Sean Brady

Two years ago, welterweight Sean Brady was undefeated, but ran into Belal Muhammad at the wrong time. Brady became the rare finish on Muhammad’s record, but that loss has aged better than most thanks to Muhammad going on to become champ earlier this year.

Brady’s other obstacle has been activity, having fought just once in each of the last three years. Let’s hope he can correct that moving forward, because to stake a claim in the welterweight division, you need to be present. Or be Colby Covington.

Brady entered UFC Vegas 97 ranked #8 in the weight class, and having defeated #6 Burns, should jump up at least a few spots. He’ll want to fight up the rankings, but that may prove difficult. However, there are a couple of options in former champs Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman. In particular, Usman is ranked #2 in the division, but is coming off three straight defeats. It’s another step up for Brady, but with Usman having been out for the better part of a year, it seems like a good time to catch him. Either Brady lands in contention, or Usman returns to the mix.

Brady’s next fight: Kamaru Usman

Natalia Silva

Brazilian Natalia Silva announced her arrival as a real player at women’s flyweight by defeating Jessica Andrade in the UFC Vegas 97 co-main event. Silva has yet to taste defeat under the UFC banner, and was ranked #8 to start the night. With Andrade at #6, an identical situation to Brady-Burns plays out. Silva will want to fight up, but the options are limited as Rose Namajunas is booked against Erin Blanchfield in November, while Valentina Shevchenko faces champ Alex Grasso next weekend. Maycee Barber has been facing some serious health issues, which leaves Manon Fiorot and Katlyn Cerminara.

Of the two, however, there’s really only one option. Fiorot is serving as backup for Grasso vs. Shevchenko 3, and probably has the next title shot locked up. With that in mind, #7-ranked Cerminara might be the best option, even if Silva is likely to inch past her in the rankings when they update.

Silva’s next fight: Katlyn Cerminara

Steve Garcia

Don’t you dare mess with the Mean Machine, with apologies to Sugar Ray (the band, not boxer). Actually, Steve “Mean Machine” Garcia might want to walk out to that track for the sheer nostalgia, but regardless, he was very much a wrecking machine as a short-notice replacement opposite Kyle Nelson at UFC Vegas 97.

That’s the kind of opportunity that doesn’t come along often, but having fought twice in basically two months, Garcia is likely to take some time off. Here’s where we can have some real fun, however. Nelson was supposed to fight Calvin Katter, ranked #8 at featherweight. Why not give Garcia that fight when both are ready? Garcia has won five straight bouts and finished all five of them. Three of those wins saw him earn Performance of the Night bonuses.

Garcia’s next fight: Calvin Kattar

Cody Durden

Fortunes certainly have changed for flyweight Cody Durden. Just over two years ago, he was steamrolled by Muhammad Mokaev at UFC London, in March 2022. He then embarked on a four fight win streak, dropped two straight, then returned to the win column with a slick, bonus-winning choke of Matt Schnell, who retired following the fight.

Durden was ranked #15, Schnell #11 to start the night. Since Schnell will be exiting the rankings, a few names will be moving up. Durden’s best bet, assuming he’s ready to return from injury, would be former title challenger and TUF winner Tim Elliott. That just feels like a fun fight all around.

Durden’s next fight: Tim Elliott

Yanal Ashmouz

Israel’s Yanal Ashmouz improved to 2-1 in the UFC care of a win over Trevor Peek on Saturday. He’s now going into a key fight, one that either puts him at .500 with a loss, or 3-1 and sitting pretty after his first four fights. Who that bout comes about is the question, and Ashmouz is still way down the lightweight division priority list. He’s also still under 10 fights as a pro, something to factor in when matchmaking.

Viacheslav Borshchev is 8-4-1 as a pro, and Slava Claus is coming off a win. He’s 3-3-1 in the promotion, and like Ashmouz had less than 10 fights when he arrived via the Contender Series a few years back. That match-up works on a number of levels.

