Michael Morales

Gilbert Burns may have been on a three-fight skid entering this main event, but those three losses were to former champion Belal Muhammad, current champion Jack Della Maddalena, and current number 2 contender Sean Brady. “Durinho” had only lost to the very best, so for Morales to dust him off that easily inside a round is still very impressive.

Welterweight is on fire right now. The young are eating the old and the turnover is exciting to watch. Morales now adds his name to that mix as this win will have him crack the top10. However, with Islam Makhachev moving up to fight for the title, the division is on the verge of clogging up at the top. Shavkat Rakhmonov, the aforementioned Brady, Ian Machado Garry and the winner of the Atlanta main event next month will have legitimate claims to a title shot in the coming months. If the UFC books Morales against a top5 fighter, they will clog the title picture even more. That’s why, despite Leon Edwards making a ton of sense as Morales’ next opponent, the promotion should instead take its time with him. The Ecuadorian is still just 25 years old. He has all the time in the world to work his way to the top. When looking at it with that perspective, the winner of the Vicente Luque vs Kevin Holland fight at UFC 316 then becomes a good option. Morales also trains in Mexico and has expressed desires to fight on the Guadalajara card in September. That’s a turnaround that both Luque and Holland should be able to make.

Morales’ next fight: Luque/Holland winner

Mairon Santos

When he won The Ultimate Fighter last summer with a stunning KO in the finale, a lot of hype followed Mairon Santos into his UFC debut. This made his performance in March against Francis Marshall quite disappointing, as most people think he lost that bout despite getting his hand raised.

Even after barely winning his debut, the UFC gave the 24-year-old prospect a step up in competition in “Super” Sodiq Yusuff at UFC Vegas 106. The Nigerian fighter was ranked for a long time at featherweight before dropping two fights to Edson Barboza and Diego Lopes. The discrepancy in high-level experience didn’t deter the young Santos from winning a convincing, professional unanimous decision, earning two 30-27s in the process.

Julian Erosa would make a lot of sense as an opponent for Santos. “Juicy J” is 9-4 in his last 11 outings, with wins over names like Sean Woodson, Nate Landwehr and Charles Jourdain. He represents a respectable test for the 24-year-old Santos, who shouldn’t be rushing to the top15.

Santos’ next fight: Julian Erosa

Nursulton Ruziboev

The 6’5” Uzbekistani won his second bout of 2025, improving his UFC record to 4-1 (4-0 at middleweight). His sole loss was a short notice welterweight fight with Joaquin Buckley, a loss that has aged quite gracefully, all things considered. Though his callout of Bo Nickal wasn’t terrible, I highly doubt it’s a matchup that will materialize. Ruziboev still needs a signature win in this division before thinking about names like Nickal. Fighters like Cesar Almeida, Christian Leroy Duncan and Gerald Meerschaert would all be proper opponents for Ruziboev. In the end, I went with veteran Eryk Anders, who is also currently riding a two-fight win streak.

Ruziboev’s next fight: Eryk Anders

Melquizael Costa

Not even five full months into 2025 and Melquizael Costa has already fought three times, winning all three bouts. After submitting Andre Fili in Seattle in February, he beat Christian Rodriguez in a hard-fought three-round fight in Mexico City. On Saturday at UFC Vegas 106, he was facing off with Julian Erosa, who was also on a three-fight win streak entering this contest. The bout got Fight of the Night honours and saw Costa extending his win streak to four.

As he keeps inching closer to becoming a real player in the division, booking Costa now becomes dependent on his intentions going forward. If he wants to be matchmade for strategically to advance his career towards the rankings, and eventually the title, then he might wait for the outcome of the Calvin Kattar vs Steve Garcia fight going down in July. However, if he wants to stay active and become featherweight’s own Kevin Holland, then the opponent truly doesn’t matter that much. A name that satisfies both lines of thinking is Pat Sabatini. The Philadelphia fighter is 7-2 in the UFC and is back on a winning streak after a dominant outing over a dangerous Joanderson Brito last month. Costa was also the name I picked for Sabatini on What’s Next after he defeated Brito at UFC Vegas 105.

Costa’s next fight: Pat Sabatini

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Gilbert Burns

Michael Morales officially announced his arrival to the welterweight division with his first round finish of Gilbert Burns on Saturday. The UFC Vegas 106 main event looked lopsided from the jump, as Burns looked visibly anxious during fighter announcements. Gilbert entered the fight ranked at #8 while his opponent was ranked at #12 in the division. That was a rough showing for Gilbert to put it mildly. Burns looked every bit of 38-years-old and is now riding a 4-fight losing streak.

