To most neutral parties, the White House event was about as much of a success as the UFC could have hoped for. They ended up having to cancel the prefight coverage and had a short delay due to weather, but after everything actually started moving, the weather held off. It didn't seem like the humidity really played any part in determining the outcomes, mostly because only the main event extended in any meaningful way. The fights themselves were all action for the most part and all ended inside the distance, which meant the casual fans stayed engaged. The only real thing that isn't a complete knit pick in my opinion is the Josh Hokit comment. I'll have more on that tomorrow so, stay tuned if that topic is something that interests you. There's not too many fights left to go over now that I have done the two title fights the last couple of days, but we will quickly run through everyone left and give a quick evaluation of their performance and take a look at some options for their next fight.
Diego Lopes kicked the night off with a bang when he finished Steve Garcia in the second round. Lopes didn't start particularly well as he fought very cautiously and almost tried to just beat Garcia by having a more technical fight, which just isn't Diego's game at all. He did get stung early, so maybe the power caused him to be a bit more careful, but once Diego got to his game and forced Steve into a fire fight, he did exactly what we have become accustomed to him doing. He took Steve's shots and landed his own back. Diego had the superior durability and was able to land on Garcia's chin and eventually put him down with a hook in the pocket and then put him out with some follow up shots. From the Steve side, he was winning the fight, so it's hard to fault him. It's hard to fight Diego Lopes for 15 minutes without having to swing with him for at least a little bit and we knew Steve would probably go down if he took a solid shot and that's exactly what happened. I don't think Steve fought poorly by any means but he just got sucked into a fight that Diego's hardware is going to win way more often than not.
For Diego, he's still sitting at the top of the division. He's lost to Volk twice and especially the second fight left a bit to be desired, so I don't know that we'll see him back in a title fight any time soon or at least until Volk loses the belt or retires. It's the unofficial official fight that he'll be fighting Movsar next, but we are just waiting for a date. I could see Diego fighting on that card so that he or his opponent could weigh in as the backup. I think the most obvious candidate for him is Aljamain Sterling. He's coming off of a win over Zalal and a win over Diego would make him the clear top contender for a title shot. Lerone Murphy wouldn't be a horrible option either, but Lerone has hinted that he might have a fight booked or at least in the works. The only other real obviouss option would be Yair Rodriguez. Yair has been out for awhile after surgery, but he should be primed for a return sometime soon and Diego is pretty obviously the biggest fight he could get right now. There was some rumors about Yair vs Kevin Vallejos, but nothing really seemed to come of that, at least not yet. If it was up to me, I think the Aljo fight is perfect for everyone involved.
Garcia certainly has some more options given how new he is to the rankings. While he takes the loss, it really doesn't hurt him that much since he did have some degree of success and it was such a huge jump for him. I think a fight with Josh Emmett makes sense for both sides. Emmett looks like he's really about done, but fighting a guy like Steve is more of a stylistic matchup that gives him a chance. For Steve, it would allow him to pick up a win over someone with a little more name value. He has the long win streak up until this fight, but no over many people who hold real name value for them to give him another push. Emmett provides just that. If not that, Aaron Pico and Youssef Zalal would make some sense as well. They don't really play well with Garcia's style because Garcia is the kind of guy who you want to put in fun matchups, but once you get into the top 15, it becomes a lot harder to do that. I think the Emmett fight is really good for both sides in this one.
Next up is Bo Nickal and I actually came out pretty impressed with Bo. Kyle Daukaus isn't exactly a world beater or anything like that, but Bo really came out with a gameplan and didn't fight scared at all. He wasn't scared of the submissions from Daukaus at all. He came out and took him down right away and then looked to get aggressive when he had the chance to. As soon as Daukaus would open his guard, Bo would posture up and land some elbows. The fight weirdly got stood up and not too long after that, Bo would land the shot that put Daukaus down and the fight would end not so long after. I wouldn't even say Daukaus fought poorly, he was just very clearly out matched in a fight that, at least in my opinion, was a tough spot for him to begin with.
Bo comes into the rankings at 15 after that win and I expect him to stay getting ranked opponents going forward. Roman Dolidze is right above him and I think that would honestly be a nice test for Bo. Roman has some skills, but has his flaws and seems to be declining. He's strong with decent grappling and good power on the feet. It's the kind of guy that if Bo is as good as we think he could be, then Bo should be able to handle him. At the same time, he's skilled enough that it feels like a real test and less like the Daukaus matchup that feels like Bo should just be able to handle him without too much of a pushback. I could honestly see them wanting Bo to fight Israel Adesanya next and I don't hate it. Izzy seems to be in free fall right now and while he certainly hasn't looked great, this would be a step down for him despite that stylistic complications. A win over someone like Izzy, even in his current state, would be a clear way to inject him into the top of the division and get him in some potential title eliminator fights, even though I'm not quite sure he's ready for that level just yet.
