“The Italian Dream” Marvin Vettori was coming in off his closely contested battle with Roman Dolidze, which was a similar situation for his opponent Jared Cannonier, who was returning after his split decision victory over Sean Strickland back in December of last year.

Let’s take a look at what could be next for the main card winners.

Jared Cannonier

“The Killa Gorilla” put on one of his best performances to date, dominating Marvin Vettori from start to finish. With his emphatic win, Cannonier broke the middleweight record for the most amount of significant strikes landed in a 185lb fight. The lowest weight class that has seen more significant strikes landed in a fight is featherweight.

Despite starting the slower of the two Cannonier didn’t take long to pick his feet up. He was momentarily rocked in the very first round but was able to keep his composure and let his experience take over. The 39-year-old looked to cause Vettori issues from the Southpaw stance, but because that isn’t his predominant stance he couldn’t string much together.

In round two he went back to basics and what he is used to, managing to beat the brakes off Vettori, scoring a 10-8 round across the board. From then on, Cannonier set the pace and did things on his terms.

The ever durable Vettori could not be stopped though and it resulted in a five round beating. Although the performance was flawless, Cannonier likely won’t see himself challenging for the title without another impressive win.

In his post fight interview he made it clear that he won’t be accepting any bouts that don’t get him closer to a title shot. That’s where the case becomes interesting. Khamzat Chimaev has seemingly been looking for a dance partner for what seems like an eternity, and the rumoured fight with Usman at welterweight seems to be dead in the water.

Why not let Jared Cannonier be the man to welcome Chimaev to his new weight class? If Cannonier was to beat the soaring contender then he’d undoubtedly earn himself another shot at Gold. Cannonier didn’t love this suggestion when it was posed to him during the post-fight press conference, stating he’d only take the fight if it resulted in a title shot — but it almost certainly would, regardless of Chimaev being ranked or not.

Cannonier’s Next Fight: Khamzat Chimaev 

Arman Tsarukyan

One of the sport’s best prospects picked up yet another impressive win this past weekend. Initially when this fight was announced, the large majority of the MMA fanbase were confused and were asking “why?”

The reason there was such confusion at the booking of Tsarukyan vs. Silva is because Silva is unranked and Tsarukyan currently occupies rank eight in the lightweight division. The 26-year-old claims that it was because no one else wanted to fight him and so Silva was the only one to accept the fight.

It wasn’t as plain sailing as the majority would’ve imagined. Throughout the fight, Tsarukyan looked great and worked his wrestling well when the openings allowed him too. Silva did hurt him on several occasions though, and that is something the fanbase have decided to lean with.

Having said that, Arman is the one with the W next to his name and will be looking for a fight further up the rankings again. In his octagon interview, he admitted that he believes the fight between Conor McGregor and Michael Chandler won’t happen and he’ll be the one to face Chandler. But that is all if’s, but’s and maybe’s. He also stated that Beneil Dariush wants to fight in October but that’s too late for him, which is a shame as that fight would make a lot of sense.

With all that said, that only really leaves one man. Rafael Fiziev is coming off a closely contested fight with Justin Gaethje. As he will also be looking to climb back into contention, this is a spectacle that could easily headline a fight night card.

Tsarukyan’s Next Fight: Rafael Fiziev

Armen Petrosyan

Fellow Armenian Armen Petrosyan was the one to give Christian Leroy Duncan another welcome. Because his UFC debut ended prematurely, there were still many eyes on how Duncan looked under the UFC banner.

Petrosyan’s striking always had the capability of causing Duncan some serious problems as he hasn’t fought anyone of that ilk so far in his short career. The fight played out favourably for the Armenian as it was practically a kick-boxing match, and that played into the hands of Petrosyan.

The 32-year-old picked up his third win with the promotion since his win on Contender Series, with his only loss coming against the impressive Caio Borralho.

For his next outing, he is likely going to take a step-up in terms of credibility of name. Edmen Shahbazyan could be a competent dance partner.

Petrosyan’s Next Fight: Edmen Shahbazyan

Pat Sabatini

The only featherweight fight on the card was a match-up between Pat Sabatini and Lucas Almeida.