Ashmouz’s next fight: Viacheslav Borshchev

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Gilbert Burns

At 38-years old, Gilbert Burns is on the tail end of his career. That’s just the reality of it. After challenging for welterweight gold in 2021, Burns is 3-4 in the promotion. That’s not dreadful, but three of those four losses have come about consecutively across his last three fights.

Burns is unlikely to ever get another crack at gold, and the UFC being the UFC, will likely now be booked against a number of younger stars, much like Brady. If they do go that route, it wouldn’t be surprising to see someone like Michael Morales booked against Burns. Unfortunate, but not surprising. That said, the man Morales just beat, Neil Magny, is the preferable option here. He remains ranked, at #15, and has been trading wins and losses the past few years. He’s 37. He did lose to Burns in January 2023, but if you book this, say, four months on down the line, that’s two years between fights, and not the worst rematch. Preferable to feeding the old(er) to the young.

Burns’ next fight: Neil Magny rematch

Jessica Andrade

Former women’s strawweight champ Jessica Andrade is far from old, but she’s got a lot of mileage on her these days, and a lot of outside distractions. Ahead of UFC Vegas 97, word broke that she was suing a former coach for embezzling millions of dollars. Previously, she tried her hand at OnlyFans, only to see explicit photos leak to the public.

Despite having two straight wins at strawweight, Andrade returned to flyweight at UFC Vegas 97, only to lose a decision to Natalia Silva. In all honesty, if she can handle the weight cut still, the move is still strawweight. And if you kind of discount the loss at 125lbs, she’s still a player there, and has yet to face another fellow Brazilian in Amanda Ribas. Coincidentally, Ribas also just dropped a fight at flyweight, to Rose Namajunas, but before that had a win at strawweight. Book these two, 115lbs, and maybe have them stick with strawweight for the time being.

Andrade’s next fight: Amanda Ribas 

Kyle Nelson

What an unfortunate turn of events for Kyle “The Monster” Nelson. Sitting on a solid win streak, the unranked featherweight had been granted a shot against a big name in Calvin Kattar, only for Kattar to drop out of UFC Vegas 97. Steve Garcia stepped in, Nelson missed weight, and to add insult to injury, Garcia picked up the TKO victory.

Now, there’s an argument to be made that Garcia deserves the Kattar fight. As for Nelson, he’ll have to lower his aim a fair bit. Jamall Emmers could fit the bill; he’s coming off a loss to Nate Landwehr, and has been trading wins and losses of late.

Nelson’s next fight: Jamall Emmers

Matt Schnell

Fare thee well Matt “Danger” Schnell. The flyweight left his gloves in the octagon following a third consecutive loss at UFC Vegas 97, in this case to Cody Durden. We all know what that means.

Schnell’s next fight: retirement

Trevor Peek

A 2022 Contender Series winner, lightweight Trevor Peek fell to 2-3 under the UFC banner this past Saturday, taken to a decision by Yanal Ashmouz. He’s now lost two straight and three of his last four, and this early in his career with the 2024 Contender Series underway, that could be a death sentence (or more accurately a pink slip).

Should the UFC keep Peek around for another shot, an incoming Contender Series fighter wouldn’t be a bad call. Peek’s fought three to four times a year the past few years, so one more towards the end of 2024 isn’t a bad idea, against an early DWCS Season 8 winner looking to make a quick debut.

Peek’s next fight: 2024 DWCS winner

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With six finishes on Saturday’s card, there was plenty of potential in terms of post-fight bonuses, which in the end went to Cody Durden, Steve Garcia, and the night’s co-main event between the aforementioned Andrade and Natalia Silva. For Durden, the extra 50K came after he caught Matt Schnell in a ninja choke in the second round of their main-card flyweight affair. All of Saturday’s bonuses, in fact, came from the main card, as Garcia, stepping in to replace Calvin Kattar, managed to put away Canadian Kyle “The Monster” Nelson via TKO in the first round.