As for Daukaus, he was on a good run before this and I don't think anyone is going to crush him for losing to Bo, so I don't want to just banish him to the realm of unknown contender series fighters than no one cares about, at least not yet. I think he could and should get someone who's name carries at least some degree of weight. Timeline wise, we have Abus Magemomedov vs Michal Oleksiejczuk coming up in a couple of weeks. The UFC likes to matchup guys coming off a loss together, so the loser of that would be an easy candidate to consider. Kelvin Gastelum is the tier of fighter that would make some sense as well as an Edmen Shahbazyan type, who is coming off of a close loss to Brendan Allen. I think I kind of like the Shahbazyan idea just to get one of them back on track and the contrast in styles would make for some intrigue.
The next fight of the night was Michael Chandler vs Mauricio Ruffy and that really went the way everyone thought it would. Ruffy is a guy on the rise and Chandler's arrow is definitely pointing down. Ruffy was able to dispatch of him in the way that he should have, but I don't really think that we learned anything from it.
The top of the lightweight division is a bit bunched up right now just because I don't think anyone really thought Gaethje would put us in this position. We have Ilia Topuria who is likely taking an extended time off, the Holloway vs McGregor fight on the horizon, Paddy vs Benoit St Denis on the same card, and then Charles Oliveira and Arman both kind of vying for the Gaethje fight if Ilia doesn't get the immediate rematch. Ruffy just fought BSD not all that long ago, so I don't suspect they run that back this soon. I really think that win or lose, Paddy vs Ilia is the fight to make for those guys, so that doesn't seem all that likely to me either. The Holloway fight actually does sound interesting, but it is hard to say if Max wants that kind of fight at this stage of his career, especially if he is coming off of a win against Conor. If though Conor isn't who he used to be, his name carries so much value that beating him and then fighting Ruffy just seems odd. If the UFC really doesn't think it is going to retain Conor after these 2 fights, I could see them wanting to give him the biggest risk and lowest reward type matchup like Ruffy, so maybe that is in play, but only with a McGregor loss to Max. I don't think they would have him fight Arman nor would Arman accept that fight. That kind of leaves us with Charles and I think I'm cool with that but Charles going from beating Max to now fighting Ruffy also just seems so odd. Maybe they would try to give him another rising guy like Quillan Salkilld. The good news is there's really no shortage of options, but there's not one that just really fits perfectly what the UFC needs for Ruffy. I think I would try to make the fight with Max and if that doesn't work out, then pivot to the Salkilld fight.
The Michael Chandler side of this is rather unfortunate and really doesn't leave much to be talked about. In short, Chandler looks to be about as done as someone can be. It is unfortunate because he got put on ice by the UFC trying to hold out for the Conor fight that never materialized and it wasted whatever back end of his prime was left. When he came back, he clearly wasn't the same and each time we see him, it only looks worse. We know what a prime Michael Chandler looked like in Bellator and we know what a past his prime, but still very good and serviceable version of Chandler looked like when he first came over to the UFC and both of those guys are long, long gone at this point. Chandler really looks like a guy who should not be fighting at any level anymore. I kind of hope he hangs it up and rides off into the sunset before he finds himself on the mount rushmore of washed fighters. I don't need to see him looking like the end of Chuck Liddell, Tony Ferguson, or BJ Penn. As much as I can hope, we know how these things go and we'll likely see Chandler out there at least one more time. I really don't think we can feed him to the wolves again though. I know that's typically how this works, but Chandler has done that enough times. Let him fight Renato Moicano or Beneil Dariush and see what happens. Maybe a Jim Miller fight or a King Green fight fits the bill as well. Let him fight someone who's at the same stage of their career. If I had to predict a fight the UFC would try to put together if they want to sacrifice him again, I think Quillan Salkilld could be that guy, but I don't really know who needs to see that at this point.
Next up is the Josh Hokit and Derrick Lewis and I don't think anyone really left that fight all that surprised either. Lewis is on the way out and really only has a few minutes of cardio in him before he just goes off a cliff and eventually gets finished. That is more or less what we saw and Hokit just had him covered. Hokit is way better at this point and he's honestly probably one of the 5 best in the division. Hokit looked fine, he had basically every advantage outside of power and size. Lewis looked like Lewis. There's not much more necessary to say on that end.