Sabatini was looking to return to the win column after being defeated by Damon Jackson in his last outing back in September of last year. Lucas Almeida on the other hand was looking to pick up his second win with the promotion after beating Mike Trizano in his debut.

Sabatini dominated the Brazilian on the ground from start to finish and successfully returned with a win. This marked his 12th win via submission, showing his clear threat in that aspect of the fight.

Fernando Padilla is someone who looked extremely impressive in his UFC debut two months ago, and a fight between these two dangerous 145lbers is one I’d be intrigued to see.

Sabatini’s Next Fight: Fernando Padilla 

Manuel Torres

“El Loco” Torres’ stock rose this past weekend after his beautiful KO over Nikolas Motta. Back-to-back wins for the 28-year-old and Mexico have another fighter who looks to be a future contender.

Out of his 14 professional wins, 12 have come by way of first round finish, seven by KO and six by submission showing he has skills wherever the fight goes.

Natan Levy is someone who has looked impressive in his last few outings and a fight between these two men could be sensational, must see TV.

Torres’ Next Fight: Natan Levy

Nicolas Dalby

“Danish Dynamite” made it three wins-in-a-row for the first time since his Cage Warriors days with a win over Muslim Salikhov.

The ferocious pressure of Dalby is always something that is tough for his opponents to deal with, and despite being caught with the odd spinning back kick to the liver, it made it difficult for the Russian to put much together.

Since his move to the UFC in 2019, Dalby has only tasted defeat once and it came against Tim Means. Seemingly, the Danish 38-year-old might still be improving, bizarrely.

Alex Morono is another fighter who fights with high pressure and non-stop movement. A fight between these two welterweights could be fun.

Dalby’s Next Fight: Alex Morono 

The post What’s Next: UFC Vegas 75 Winners appeared first on Cageside Press.

Here’s our shot at playing matchmaker with the losing side of Saturday’s main card.

Marvin Vettori

Vettori’s streak of trading wins and losses continued on Saturday night as he lost to Jared Cannonier. His chin was once again on full display as he absorbed a crazy beating but survived to the final horn. At the moment the top of the UFC middleweight division is mostly booked and the few fighters who are free have already fought Marvin. Two of the only fighters he has not yet fought are facing off soon: Sean Strickland and Abusipuyan Magomedov. Marvin could face the winner of that fight.

‘Abus’ Magomedov has only fought once in the UFC, but it’s a sign of his ability that he is already facing the number seven contender in the division. A win would put him right into title contention in a division desperately needing new contenders. Vettori does have a friendship with Strickland, but the two are born and bred fighters, and may have to put that aside to fulfill their dream of reaching a UFC belt.

Vettori’s Next Fight: Winner of Stickland vs Magomedov

Joaquim Silva

It was brave of ‘Neto BJJ’ to accept the short notice bout vs Arman Tsarukyan, one of the sports most talented prospects, especially since beating Arman comes with relatively little reward compared to the massive risk. He lost in the end, but Silva put on a valiant performance as he hurt Tsarukyan on the feet in the second round before getting finished late in the third.

Now Joaquim falls back to the talented, unranked masses at lightweight. There are several tenured fighters in the division with at or near .500 records in their UFC runs. One such name is Christos Giagos, who also lost to Arman Tsarukyan somewhat recently. Giagos is coming off of an impressive knockout of Ricky Glenn earlier this year, but had two back-to-back losses before that. Him and Silva both trade wins and losses, but against talented fighters who there is no shame in losing to. Both are good grapplers and strikers who could compete in every realm of MMA in a competitive fight.

Silva’s Next Fight: Christos Giagos

Christian Leroy Duncan

Duncan lost his sophomore UFC effort by decision to striking specialist Armen Petrosyan after winning his debut in his home country earlier this year. ‘CLD’ had been undefeated at 8-0 but now takes his first career loss, a hard lesson for any fighter to face. There are a number of unranked middleweights he can face now though who would make for exciting match-ups.

One such is Punahele Soriano. Soriano had to pull out from his upcoming fight at UFC Jacksonville for undisclosed reasons, but when he is ready to fight again, him vs Duncan would be a great striking battle.

