #9. The fight was a rematch from 2020 in which Tybura had secured a unanimous decision over Spivac.

Tybura is 7-3 since his first win over Spivac but has struggled at the upper levels of the division losing three of his last six fights (the other losses coming to Alexander Volkov and Tom Aspinall).

Tybura should fight Derrick Lewis in his next fight. Lewis and Tybura fought once before in 2018 with Lewis stopping Tybura in the third round, and final, round. They are both 2-2 in their last four fights. Lewis doesn’t have a fight booked and is ranked at #11. And with nearly every other fighter having been booked in the bottom half of the rankings, this rematch makes a lot of sense.

Tybura’s next fight: Derrick Lewis 

Damon Jackson

Damon Jackson lost a high-paced unanimous decision to Chepe Mariscal in the co-main event of Saturday’s card. Mariscal is now a perfect 4-0 in the UFC, so it was yet another solid competitor for Jackson. Damon has now won just one of his last four fights, a split decision to Alexander Hernandez in April.

Jackson should fight Andre Fili in his next fight. Fili and Jackson have a recent common opponent in Dan Ige. Both Damon and Andre were stopped by the Hawaiian in the first round of their respective bouts, within 13 months of each other.  Fili is 2-2 in his last four fights having last been in action at UFC 303 when he won a split decision over Cub Swanson.

Jackson’s next fight: Andre Fili

Nikolay Veretennikov

Nikolay Veretennikov was defeated in his promotional debut by Danny Barlow via spilt decision. Veretennikov stepped up on short notice and had his opponent miss weight as well. Niokolay, who was on the wrong end of a fight on the 2021 season of the Contender Series, captured Arizona’s UFL welterweight strap in the time since his apperance.

Nikolay Veretennikov should fight Yusaku Kinoshita in his next fight. Kinoshita is 0-2 in the UFC and is also a veteran of the Contender Series (2022 season).  Kinoshita has been finished in the first round of both of his UFC fights while opposite of Billy Goff and Adam Fuggit. He was even matched up to fight Danny Barlow, earlier this year, but withdrew from that fight.

Veretennikov’s next fight: Yusaku Kinoshita

Quang Le

Quang Le lost for the first time in his professional career on Saturday to Chris Gutierrez. Le was a standout in the LFA and faced a very experienced fighter in Gutierrez. Quang impressed, despite the final result of the bout.

Quang should fight Alatengheili in his next fight. Alatengheili is another exciting fighter that has also faced Chris Gutierrez and lost a unanimous decision as well. Actually, Gutierrez is Alatengheili’s sole loss in his last four fights. He was last in action back in May when he defeated Kleydson Rodrigues by unanimous decision.

Le’s next fight: Alatengheili

Chelsea Chandler

Chelsea Chandler lost a unanimous decision to Yana Santos on Saturday. To make matters worse, Chandler also missed weight by five pounds ahead of the bout. It was her second time in a row missing weight. Chandler entered the bout as the #14 ranked UFC women’s bantamweight while Santos was ranked at #12.

Chelsea is now 2-2 in her last four fights and has struggled with making weight. Chandler should fight Pannie Kianzad in her next fight. Pannie is ranked at #11 as of Saturday in the UFC’s rankings. She has lost four of her last five fights with her only win being over Lina Lansberg who is now retired. Pannie fought Karol Rosa on the undercard of UFC Vegas 95, losing a one-sided unanimous decision. It’d be a bout that makes sense in more ways than one.

Chandler’s next fight: Pannie Kianzad 

Charalampos Grigoriou

Charalampos Grigoriou was submitted in the second round of his bout with Toshiomi Kazama on the first main card bout of UFC Vegas 95. The 2023 Contender Series alum is now 0-2 in the UFC, having lost his promotional debut to Chad Anheliger earlier this year.

Grigoriou should fight Fernie Garcia or a fresh fighter off of the Contender Series. Fernie Garcia is currently 0-4 with UFC since his win on the 2021 season of the Contender Series. Garcia has lost unanimous decisions to bantamweight’s: Journey Newsome, Brady Hiestand and Rinya Nakamura. Charalampos was finished in his most recent bout by Hyder Amil in a featherweight affair. The loser of that fight would likely be out of the UFC.

Grigoriou’s next fight: Fernie Garcia or 2024 Contender Series fighter

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Le, from Vietnam, was replacing Javid Basarat in the fight, which had originally been scheduled for UFC Abu Dhabi.

