I say this every week, but I have really come to enjoy doing these posts. I like being able to talk about and give shine to everyone on the card and not just the notable names or important fights that everyone talks about. All champions and contenders have to start somewhere, so we're likely seeing some of the next generation of potential challengers before our very eyes. I thought this card probably outperformed the very low expectations that it had. I'm just going to take some time to talk about some notable performances very briefly and then try to play a bit of match maker for their next fight.
The first fighter I want to mention is Sam Hughes. After an 0-3 start to her UFC career, it wasn't looking good for her, but now she's won two in a row and picked up the finish on Saturday, which is the kind of progression you want to see as a fighter gets more and more experienced. I think as she fights in the UFC more, she's starting to realize what her advantages are and what her weaknesses are against the highest level of competition. So many fighters who are fresh of the regional scene are used to dominating everywhere and that just isn't going to happen in the UFC, even on the fringes of the roster. Hughes has some solid attributes and it seems like she's really learning how to get the most out of them. I still wouldn't expect to see her get a huge push for now, but I think her spot on the roster has been stabilized for the time being. The easy match making would be to put her in there against Polyana Viana or Tabatha Ricci since their timelines align and I think either of them would be a reasonable next opponent. The strawweight division isn't that big, so a lot of women are already on the schedule over the next 6 weeks or so. Depending how long she's willing to wait before having her next opponent, she could have a ton of options. Diana Belbita doesn't have a fight, so maybe that is a direction that the UFC could go with Hughes.
In my picks, I really wasn't excited to pick Chase Hooper, but he looked noticeably better this time around. His striking, while still having room to grow, looked dramatically better and he was actually hurting Colares with some of those strikes. That is really a huge step forward for Hooper. His wrestling may never full come to fruition until he puts on a little more muscle and strength, but if he can strike and have his ground game be as dangerous as ever, he has a chance to be a legitimate threat more consistently. I liked how aggressive he was and he was more willing to use his ground and pound instead of only focusing on submissions. Some names that I think are reasonable opponents for Hooper next would be TJ Laramie, Mike Grundy, Gabriel Benitez, and Youssef Zalal. Personally, I think the Grundy fight is a solid option, but I think all of those have some degree of viability.
I really don't have much to say about Jonathan Martinez. He's on a pretty decent run, but I think this matchup was a perfect one for him. DC suggested a ranked opponent for him next, but I really don't think he's all that close to a ranked fight just yet. I don't really have a feel for how the UFC rates him. I think fights with Brian Kelleher, Chris Gutierrez, and Javid Basharat all make varying degrees of sense. I think Kelleher may be the fight to make. He would test Martinez in some of the ways we need to see him tested before we can really determine what he ceiling at bantamweight is.
Uros Medic showed real growth from his last performance. He came out pretty wild last time and ended up getting submitted by Jalin Turner. He kept himself much more in control this time and he ended up finding the finish in the second round. His power is clearly for real and if he can keep progressing at the rate he showed this past camp, he may very well end up being something. He's still early in his career and there's no need to push him just yet, but I think he'll probably get a pretty fun matchup next time. I think someone like Natan Levy or Viacheslav Borschev could be whay Medic is looking at next time out. The Slava Claus fight would be really fun while it lasted, so that is the direction I would go if it was my choice.
Jailton Almeida has been really impressive for most of what we've gotten to see from him. He's 2-0 in the UFC and given how shallow light heavyweight is in terms of pure number of fighters, he could really rise up this division pretty quickly. His heavyweight debut was solid, but as long as he can make the weight, 205 is the spot for him. Based on what we've seen, I would like him to be tested in a notable way. I don't think him fighting someone with similar experience in the UFC does him any good right now. I think a more experienced fighter like Khalil Rountree or Michal Oleksiejczuk is the type of fight I want to see Almeida get next time.
I'm not really sure what to make about Joseph Holmes. He's a pretty big guy and he's shown solid power and solid submission ability. He's strong and athletic for the division as well. However, he gassed out badly in a slow paced fight in his debut. With that said, this is a good win for him and hopefully he can settle in after his first win is under his belt. I'm not really expecting him to get a notable name next time, but everyone has to start somewhere. I think options would include Dustin Stoltzfus, Abu Azaitar, or Roman Kopylov are probably the range of fighter Holmes is getting next time.
Next comes Jun Yong Park and while I thought he lost, he still did good things. He was able to eventually get his striking going, but he struggled to keep Anders off of him. He stopped the takedowns in a sense that he didn't go down, but he spent a lot of time on one leg up against the cage. Park is a proven veteran at this point and he'll be looking for a tier of fighter similar to Anders I imagine. I think Marc-Andre Barriault, Wellington Turman, and Alessio Di Chirico are all potential opponents for Park whenever he returns. I'll briefly mention Anders as well because I think he looked pretty good. He was much more willing to wrestle than he's been at times in the past and he stuck to a solid game plan. I thought he should have gotten the nod. Anders is probably in that same tier and I think the next opponent for him could be someone like Anthony Hernandez, Ian Heinisch, or Edmen Shahbazyan.
I'm going to skip over the Ricci vs Viana fight as I have no real commentary on that fight beyond what I said in the update to my full card picks, so we'll move on to Chidi Njokuani. I don't have a ton to say about him either other than I'm a fan of his. He's not a perfect fighter or anything, but I really enjoy watching him and find myself rooting for his success. A lot of the names from the previous entry would make sense for him as well. I think of all of those names, Anthony Hernandez is the one that I would put at the top of the list for Chidi.
Finally, I have to talk about Michel Pereira. I think most of us probably had him pegged as more of a gimmick than someone who would actually make a push, but here we are. He has gone from a crazy guy who puts on fun fights to a serious threat. He's an incredible athlete and he's huge for the division. Now that he's been able to control himself just a little bit, he's become a serious problem for the welterweight division. A lot of the welterweights in his range, assuming he takes Ponzinibbio's 14 spot, are already booked, but Michael Chiesa is available and I would be down to see that fight. For as wild as Pereira is known to be, he's actually pretty well rounded. I think Chiesa is a real test, but one that is also reasonable.
I have to take a second to talk about Santiago Ponzinibbio as well. He didn't get the win, but this is as good as I've seen him look since he went through all of those health problems. I still think he has a little more left in the tank and I don't want to see him drop too far. He'll probably fall out of the rankings, but I think he is more than good enough to get someone in the 16-20 range. I think a fight against Niko Price or Daniel Rodriguez would be a good matchup for Ponzinibbio as he wouldn't have to worry about anyone wrestling him and would be in a range where a win would put him right back in a position to fight a ranked opponent again.
That is all from me on this card. It wasn't amazing by any means, but it ended up being a solid night of competition. What did you guys think of the card? Who is your biggest winner besides Ketlen Vieira? What is the one fight you want to see booked for one of these winners? Leave your thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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