As we finish up with the coverage for last weekend's UFC Paris, we're going through the round up now. If you're new, that is essentially a condensed version of the longer fallout posts that focus on only a single fight. I'll briefly go through the winners, their performances, and a possible opponent for their next fight. The Paris event turned out to be a good one, even though a lot of the fights were kind of low level with a lot of debuting fighters. That set a lot of the veterans up for success, but they still had to actually take care of business. Let's not waste any time.
Stephanie Egger picked up a solid bounce back win after finishing Ailin Perez with a submission late in the second round. Egger seemed to have the clear advantage heading into the fight and it played out as if that were the case. Egger was able to use her judo and overall grappling prowess to largely control Perez for a majority of the fight. Perez really had no answers and once Egger locked the choke in, Perez tapped pretty quickly. Since her previous fight was so strange, it was nice to see her get back in the win column. Assuming good health coming out of this for Egger, I think Lucie Pudilova would be the level off opponent she would get next. Julija Stoliarenko would be an option as well.
Cristian Quinonez was one of the more impressive fighters on the prelims for me as he looked really good. He used his length well and limited Khalid Taha to basically no offense at all. Taha had the big power, but Quinonez didn't allow him to land it, while doing his own damage from range. He fought behind his jab well and landed his other shots in pretty solid combinations. He eventually landed a shot on the ear or slightly behind it that had Taha's legs go out. One big follow up shot and a few after that saw the fight stopped in just the first round. Men's bantamweight is really tough though, so it won't be easy for him to really rise up the division quickly. I think fighters like Journey Newson, Ronnie Lawrence, and Aoriqileng sort of fit the level that Quinonez would be looking at. I kind of like the sound of the Aoriqileng fight to be honest.
Benoit St. Denis has looked better with every passing UFC performance and he brings a really tough skill set to the table. Toughness, cardio, and well rounded MMA skills will take you a long way in this sport and it wouldn't surprise me if we see St. Denis have a very solid run in his time in the UFC. He'll run into a wall eventually because I don't think he has the really high end skills to really compete inside the rankings, but he's a pretty fun fighter to watch. He has a lot of options since lightweight is such a deep division and there's plenty of fun fights available to him. Terrance McKinney, Marc Diakiese, and Ludovit Klein fit that bill for me.
Fares Ziam looked to be much improved in this fight and my outlook on him is certainly better than it was prefight. He's still as technical as ever, but if he is going to continue to have the potential for grappling success with at least slightly improved cardio, that makes him a much better fighter than he's been in the past. This was a huge win for him and hopefully that is just the first step in a longer process for him. I think someone like Jai Herbert, Ignacio Bahamondes, or maybe even Benoit St. Denis would make some sense for him next time out.
Nasrat Haqparast got back into the win column with a really clean performance against John Makdessi. I thought Nasrat looked pretty good overall. His boxing was really crisp. He was landing consistently with good volume and decent power as well. He was even able to land some takedowns against Makdessi, which isn't an easy thing to do. He limited the damage coming back from Makdessi, who is typically reliable to land a lot of volume. I think Nasrat is a bit higher in the lightweight division than Ziam and St. Denis, so he's probably in line for a slightly more well known opponent. I think someone like Jared Gordon, Grant Dawson, or maybe Paddy Pimblett would make some sense for him, but we'll see what they decide to do.
Nathaniel Wood has continued to look very good since moving up to featherweight. He looks very fast and his power seems to be translating just fine. I did have some concerns for how his chin would hold up against the bigger featherweights, but maybe not having to drain himself cutting the weight will actually help his chin. His superior grappling was apparent in this one and I think it would be to his benefit to continue to go to it if he needs to. I don't exactly what his ceiling would be, but he looked really good and Jourdain probably isn't too far out of the rankings so, he looks as if he could be getting a ranked opponent as early as his next fight. I think Alex Caceres would make plenty of sense as his next opponent. If not him, someone like Billy Quarantillo or Lerone Murphy are opponents that I would want to see for him.
William Gomis collected his first UFC win in his debut and he looked pretty solid. He did look pretty raw and he needs to be fighting people at his own level for his next few fights, but he did at least flash some degree of talent. His striking was fine, but it was really his wrestling and grappling that got him the win in this one. Even at a lower level, being well rounded goes a long way in this sport and Gomis should be able to have success against lower level specialist type fighters. I think the level of opponent for Gomis next will be someone like an Austin Lingo, Shayilan Neurdanbieke, or Charles Rosa.
Roman Kopylov found this finish against Alessio Di Chirico in the early stages of the third. Kopylov looked crisp and fast in the first round, but was slowing down noticeably in the second. He must have found a second wind in the third because he was back to how he was in the first round and it was enough to get the knockout win. Kopylov at his best seems like someone who presents very real threats, but he's been so inconsistent in his career that it's hard to really rely on him to turn in that same performance multiple times in a row. If he could, he has the talent to move up in this division, but that is what has prevented him from doing so to date. I think he will be fighting someone like Rodolfo Vieira, Abdul Razak Alhassan, or Cody Brundage in his next fight.
Nassourdine Imavov largely handled Joaquin Buckley, despite slowing down in the third round. His length and technical striking proved to be too much while he had the energy. He was even able to have some grappling success, which really wasn't something I expected him to try. He limited the shots Buckley was landing and even when Buckley could land a shot here or there, he limited it to just that. Imavov was ranked in this fight and I expect his next opponent to be someone else with a number next to their name. I think a matchup with Chris Curtis, Brad Tavares, or Kelvin Gastelum is what he'll be looking at in his next one.
Robert Whittaker turned in another vintage performance as he controlled Marvin Vettori for basically the entire 15 minutes. Whittaker is very clearly the second best middleweight that the UFC has and the gap may be widening. Whittaker's speed and movement just left Vettori largely unable to get any of his offense going. Whittaker landed some pretty nice strikes of his own including a right hand and a high kick that seemed to stun Vettori for a moment. I think the fights that make sense for Whittaker are either Paulo Costa or Alex Pereira. For the Pereira fight to happen, that would require him to lose to Adesanya later this year, but if that were to be the case, I don't think there's a better route for Rob to try and earn a third crack at Izzy.
That is it on UFC Paris for me. We'll be looking ahead to Nate Diaz vs Khamzat Chimaev tomorrow, so be ready for that. What do you guys think? What was your favorite fight of the night? Who was your biggest winner? Leave any and all thoughts and comments below. Thanks for reading and have a good one.
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