The UFC certainly has a Josh Hokit problem and we will get more into the dynamics of that tomorrow, so we'll stick with in cage matchups for now. He needs someone who will be a title eliminator for him in his next fight. There's really no way around it at this point. Heavyweight is the weakest division and he's already vaulted himself right to the top of it. We're going to get Gane vs Aspinall to unify the titles, so that only really leaves a few options. Those are Alex Pereira, Alexander Volkov, and Sergei Pavlovich. Pavlovich you can kind of include with Waldo Cortes Acosta in a sense that I don't really think they'll be it. Waldo is coming off of a loss and Pavlovich really doesn't seem to be in the good graces with the UFC right now for whatever reason. Volkov is certainly a great option, but it feels like high risk and low reward if the UFC really wants to cash in on the Hokit hype. It's a really tough fight and Volkov has been around for so long without ever truly reaching the top that it feels like beating Hokit wouldn't really make him all that much more interesting to the general public. Pereira is much the opposite. I think that is the fight that most people want to see and I don't really see a reason not to. Alex wants the immediate rematch, but that certainly isn't going to happen unless Aspinall is not ready to fight. It feels like an unfortunate situation for Volkov honestly because Pereira is one of the 3 biggest stars the UFC has, so he's not going to be the odd man out and Hokit has all the hype behind him so he wouldn't be either. That leaves Volkov to be the backup fighter for the unification bout I suppose. Pereira and Hokit are guys who are willing to have quick turnarounds so maybe they can make Pereira vs Volkov and Hokit vs Pavlovich and make a mini tournament out of it with Gane vs Aspinall, but I really think with all of the talking that Hokit did in the build up to this fight, he's set up a fight with Alex perfectly.
I don't really even feel like I have to explain what should happen with Derrick Lewis, but the UFC sort of misses on it more often than they should. They try to keep using Lewis as a guy to build future contenders off of, but I don't think anyone cares to see it at this point. We all know Lewis isn't really that level of fighter anymore, so seeing someone beat him just doesn't do what I think the UFC thinks it is doing. Just put Derrick Lewis out to open up the main card on the numbered events and let him knock out some random civilians, beat his chest, take his pants off, and say something weird to Joe Rogan. It really isn't that hard. He's a fan favorite. Let him be just that and get the fans going when he flattens someone when they do events in front of live fans. I don't need Lewis fighting in Apex main events and going up against the next young rising prospect who wants to wrestle him. It really is a waste of however many Derrick Lewis fights we have left. If I had to guess, they probably want him to fight Valter Walker next and I don't completely hate it I guess, even though it's not what I would do. Mick Parkin is another guy they could throw him in there with and it wouldn't surprise me. My guess is that it will be one of those two.
The final fight to go over is Sean O'Malley vs Aiemann Zahabi. This fight went about as expected for me honestly. O'Malley kind of felt him out early and while doing so, Zahabi was able to keep the fight somewhat competitive and land some good low kicks. Once Sean realized that Zahabi really didn't offer him any danger coming back, he opened up and found the chin not soon after. Zahabi isn't the most durable guy in the world and with O'Malley's power, it was only a matter of time before he went down. Sean looked much more himself than he did against Song Yadong, which is a good sign for him. I feel like it is becoming a theme on this card, but I can't say Zahabi looked bad, but he was just overmatched.
When I look forward for Sean, there really only seems to be 2 options, at least in my opinion. Those are Cory Sandhagen vs Mario Bautista winner and Umar Nurmagomedov. Sean called for the Yan rematch and while I'm sure the UFC wants him back in a title fight, I really don't think he can jump Merab for the trilogy. Umar is a big fight, but obviously a matchup that I'm sure the UFC and Sean want to avoid. The grappling heavy style is going to give Sean issues, but a win in a spot where no one thinks he has a chance would instantly make him the top contender. The Sandhagen vs Bautista winner is probably more likely, especially if it is Cory. That is a fight everyone has been asking to see for what seems like years at this point, but just hasn't come together. I don't really see why honestly because that fight would be almost guaranteed to be really fun. Two high volume, highly creative strikers seems like a no brainer to me, but I guess that is why they don't ask my opinion.
Last, but certainly no least, is Aiemann Zahabi. He has a wider array of options given that he hasn't been in he rankings as long and is coming off of a loss, so he doesn't have as narrow of a range of guys to choose from like O'Malley does. The most obvious one would be the Sandhagen vs Bautista loser since the timelines will be close with both of them coming off of a loss. There's Deiveson Figueiredo as well who has 2 losses in a row and is more similar in age to Zahabi as well. There's younger fighters who the UFC is looking to push like David Martinez and Payton Talbott, but Zahabi doesn't really feel like the kind of opponent they want for either of them, at least in my opinion. I think they would want someone who presents a little more name value to build their profile a bit more. I think the Figgy fight makes a lot of sense for both sides. Both are coming off a loss and starting to get up there in age. It kind of feels like a fight where the winner would have a chance for one more run while the loser would start their decline to retirement.
That is it for me on this card. What did you guys think of the event as a whole? What was your favorite fight? Who are your biggest winners outside of the champions? Who is your biggest loser? Leave any and all thoughts in the comments. Thanks for reading and have a good rest of your day.
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