Duncan’s Next Fight: Punahele Soriano

Lucas Almeida

Almeida could not deal with the grappling prowess of Pat Sabatini at all as he was taken down and controlled in each round before being submitted in the second. His previous fight, his UFC debut, was impressive though as he beat former featherweight The Ultimate Fighter winner Mike Trizano by third round knockout. Almeida has potential and an exciting fight style on the feet, so there are a number of featherweight opponents out there for him to fight.

One potential opponent who is also coming off of a loss is fifty-fight MMA veteran Shayilan Nuerdanbieke. Still only twenty-nine year sold, Nuerdanbieke has plenty left in the tank, it seems, and is no stranger to thrilling striking battles himself.

Almeida’s Next Fight: Shayilan Nuerdanbieke

Nikolas Motta

Motta started well, stunning his opponent early, but ended up still getting knocked out by Manuel Torres in the first round with a monstrous elbow. Motta falls to 1-2 in the UFC now, with all three of those fights having ended by knockout inside of two rounds. Another kill-or-be-killed fighter who Motta could face next is Maheshate, who is also 1-2 in the UFC. The loser of this fight would likely be out of a job in the sport’s top promotion, so this is a must-win for each.

Motta’s Next Fight: Maheshate

Muslim Salikhov

Sanda specialist Musliam Salikhov’s age seems to have finally caught up to him. The thirty-nine year old snuck into the rankings on the back of a five-fight win streak in 2021, but has now lost two of his last three. He may not be completely done yet – his knockout of Andre Fialho last year showed he can still dig deep to achieve victory – but at a certain level of MMA he is.

He can still fight fellow veterans, like Santiago Ponzinibbio, or he could be a test for any number of more inexperienced fighters, like Mike Malott. Malott won in a big spot on the main card of UFC 289 earlier this month and his placement on that card for just his third UFC fight shows that the promotion are trying to push him. He has not faced a fighter near the level of Salikhov just yet though, so this fight will be the one to tell fans if Malott is ready for a step up to near-ranked contention, as well as telling how much Salikhov has left in the tank.

Salikhov’s Next Fight: Mike Malott

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At UFC Vegas 75 on Saturday, Bukauskas (15-5) went the distance with TUF alum Zac Pauga, earning a unanimous decision win.

Despite judging being what it is in the sport of mixed martial arts, Bukauskas was confident he had done enough to win the fight, he told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the UFC Apex.

“I felt like I definitely had the more damaging shots,” the Lithuanian-born Brit stated. “I knew he’d landed a couple of good ones, as you can probably see on my face.”

“I definitely felt I had the upper hand. Especially in the first round, when I was very close to finishing him at the end. I know obviously got the takedown, but I know damage plays a big part now at the Apex, whereas before it was about cage control. I just felt like I landed the more damaging shots. Although he did get a couple of good shots on me, I felt like I controlled it a bit better.”

“At the end, I was like, ‘it should go my way,’ but you never know,” Bukauskas added.

Asked whether the way he exited the UFC the first time around weighed on him at all ahead of the bout, Bukauskas replied “Not really. I feel like I’ve already battled that demon ages ago, when I was coming back into the cage, when I was sitting there wondering ‘oh when’s my next fight, what am I gonna do?'”

The 29-year old took the time, he added, “to really try and focus on my skill sets and learn as much as I could and do as much— and not focus so much about fighting, focus more about improving myself.”

“Just going back in my head, replaying these situations, I’ve almost become numb to it.”

Rather than the past weighing on him, Modestas Bukauskas feels like he’s been given a fresh start.

“I feel like this is almost a new beginning. When I came back to the UFC for the second time, this is my new beginning. It was more a rush of positivity than it was negativity. Coming back here obviously, there was a lot of demons from that particular injury, but I knew I’m a completely different fighter, I had a whole different energy. I’ve tapped into my ancestral traits, and things like coming back from war, and Lithuanians defending their lands. So all of these things were overbearing and overpowering over the bad thoughts that were coming from that last defeat.”

“This is my chance prove myself, like I say, this is my chance to flip the script,” added Bukauskas, “and I’ve definitely done that.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Modestas Bukauskas above.