Next fight for Gilbert should be against the loser of #14 Vicente Luque vs Kevin Holland fight. That bout goes down on June 7th at UFC 316. Luque is 2-2 in his last four, most recently he stopped Themba Gorimbo in the first round of their bout last December. Kevin is also 2-2 in his last four fights, securing a win in his last time out against Gunnar Nelson back in March. Three of Holland’s last four fights have been at middleweight. This fight would be a great one for the fans and makes a lot of sense for Gilbert as it’d be right on the fringe of the rankings. This fight would be a battle to stay relevant within the division with the loser likely either kicking around retirement rumors or no longer being mentioned amongst the elites.

Gilbert’s next fight:  Loser of Vicente Luque vs. Kevin Holland

Sodiq Yusuff

Sodiq Yusuff dropped a unanimous decision to Marion Santos in what was his first fight at lightweight in the UFC (and first since 2017). The loss brings the 2018 Contender Series alum’s losing skid to a grand total of three. Sodiq is in a precarious position as he has not won since October of 2022 (against Don Shainis).

If Sodiq elects to stay at lightweight a solid next fight for him would be against Jared Gordon. Jared just fought on the preliminary card of UFC Vegas 106 and secured an impressive knockout victory over Thiago Moises. Gordon has now won two of his last three. Gordon has built up a solid name putting on hardnosed performances against tough opponents like Joe Solecki, Grant Dawson, Paddy Pimblett and Nasrat Haqparast. This fight would be great for both fighters as both guys get a solid name and opportunity to propel themselves into a matchup for a ranking, with a win.

Sodiq’s next fight: Jared Gordon 

Dustin Stoltzfus

Nursulton Ruziboev topped Dustin Stoltzfus scoring a controversial unanimous decision win on Saturday. Stoltzfus has now lost three of his last five fights and is 3-6 in the UFC. Dustin is in some very violent fights and the 2020 Contender Series vet always brings the action. Stoltzfus could be in a bit of trouble of losing his roster spot with another loss. With that fact in mind, the perfect next opponent for him would be the loser of the Zach Reese vs Dusko Todrovic fight. That fight goes down on May 31st, so the timing would align nicely.

Zach Resse is a 2020 Contender Series alum that is 2-2 within the UFC. Reese was last in action back in January when he was stopped in the first round by Azamat Bekoev. Dusko Todorovic is a 2019 Contender Series vet that is 3-5 within the UFC. Todorovic was last in action last November when he was stopped in the first round by Mansur Abdul-Malik. Between all three men they have only beaten two men who are still with the UFC (Marc-Andre Barriault for Dustin and Jose Medina for Zach). Perfect fight to make as the loser will have a sub .500 UFC record and will definitely be fighting for their roster spot if they aren’t cut before that-which is a very real possibility.

Dustin’s next fight: Loser of Zach Reese vs Dusko Todorovic

Julian Erosa

Melquizael Costa defeated Julian Erosa in a competitive scrap to open the main card of UFC Vegas 106 on Saturday. The bout would go on to win fight of the night honors, landing both men 50k. However, the loss snaps Erosa’s three-fight win streak that saw him finish Ricardo Ramos, Christian Rodriguez and Darren Elkins, all in the first round.

Julian Ersoa should fight Andre Fili in his next fight. Somehow these two grizzled veterans have not squared off yet, if you can believe that. Fili, a 12 year UFC veteran is 12-11, 1 NC with the promotional giant. Fili has lost three of his last five, including his most recent bout against Melquizael Costa back in February. This would be a great scrap, likely an instant classic between two veterans with the winner scoring bragging rights and inching up in the mid tier of the division. The loser wont lose much stock at all as it’ll likely be a banger.

Julian’s next fight: Andre Fili

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Gordon (21-7, 1NC), who has faced the likes of Paddy Pimblett, King Green, and Charles Oliveira during his run with the company, knocked out Brazilian vet Thiago Moises on the preliminary portion of Saturday’s Fight Night card.

“It’s a long time coming, man. I think everyone knew, that’s how good I was, and that’s how good I am,” Gordon stated following the bout, speaking with media outlets in attendance including Cageside Press. “I just had to show it.”

Without getting into specifics, Gordon admitted that he had to make a few changes to get to this point. “I had to do a few things, some soul searching just to get things right. There’s no better time than now. I’m not 30 years old anymore, but I’m the smartest, most spiritually grounded, and healthiest I’ve ever been. So there’s no reason I can’t do great things.”

Past losses in fights he was winning seem to have gotten to Gordon, to some extent at least. “When you go into a fight and you win the fight, and then you still lose somehow, it kind of messes with you,” he noted. “Obviously there’s a few fights in my past that, that’s what happened. So I would go home and be like ‘I don’t understand, I won the fight, and I still lost.'”