Round one got underway and Gutierrez stared getting after the lead leg kick. Gutierrez was using a lot of feints to try and throw off the newcomer. It ended up costing him as Le caught one of those lazy kicks and got the takedown. Gutierrez quickly got right back up and landed a heavy leg kick. Le would come forward but Gutierrez was moving out of the way with his light footwork. The main focus of round one was those nasty leg kicks from Chris Gutierrez. They was keeping Le on the outside and having him rush in without any setup. The kicks started to add up and you could see the visible redness on the leg of Le to end the round.

In round two a heavy leg kick from Gutierrez landed to start the round. Le continued to struggle to find his range in the striking so he attempted to take the fight down. He had the back on Gutierrez standing and very sneakily Le jumped on the back. Le had the body triangle in as Gutierrez went down to the mat. Gutierrez was able to get out of that position but Le was able to stay in guard and ended the round there.

In the final round, it was likely even on the scorecards so it was anyone’s fight. Le had more confidence from that last round and was bringing more pressure early in round three. He was doing it but still had trouble finding his hands. He attempted a single leg but that time Gutierrez escaped. Gutierrez would stick to the leg kicks lifting the leg of Le as they were impactful. He had Le more stationary and that’s when Gutierrez started to let loose more. Le tried again for a takedown and got it with seconds left but it didn’t matter.

Official Result: Chris Gutiérrez def. Quang Le by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

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Quang “Bang” Le
Standing at five-foot-six
Fighting at 135 lbs (bantamweight)
32-years-old
Fighting out of Vietnam/US
Training out of ???
A pro record of 8-0
2 KO/TKOs, 3 Submissions

How Le will fare in the UFC:

Le was supposed to fight on the Contender Series on week six but instead is getting this UFC opportunity on short notice. Le is an LFA veteran but more so a vet of the fight game. He only has eight pro fights but also had eleven amateur bouts. Le did lose four amateur fights but all to good fighters. He is worthy of this call-up due to his last few fights but mostly his pro career altogether.

Le doesn’t get enough credit for the work he did on the regional scene and I think mostly it’s because he went to a few decisions. He is coming off two knockouts but before that, he went to three decisions. The reason for those decisions is that Le fought a lot of aggressive wrestlers so it was a lot of defense. Le does get taken but he gets right back up. A lot of credit goes to his cage wrestling because he can defend takedowns really well by fighting the wrist, digging underhooks, and having good balance. On the flip side, he’s an underrated wrestler himself and has a solid ground game. Nothing flashy but he’s complete in his submission attack and ground and pound.

Le is able to fight anywhere but he is a better striker. He comes out with his lead left leg forward and sets the tone with that side. His left head kick, jab, check left hook, and straight all from that side. I’m not saying he’s limited because he chops the lead leg and rips the body from his right side. His hands are clean, he’s accurate and has deceptive power. Le isn’t the fastest or the most athletic but he’s what you look for when scouting a fighter.

How he matches up with Gutierrez:

Gutierrez is the toughest match-up to date for Quang Le by far. Gutierrez is a kickboxer who, although he can be more point-orientated, he’s a master at his craft. Le isn’t going to match Gutierrez with kickboxing and Gutierrez is going to be much faster. Gutierrez has a tendency to throw low volume and that makes it to where Le can win off having the bigger moments. I do lean toward Gutierrez because of his speed and distance control. I think Le is live as I only value Gutierrez as a -140 favorite. Gutierrez by decision is the pick.

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“A lot going on through my mind, but I’m ready,” Le told reporters on Wednesday.

“I couldn’t believe that they called right away. I turned all my medical in, an hour later they called, and I’m like oh wow let’s take it.”

Le (8-0) steps in for the injured Javid Basharat against Gutierrez.

“Whoever, I don’t care, I’m ready. I was so excited,” he said.

As unexpected as the call up was Le was ready to go for this Saturday. His plans were already set the difference now is that he skipped the Contender Series and hopped right into a UFC debut.

“My goal is like get in Contender September and then fight first debut in December. Now I can fight my debut August and have another fight in December,” he said.

The whole idea of the Contender Series is to have one fight to show you belong with the best, and winners usually come away with multiple fight contracts. Le skipped Contender Series, but he still got his contract.

“Yeah they signed me multiple fights,” he said.

“I think like four fights total.”

Watch the entire media day scrum with Quang Le above. He takes on Chris Gutierrez at UFC Vegas 95

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