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Argueta (9-1) had opponent Ronnie Lawrence in a guillotine choke when ref Keith Peterson checked to see if Lawrence was still conscious. Lawrence, as was clear to anyone watching at home, was still alert and attempting to fight off the choke — but Peterson got his wires crossed and waved off the fight.

Lawrence instantly protested, and Argueta could but watch as instant replay confirmed the error — resulting in a no contest. Under Nevada regulations, a fight cannot be restarted once it is stopped for review.

“I was about to get that finish,” Argueta told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight. “I threw that shallow guillotine on him, obviously it’s one of my tricks and I held it, I held it— when I felt the ref pulling him off, I was like ‘damn, he’s already asleep. I didn’t even start the crank yet!'”

There’s two chances to tap from that submission, noted Argueta. “It’s suffocating him, and then all I have to do is kind of crank it a little bit, and usually I’m getting just about everyone to tap.”

“That was really unfortunate. That was quite a few months of work. That was about 14 months, since I was at bantamweight. That’s the weight class that all you guys wanted me to come into the UFC at. And that’s what I can do in, I don’t even know, two minutes? Two and a half minutes?”

Argueta stepped into the UFC on short notice as a featherweight, and stayed there for his last fight, a win over Nick Aguirre. Saturday marked the first fight at 135 in the company for The Ultimate Fighter 29 alum.

“I want to run it back,” Argueta said backstage, taking the high road when it came to the referee’s error. “I think it’s the same outcome, minus — okay, Keith has a hard job. I’m not even going to sh*t on him. I get it, his arm was up, I watched it, it looked like he could have been sleeping when his arm’s up, because I did have his shoulders kind of pinned up like that.”

As bad as Argueta no doubt feels for himself, he also felt for the fans watching. “I can’t really apologize. I wish I could apologize to all the fans who wanted to either see me get my hand raised, see me walk off with an L, or just wanted to just watch me fight in general. I apologize to all those fans, that’s a tough one to swallow, and I’m just grateful to the UFC that I even have an opportunity to go try something like that.”

In the fight itself, Argueta said he was “the most focused I’ve ever felt in my life. I felt amazing. It’s just tough when things don’t go your way, and I had so many plans for myself this year, and that was the first hurdle. And someone took it from me. That hurts.”

Though the option to restart the action doesn’t exist in Nevada, Dan Argueta would have been all for it. “I would have liked that,” he said. The 29-year old also has no qualms about Peterson reffing another one of his bouts.

“No. He doesn’t want to make that mistake twice. I would trust him.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Dan Argueta above.

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In a fight that could best be described as chaotic, it appeared Hernandez (9-2) had secured a knockout after landing a slam takedown on opponent Denys Bondar in the dying seconds of the fight.

After being illegally kneed earlier in the bout, it might have been poetic justice — but the ref then called for video review, which ruled an accidental clash of heads had knocked Bondar out.

Luckily, being the fight was already in the third round, the judges scorecards were in play. Hernandez got the unanimous decision win, but was robbed of his first UFC finish.

“They took my finish away from me, but whatever. In my eyes it was a finish, but whatever, if I got my hand raised at the end of the day, I guess that’s all that matters,” Hernandez told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight.

It’s not necessarily as simple as that, however, as Hernandez later pointed out that “If they paid 50Gs for a finish, then it matters a lot to me. Plus just kind of, not having a finish in a while, and having my first UFC finish, it’s kind of like a milestone to reach. So it’s kind of bittersweet I guess, but whatever, like I said at the end of the day all that matters is getting your hand raised, so we’re able to do that.”

As for the illegal knee by Bondar, which happened when Hernandez had both knees down, “I thought it was straight intentional. It was clear as day that I was down. I thought he was going to try and go front head or something, and then he threw it,” Hernandez stated. “And I kind of saw it coming, I tried to pull away. When he hit me with it, you look at the film, my eyes never left his eyes. In my head I was like ‘okay, I’m going to take my break you asshole.'”

“That looked pretty f*cking intentional to me. I don’t know why the ref didn’t take a point off the bat. Like I said it looked damn intentional to me. It is what it is, we were able to recover and come out, push hard that third round.”