Gordon believes he’s finally “found the key” after making a few personal changes. “Here I am, I’m the best I’ve ever been. I’ve shown in the last four, five fights, this is how good I am. Those fights weren’t flukes. This is me.”

One of those debatable fights was Gordon’s loss to Paddy Pimblett, which all but a single media outlet (this outlet included) scored for Gordon, per MMA Decisions. Still, it appears there’s no bad blood there, as Gordon expressed admiration for Pimblett, who recently defeated Michael Chandler, landing him in the title picture at lightweight.

“Listen, I’m Michael Chandler’s teammate, and I knew how that fight was going to go. I’m not trying to talk sh*t about Mike, he’s a friend of mine, we’re friendly, but they did a great job matching Paddy is what I’m trying to say here,” Gordon said of Pimblett’s recent performance. “And I’m not trying to talk sh*t about Mike because we are friends, but he is 2-5 or whatever he is in the UFC. He beat [Tony] Ferguson, and he caught [Dan] Hooker in the first whatever it was, two minutes the first round. That can happen to anyone.”

“Man I like Paddy bro. How do you not like him? F*cking guy is funny, he’s likeable, he’s winning. He’s got the f*cking greatest walkout ever. When I fought him and he walked out, I was like ‘holy sh*t this is f*cking amazing.’ It took twenty minutes for him to get to the cage, I’m like ‘man I’m f*cking getting cold in here, but I’m enjoying this.'”

Gordon saw that again in Miami when Pimblett walked out to face Chandler. “And I like him. Every time I see him we have fun, we laugh, we were f*cking eating cookies together or some sh*t. He’s a star bro, and I give it to him, he backs up the talk too. It’s not like he’s just, he makes it exciting. It’s not like he’s just going in there and it’s boring. His fights are fun to f*cking watch, and he’s a star. And I’m happy for him. Would I fight him again? Of course, I’ll f*cking fight anyone. But I’m happy for him.”

And no doubt happy for himself following one of the best performances of his career on Saturday.

Watch Jared Gordon’s full UFC Vegas 106 post-fight media appearance above.

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While your next fight is always your biggest when it comes to MMA, Morales, in his first headlining spot for the UFC, was facing a former title challenger in Gilbert Burns. At 38, Burns is nearing the end of his career, but remains a formidable opponent nonetheless. And Morales felt it.

“Sure man, I was sh*tting my pants. I’ll tell you something, it was something. I was nervous out there,” Morales (18-0) admitted following the bout, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press.

“They don’t call him ‘Durinho’ for nothing. He’s a guy that, whoever has to be in a cage with that guy, to fight, they would feel the nerves. And for everything he’s done, he’s  a guy who’s always fighting for a title, the people that he has fought throughout his career, I think it was important for to get that fight. To prove to him [that] the tough guy tonight was me.”

Morales proved he was not only the tougher fighter, but able to finish the rugged Brazilian, ending Burns’ night inside of a round. Morales was lighting him up on the feet and added a few finishing blows when Burns when down. Now, alongside newly crowned champ Jack Della Maddalena, Shavkat Rakhmonov, and Ian Garry, Morales is one of a handful of impressive fresh faces that have rejuvenated the welterweight division.

If Morales had his way, another one of those faces would be next.

“I talked about Ian Garry. That’s a fighter that I’ve always wanted to fight,” noted Morales, who added that he’s aware Garry is probably looking up the rankings. “That might not happen, but the fight that I would really like the make— the biggest thing is just being healthy and just recovering from a couple of strikes that I had, that I took— is to be in Guadalajara. I think that if that fight, if they’re able to make it, I would like to fight whoever in Guadalajara.”

Noche UFC is currently scheduled for Guadalajara, Mexico in September. Whether he lands there or not, Morales is looking to take advantage of opportunities at the end of the day. “Maybe the sixth, the fifth, the fourth in the rankings, and we’ll take whatever opportunity God gives us to do.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 106 post-fight press conference with Michael Morales above.

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That, Park explained following the bout, was not necessarily part of the plan. Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press, Park noted that “the game plan was striking, but I saw the opportunity on the ground, and I was able to choke him out.”

Park’s submission victory was one of six finishes on the seven-fight preliminary card at UFC Vegas 106. And while he didn’t come away with a post-fight bonus thanks to the stiff competition, the Road to UFC winner was able to get fans talking with a callout of Matt Schnell.

As to why he chose Schnell, “the rationale was, just a random name that came up to me, nothing against him,” said Park. “Also he’s half Korean, so I’ve been looking into him. He’s a great fighter, and whoever it is, I want to fight.”