Silva and Andrade went the distance, meanwhile, with Silva taking a unanimous decision win care of 30-27 scores from all three judges. The victory was the sixth straight for the Brazilian under the UFC banner, and twelfth consecutive win overall.

The fight, contested at flyweight, marked Andrade’s return to the weight class, where Natalia Silva had been ranked #8. Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko will face off with Grasso’s 125lb title on the line next weekend at UFC 306 (marketed as Riyadh Season Noche UFC), which should produce a path forward for the division’s other contenders.

All four bonus winning fighters at UFC Vegas 97 will pocket an additional $50,000 for their efforts on top of purse, outfitting pay, and so forth.

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Ramaska had punched his ticket to The Ultimate Fighter 32 semifinals, or so the featherweight had thought. However, he wound up pulled from the fight after the Nevada commission was unable to clear him due to a minor facial fracture, leaving him out of the tournament. Then, just two weeks ago, he was paired up with Nathan Fletcher at UFC Vegas 96, the card that happened to house the TUF 32 finals.

Hours before the fight, a Fletcher medical issue saw the bout scratched, later rebooked for this Saturday’s show, where Ramaska finally had a chance to compete.

When the bout finally arrived on Saturday, in round one Fletcher came out with two left hands into a single leg. Ramaska defended at first but his balance eventually gave out. Ramaska right away was doing damage off his back slicing up Fletcher with an elbow. Ramaska was able to create a sweep and get top position. Fletcher quickly scrambled and got a big scoop takedown. Ramaska used the momentum to get another sweep.

Fletcher, not accepting the bottom position, got to his knees and went into a takedown. Ramaska was able to defend and had an awkward inverted triangle but used it to get back to the feet. Not for long though as Fletcher exploded in and got another takedown. Fletcher postured up and was landing some good ground and pound. With little time left, Fletcher moved into mound and ended the round there.

In round two they quickly locked up. Fletcher was able to get the bodylock and moved his legs on the outside to get the easy takedown. Following the takedown, Fletcher moved into mount and sunk in the arm-triangle for the tap.

Official Result: Nathan Fletcher def. Zygimantas Ramaska by submission (arm-triangle choke), Round 2, 1:14

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A Fight Night card that probably deserves to be held outside the venue in front of fans, Burns vs. Brady certainly has some promising scraps. The co-main event sees former women’s strawweight champ Jessica Andrade take on fellow Brazilian Natalia Silva, while Steve Garcia fills in for Calvin Kattar against Kyle Nelson.

In the featured prelim, meanwhile, Ryan Spann was set to face off with Ovince Saint Preux, while Žygimantas Ramaška hopes to finally fight under the UFC banner after being pulled from the TUF 32 tournament. Expected to face Nathan Fletcher at the show’s finale, that bout was postponed after Fletcher suffered a medical issue.

Weigh-ins for UFC Vegas 97 take place Friday in Las Vegas starting at 12PM ET, 9AM PT. Results can be found below.

UFC Vegas 97: Burns vs. Brady Weigh-In Results

Main card

Welterweight: Gilbert Burns (171) vs. Sean Brady (171)
Women’s Flyweight: Jéssica Andrade (124.5) vs. Natália Silva (125.5)
Featherweight: Steve Garcia (145.5) vs. Kyle Nelson (148.5)*
Bantamweight: Matt Schnell (135) vs. Cody Durden (135)
Lightweight: Trevor Peek (155) vs. Yanal Ashmouz (154.5)
Lightweight: Rong Zhu (155.5) vs. Chris Padilla (154)

Preliminary card

Featherweight: Isaac Dulgarian (145.5) vs. Brendon Marotte (145)
Flyweight: Felipe dos Santos (124.5) vs. André Lima (125.5)
Featherweight: Yi Zha (144.5) vs. Gabriel Santos (146)
Women’s Strawweight: Jaqueline Amorim (115.5) vs. Vanessa Demopoulos (116)
Middleweight: Andre Petroski (185.5) vs. Dylan Budka (188.5)*
Featherweight: Žygimantas Ramaška (145.5) vs. Nathan Fletcher (145)

*Missed Weight

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“OSP” was to have faced former LFA standout Ryan Spann at the event, set for the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. However, on Wednesday, promotion officials announced that the bout was off.