The takedown in the finishing sequence “was a throw I’ve hit multiple times in practice,” Hernandez added. “Obviously I don’t drop my partners on their head. It was kind of like a surprise when I slammed him, he kind of got up, so I elbowed, elbowed again. By the fourth elbow, I could tell he was out, but in my head, I heard the clicker, the ref wasn’t jumping in so I think he ate four or five more unnecessary ones. But that’s on the ref, not me, I just go until they tell me to stop.”

Though a clash of heads was ruled to have put Bondar out, Hernandez disagrees. “I don’t think there was a headbutt at all. I just think it was a straight, from what I was able to see to in the film, it looked like a straight, feet to back takedown. Like I said I’ve hit that takedown multiple times in the training room. I don’t even think that put him out, I think the elbows put him out. We slammed him and I landed two elbows, he looked out and I kept elbowing and elbowing away until they pulled me off. So I don’t even think it was that.”

Hernandez at least got his win bonus on Saturday, despite admitting he was a little nervous while the scores were read out. But he’ll have to secure that first UFC finish another day.

Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Carlos Hernandez above.

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After that, he was looking for some BBQ.

You’ll have to excuse Costa’s hunger, as he was coming off not just a fight, but a very intense training camp. What you saw in the fight on Saturday, he told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout, was “10% of what we actually did in camp.”

“We trained a lot for this, and obviously we trained everything to finish this fight in the first round,” explained Costa (13-3). “Unfortunately it actually did go to the second round, but what you saw there, going in and out, or meeting him with a punch, I mean get in, get out of there, and also every time he came, make sure I meet him with a strike — that’s exactly what we trained. You actually saw 10% of my camp. We worked really hard on a first-round knockout.”

Costa is now hoping to get on a rumored Brazilian card later this year.

“I have never fought in Brazil, I heard there’s going to be an event in Brazil. It would be such an honor to be in Brazil, to fight in Brazil since I’ve never done it. It would be my pleasure to actually fight there.”

And if it means fighting on that card, he’ll take anyone the promotion lines him up with.

“No opponents. I’m just waiting. Whatever the UFC puts in front of me, I’ll be ready for.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Alessandro Costa above.

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Kampmann retired off a 2013 loss to Carlos Condit in the UFC, with 21 wins in 28 career fights. Dalby has 29 bouts (two of which went down as No Contests) in his pro career, with 22 wins.

“It’s very special for me. For the rest of the world, it’s just a fun stat. But when I started doing MMA in 2006, Martin Kampmann was, I think he just got into UFC maybe, or something like that, along those lines,” Dalby (22-4-1, 2NC) told media outlets including Cageside Press following his win against Muslim Salikhov. “So I’ve always looked up to him. He’s been such a benchmark, such a beacon in Danish MMA.”

Against Salikhov this past Saturday, Dalby had to contend with a dangerous, creative striker, and stuck to the game plan throughout, going on to win via decision.

“The game plan was to get the striking going, and not get hit by anything stupid. He’s such a skilled striker, and he’s very explosive, very fast, especially in the first couple minutes of every round,” observed Dalby. “So we didn’t want to walk into anything stupid. Kind of play it safe from the outside, poke him a little bit, and as the round progressed, maybe seek out the clinch, or put the pressure on him, changing angles and going into some exchanges.”

Following the win, Dalby expressed a desire to fight in November. Something which feels a little karmic, perhaps.

“Well it’s my birthday in November, and my next fight is going to be my 30th pro fight. And this year is the 30th anniversary of the UFC,” Dalby noted. “It would be fitting to get that 30th fight on the 30th anniversary in my birthday month.”

As for an opponent, “honestly, I know I should have a name, but I can’t remember who’s booked and who’s not,” said Dalby. “Just give me someone. I’m not picky.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Nicolas Dalby above.

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Paired up with Brazil’s Nikolas Motta, Torres (14-2) landed a step-in elbow to secure a knockout finish, his second stoppage in two UFC fights.

During his post-fight interview, broadcaster and UFC vet Paul Felder praised the finish. One fight prior, Michael Bisping had done the same after the lightweight had knocked out Frank Camacho — and Torres is very appreciative of the kind words from both.