Schnell’s grandmother, and father, were both born in Korea. He’s fought in South Korea for the UFC as well, competing in Busan in 2019.

The biggest knock on Park so far hasn’t been his in-cage work, which has been excellent, but his strength of schedule. Or lack thereof. That, however, has been somewhat out of his hands.

“I want to fight,” said Park, noting a number of mishaps – injury, and an opponent who missed weight “by eight pounds.” Essentially, Park has been staying active, it just hasn’t worked out. With luck, that will change in the near future.

Watch the full UFC Vegas 106 post-fight media appearance by Hyun Sung Park above.

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The second-round TKO represents the third straight win for Gomes (11-3), who is 5-2 inside the octagon since joining the UFC in 2022. And having walked out to the Cyndi Lauper anthem “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun,” it appears Gomes did just that on Saturday.

“The music was to remind me that that’s the point. I gotta get in there, I gotta have fun. And yeah, I had a very good time in there,” the 25-year old told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight.

Gomes certainly did some damage putting Reed away, after looking strong on the feet and on the ground. She agreed that some of the finishing blows probably weren’t necessary, but that boils down to the ref’s call, not hers.

“I thought that she was out on the first punch because of the way she crumbled,” admitted Gomes. “But my job, I’m always told that I gotta keep on hitting until the referee stops it, and that’s what I kept on doing. Maybe I could have stopped a little earlier, but in any case, I think it sends a good message to the division. If I get you down, I’m going to keep on punching until someone pulls me off of you.”

Gomes isn’t ready to call anyone out just yet, despite her three-fight winning streak. “Honestly right now I don’t think I’m in any position to request anybody, so I’m ready to fight anybody in the division. Whoever they put in front of me, it’s going to be a good fight.” Instead, she plans on continuing to improve, although Gomes does have her eye on a relatively quick turnaround.

“The one thing is, I’m pretty unscathed, I think I could be fighting again in August. If they could give me that date, that would be great.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 106 post-fight media appearance by Denise Gomes above.

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Luckily, that didn’t impact the main event any, with Michael Morales putting in a star turn and coming away with the biggest win of his career. Thanks to a nasty TKO finish of Gilbert Burns, a former welterweight title challenger, Morales is now 18-0 following his first headlining spot in the UFC.

He’s also $50,000 wealthier, picking up one of two Performance of the Night bonuses at UFC Vegas 106. The second went to strawweight Denise Gomes, who likewise lit up her own opponent, Elise Reed, for a TKO finish on the night’s preliminary card. The win marked Gomes’ third straight.

Fight of the Night at UFC Vegas 106, meanwhile, went to Melquizael Costa and Julian “Juicy J” Erosa. The featherweight pair kicked off the event’s main card, going the distance in a fight that saw Costa take home a unanimous decision win.

All four bonus-winning fighters from Saturday’s card will take home an extra $50,000 on top of their show and win money, outfitting pay, etc. The card was held at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

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Following a three-round decision win against Luana Pinheiro to kick off Saturday’s UFC Vegas 106 card, Pennington (15-7) appeared a bit down on her performance, happy that she’d come away with the victory, but far from satisfied with the display as a whole.

“I could have done better, but you know, a win’s a win,” Pennington said after the fight, speaking with media outlets including Cageside Press. “I just feel like, I’m don’t know, I’m having a hard time just letting go the entire time. Because I have really great hands, really great kickboxing, I have really great defense.”

Pennington felt she waited to long too get going in the opening round, though she admitted there were some great moments in it nonetheless. “There’s some really great moments, and you can always do better. And it’s like, I want to do a breakout performance, and then I don’t do everything I wanted to do or fight as much as I wanted to do. I’m happy that I won of course, but you can always do better.”

With Pinheiro ranked #15, Tecia Pennington, two spots ahead, is hoping she moves forward regardless. The UFC’s official rankings, under constant scrutiny of late, appear to have her attention.

“I’m going to say, I hope it moves me up. I got another win, and I’m ranked behind Angela Hill and I beat her twice in the UFC. So I’ve at least got to punch in front of her, even though this girl’s number 15,” stated Pennington. “Ideally I’d like to be in the top 10. Journalists, whoever’s out there doing it, if it’s you guys, I don’t know. Look at my wins, look at my losses, even my losses, I’ve lost split decisions to champions. I’m the only fighter in this division, I’m 99% sure, that’s fought every single champion. Fair enough, I might have lost to most of them but I’ve beaten two champions. I beat Carla [Esparza], I beat Rose [Namajunas] before, and when I did lose, I’ve never been beaten up. Nobody’s beaten me up. Weili [Zhang] didn’t beat me up, Joanna [Jedrzejczyk] didn’t beat me up. Granted I lost points and stuff like that, I’ve never been finished in a fight. So my durability, I’m a veteran, I have some great wins under my belt.”