“Due to illness, Ovince Saint Preux has been removed from his light heavyweight bout with Ryan Spann. As a result, this bout has been cancelled from this weekend’s card,” a brief statement on the company’s website revealed.

The nature of the illness in this instance has not been revealed.

It’s the second hit the card has taken in the days leading up to the event, as Alessandro Costa dropped out of his flyweight fight with Matt Schnell due to injury. That fight, however, was salvaged, with Cody Durden stepping in, and the bout moved up a weight class to bantamweight.

Saint Preux, 41, was looking to build off a split decision win over Kennedy Nzechukwu back in March. OSP joined the UFC in 2013, after turning pro in 2008 and competing for Strikeforce starting in 2010. He boasts a record of 27-17, with wins over Corey Anderson, Shogun Rua, and Rafael Cavalcante, among others.

UFC Vegas 97 now moves forward with the following match-ups:

• Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady
• Jéssica Andrade vs. Natália Silva
• Steve Garcia vs. Kyle Nelson
• Matt Schnell vs. Cody Durden
• Trevor Peek vs. Yanal Ashmouz
• Rong Zhu vs. Chris Padilla
• Isaac Dulgarian vs. Brendon Marotte
• Felipe dos Santos vs. André Lima
• Yi Zha vs. Gabriel Santos
• Jaqueline Amorim vs. Vanessa Demopoulos
• Andre Petroski vs. Dylan Budka
• Žygimantas Ramaška vs. Nathan Fletcher

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Tybura vs. Spivac 2 will headline the UFC’s August 10, 2024 event, the show it had previously been reported for. UFC officials announced the news on Thursday following a report by Eurosport’s Marcel Dorff; Alex Behunin originally reported the booking back in June, in what was then a three-round affair.

Tybura (25-8) last competed in March, when he submitted Australia’s Tai Tuivasa. “Tybur” 3-1 over his last four fights, and sits ranked #8 in the division.

One spot below him at #9 is Serghei Spivac (16-4), who saw a three-fight win streak snapped last time out when he fell to Ciryl Gane. Prior to that, Spivac had earned a win over former title challenger Derrick Lewis.

Marcin Tybura and Serghei Spivac first met in February of 2020 at UFC Norfolk. Tybura won the fight via unanimous decision.

Numerically, the UFC’s August 10 event is UFC Vegas 95, taking place once again at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada. The following match-ups have been reported for the card:

• Marcin Tybura vs. Serghei Spivac
• Charalampos Grigoriou vs. Toshiomi Kazama
• Jonny Parsons vs. Yusaku Kinoshita
• Jarno Errens vs. Youssef Zalal
• Jhonata Diniz vs. Karl Williams
• Allan Nascimento vs. Jafel Filho
• Yana Santos vs. Chelsea Chandler
• Talita Alencar vs. Stephanie Luciano
• Pannie Kianzad vs. Karol Rosa
• Chepe Mariscal vs. Damon Jackson
• Chris Gutiérrez vs. Javid Basharat

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News of the bout was first reported by Nolan King of MMA Junkie (via X, formerly known as Twitter) Friday.

Jonny Parsons (9-3) made his debut in the UFC last July when he finished UFC vet, Danny Roberts, with punches in the final seconds of the second round. Parsons and Roberts won fight of the night honors, for what was an extremely exciting fight, while it lasted. Jonny put together a win streak mostly in iKon Fighting Federation (based out of Las Vegas, Nevada) and had a successful appearance on the 2021 season of the Contender Series to birth his UFC signing.