“It’s so rewarding, so incredible that the veteran fighters come to us and say those things, even in the other interview as well,” Torres told media outlets including Cageside Press backstage at the UFC Apex following the bout. “It’s just amazing.”

While Torres knew a finish was possible, he was prepared to go the distance on Saturday.

“A little bit, yeah, but really at one point or another, I was thinking ‘this might go three rounds.’ I was prepared for three rounds, that we were going to take this the distance. But the opportunity presented itself.”

The opportunity in question, mind you, was something Torres had prepared for. “He was fighting really well. It was really an opportunity that presented itself. He was fine, he was strong, everything was okay,” recalled Torres. “We trained a lot with my team, he would come in with a three like that, and the opportunity was going to come for us to come in with a left, and then the opportunity came in for the elbow. Again, he was fighting really well.”

Next up, Manuel Torres, like many Mexican fighters, wants on the UFC’s September 16 event at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas. “The 16th of September, I hope Dana White and Sean Shelby put me in there. Obviously we want to be in good condition for the fight, but 16th of September it is.”

September 16 is Mexican Independence Day, and celebrates the country’s declaration of independence from Spain on Sept. 16, 1810.

Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Manuel Torres above.

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The victory gives “Mr. Perfect” two straight wins, and went according to plan, Kang told media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout.

“I had a great game plan, and that’s why I was able to get the victory in the first round,” Kang (19-9, 1NC) said during Saturday’s post-fight press conference. As for that game plan, he went on to explain that “my opponent had a distance advantage, he had a long jab and long punches. I was preparing to counter, and I was able to land the counter and got the finish.”

The biggest surprise in the fight? “His punch was very powerful,” said Kang. Luckily, he avoided that power for the just under two-and-a-half minutes it took to finish the fight. “Other than that, it was okay.”

Having now joined the exclusive decade-plus club in the UFC, Kyung Ho Kang knows what he wants next: an opponent with a number next to his name. “I want to fight at the end of the year. I’ve been in the UFC ten years now, so I want to definitely fight for a top 15 ranked [opponent] now,” he stated.

The promotion has two cards in September that are of interest to the South Korean, both of which would cut down his travel time. “There’s a fight in Singapore and Sydney [Australia] soon, so I want to be on [one of those] cards. For opponents, anybody in the top 15. I don’t mind.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Kyung Ho Kang above.

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Having dropped her promotional debut one fight prior, the 21-year old relied on a wrestling-heavy gameplan, dominating Gabriella Fernandes on the mat, who appeared to have no answer off her back.

While Fernandes fought her way back into the fight briefly in the third, Bleda (7-1) had by then comfortably secured a decision win. She needed only to survive — with a final takedown seeing her back in control by the end of the round regardless.

Speaking to media outlets including Cageside Press following the bout, Bleda said the fight went pretty much how she envisioned it — for the first 10 minutes at least.

“The first and second round, yes, the third was a little bit more punches than I expected,” admitted Bleda, who in her head was thinking “okay, I will stand here for a little bit more, take more punches and make her think it’ll soon [bring about an end to] the fight, and then shoot for the takedown — it’s my best chance.”

“It was worse, the third round, but at least I was in mount in the end,” added Bleda, “and almost ended it. It’s okay.”

Bleda was definitely hunting the finish throughout, but Fernandes proved too durable on that front. “On the ground, she was tougher than I expected, and it was really hard to end it. And I didn’t want to lose position.”

“Ronda” believes that her performance at UFC Vegas 75 was superior to what she showed on Dana White’s Contender Series last year. “Contender was more controlling, and to be sure of the win, and this one I also tried to control it, but I also really tried to end it. But she was tough and it was hard, so it’s better [than the] Contender [Series].”

While many young fighters look to stay active, Tereza Bleda is looking to find a balance between fighting, and improving in the gym.

“Right now I’m focusing on improving. I don’t want to fight every three or four months, I want to fight in like six months to be really prepared for every fight. To learn new things for every fight, and to be better and better every fight. Right now when I recover I’ll get back to training, and I will study a lot of learn new techniques in striking and everything,” she explained. “And in a half year, I will come back stronger and better.”

Watch the full UFC Vegas 75 post-fight press conference appearance by Tereza Bleda above.

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