The UFC’s rankings are in fact comprised by journalists, though the question of who is on the rankings panel and how up-to-date it is has been floated. UFC President and CEO Dana White has suggested an AI-backed rankings system, though what that would look like is anyone’s guess, since current “AI” does not represent actual “artificial intelligence” but rather just complex, human-trained algorithms.

In any case, Pennington is gunning for the top 10. “I belong in the top 10. So journalists if you’re listening, please put me in the top 10 or very close to it. Because that determines the next fight I’m going to get. And unfortunately if I’m not ranked higher, I’m not going to get that high fight that I want to. And I’m 35, I’m not getting younger. I want to finish this sport with great wins, I want to be one of the best in the world, I know I’m one of the best in the world. I want to be one of the best of the world in the top 5 again.”

At her best, Pennington was ranked #4 in the UFC. She’s now 11 years into her UFC career, and fighting with her daughter, and late father, who passed away months ago, in mind. “I’m going to be back there. I’ve got that mama strength and will in me now, and I fight with just more of my heart now.”

Watch Tecia Pennington’s full UFC Vegas 106 post-fight media appearance above.

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The welterweight fight had originally been booked for UFC 315, but weeks out was shifted, pushed back a week to headline the Fight Night card when no other options presented themselves. It was a first main event spot in the UFC for Morales, his first five-rounder period, should it actually go that long.

This, on a night that saw the co-main event cancelled all of 30 minutes out from the fight. And on a night where Patchy Mix, Bellator MMA bantamweight champ, was announced as having signed with the promotion.

Burns opened the UFC Vegas 106 main event with a leg kick that landed with an audible crack. Moments later, Morales answered in kind, though the impact (or at least the sound of it) was noticeably muted in comparison. From there, Burns circled, showed good footwork, and looked to punch his way in. Yet when Morales went on the attack, his footwork was just a little better, his punches just a little crisper. And Burns found himself under heavy fire late in the round as Morales began landing wild, looping lefts and rights. A blow to the side of the head, a right hook, put Burns on the canvas, though he covered up, moved, and got between Morales’ legs. That earned Burns a brief reprieve, but it didn’t last. Instead, Morales lit him up again, dropped him, and added a few extra strikes to seal the deal.

Easily the biggest win of his career for Michael Morales, who improves to 18-0. He’ll soon find himself in the title conversation alongside Shavkat Rakhmonov and Ian Machado Garry – and, of course, Islam Makhachev.

Official Result: Michael Morales def. Gilbert Burns by TKO, Round 1, 3:39

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That, after a late illness scrapped Paul Craig vs. Rodolfo Bellato.

Suddenly, Yusuff and TUF winner Santos were the penultimate fight on Saturday, with that much more of the spotlight.

The opening round saw a feeling out process early, one that lasted for a good chunk of the first five minutes. The fight stayed standing, thought Santos, who had a bit of nervous energy early on, would tie things up late in the frame. A close round, but by the second, Santos was looking a lot more comfortable – perhaps evidenced by a flying knee attempt the TUF winner launched inside of the first minute of the frame.

That came up short, but Yusuff would have to contend with Santos’ jab and a sneaky-good head kick. And a leg kick, that two minutes in took Sodiq Yusuff right off his feet. Later in the round, Santos would tie things up, as he had in the first ever so briefly. No takedown was forthcoming, and they moved back to center, where Yusuff landed a leg kick of his own. “Super” Sodiq was bloodied, however, and Santos continued to flow, looking lose, firing another jump knee and a variety of kicks.

Mairon Santos entered round three almost certainly ahead in the fight. Yusuff’s team told him as much between rounds, looking to motivate their fighter to find the finish. Sodiq pressed forward, landing kicks, feinting, and landing at times. Mairon Santos was having more success, however, keeping distance with his jab, and continuing to mix in a variety of kicks.

With two minutes left in the frame, Yusuff exploded into a takedown, though Santos was up to his feet almost as quickly. Yusuff stayed on him, leaning into Santos against the fence. Santos used open-handed slaps to the back in a rather unique strategy, and either way, Yusuff could not get the fight back down. Santos instead reversed, but kept the fight on the fence until the 30 second mark.

Come the scorecards, it was Santos getting the nod. Overall, Mairon Santos looked impressive in his biggest win to date, over a quality opponent in Yusuff.

Official Result: Mairon Santos def. Sodiq Yusuff by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

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