Yusaku Kinoshita (6-2) is a product of the 2022 season of Contender Series where he stopped his undefeated opponent, Jose Henrique Souza, in the third round.  Unfortunately, the Japanese fighter has not fared well with the UFC since he was signed. ‘Wonderboy’ is 0-2 with the promotion, losing his debut to Adam Fugitt in February of last year and falling to Billy Goff in August. Yusaku was finished in the first round of both bouts and is now looking to get back on the right track.

UFC Vegas 95, which goes down on Saturday, August 10th, now has six scheduled bouts and the following line up:

• Jarno Errens vs. Youssef Zalal
• Marcin Tybrua vs. Serghei Spivac II
• Karl Williams vs. Jhonata Diniz
• Allan Nascimento vs. Jafel Filho
• Danny Barlow vs. Uros Medic
• Jonny Parsons vs. Yusaku Kinoshita

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News of the rematch was first reported by Alex Behunin (@AlexBehunin via X) on Tuesday.

Marcin Tybura (25-8) has been on a great run as of late, in the UFC’s heavyweight division. After starting out 3-5 in the UFC from 2016-2019, Tybura defeated Seghei Spivac the following year, jump-starting a 5-fight winning streak. “Tybur’ is 3-2 since then, only falling to Alexander Volkov and the current Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, Tom Aspinall, in the time frame. Tybura’s most recent outing was in March, when he submitted Tai Tuivasa via rear naked choke in the first round of the pair’s main event.

Serghei Spivac (16-4) lost in his most recent bout, losing by TKO to former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, Ciryl Gane, last September. It was Spivac’s second main event in a row following 6-1 run with the promotion that only saw him defeated by Tom Aspinall via first round finish, in mid 2021. That run, stemmed Spivac’s 2020 unanimous decision defeat at the hands of Marcin Tybura.

UFC Vegas 95 on August 10 at the UFC APEX has no main event announced as of the writing of this article, with announced bout the lineup of:

• Jarno Errens vs. Youssef Zalal
• Marcin Tybura vs. Serghei Spivac
• Karl Williams vs. Jhonata Diniz
• Allan Nascimento vs. Jafel Filho
• Danny Barlow vs. Uros Medic

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Cannonier vs. Imavov will serve as the main event of UFC Louisville on June 8, 2024, set for the KFC Yum! Center in Louisville, Kentucky.

Sources confirmed the booking to Cageside Press following an initial report by MMA Mania.

Cannonier (17-6) has won back-to-back fights since his failed title bid against Israel Adesanya in 2022. One of those wins came against the man who would go on to dethrone “The Last Stylebender,” Sean Strickland (who himself was usurped by Dricus Du Plessis).

Last June, Jared Cannonier earned a decision victory over another former middleweight title challenger, Marvin Vettori.

Nassourdine Imavov kicked off his 2024 with a win over Roman Dolidze in February, which saw him bounce back from a loss to Sean Strickland, and a No Contest (due to a head butt) against Strickland’s Xtreme Couture teammate, Chris Curtis.

Cannonier currently sits at #4 in the UFC’s 185lb division, while Imavov is ranked #8.

With the addition of its main event, the UFC Louisville card now features the following reported match-ups:

• Jared Cannonier vs. Nassourdine Imavov
• Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Ricky Turcios
• Miguel Baeza vs. Punahele Soriano
• Thiago Moisés vs. Ľudovít Klein
• Dominick Reyes vs. Dustin Jacoby
• Charles Radtke vs. Carlos Prates
• Brunno Ferreira vs. Dustin Stoltzfus
• John Castañeda vs. Daniel Marcos
• Brad Katona vs. Jesse Butler
• Cody Stamann vs. Taylor Lapilus
• Eduarda Moura vs. Denise Gomes
• Julian Marquez vs. Zachary Reece
• Andrea Lee vs. Montana De La Rosa
• Rayanne dos Santos vs. Puja Tomar

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