-
Brett Okamoto
UFC 314 had one of the most stacked cards of the year so far, and lucky for us, it delivered in a big way. Alexander Volkanovski emerged as the featherweight king after a five-round battle with Diego Lopes, and Paddy Pimblett once again proved his doubters wrong by dismantling Michael Chandler. He now owns the second-longest active win streak (seven fights) in the lightweight division.
The pieces of the featherweight puzzle further fell into place down the card. Yair Rodriguez ruined Patricio Pitbull‘s UFC debut and Jean Silva and Dan Ige put early ends to their fights. Will Lopes take on any of those three winners next?
Here’s what should be next — and a few wild-card suggestions — for the top fighters from UFC 314.
Alexander Volkanovski, featherweight champion
Who should be next: Movsar Evloev
A fight against Evloev appeals to Volkanovski, because he likes the idea of taking Evloev’s undefeated record. How much does it appeal to everyone else? It’s the kind of thing that shouldn’t matter, but does. Dana White has not been a fan of his style, and though Evloev has never taken a loss, there wouldn’t be much fan outrage if the UFC were to pass him over for a title shot. That said, Evloev clearly should be next. Volkanovski has already defeated four of the top five contenders (everyone but Evloev). No one comes close to Evloev in terms of deserving it right now.
Wildcard: Aaron Pico
A true wild card. I don’t think it’s likely the UFC would elevate Pico to this opportunity right away, but at the same time, I can see a case for it. Pico, who signed with the UFC last week, is brand new to the division, and there’s always intrigue in that. He does have quite a highlight reel from his time in Bellator MMA, not to mention quite a story behind his career. He is dangerous and probably more marketable than Evloev. I don’t expect it, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the UFC went this way.
Diego Lopes and Yair Rodriguez, featherweight
What should be next: Rodriguez vs. Lopes at UFC 320 on Sept. 13 in Guadalajara, Mexico
The UFC shouldn’t overthink this one. I suppose that I could see a world in which Volkanovski defends his title in July and immediately afterward tries to face Rodriguez in Mexico — just because that’s the kind of ridiculously difficult challenge Volkanovski loves to take on. He even floated the idea at the UFC 314 postfight news conference. But it’s certainly not likely.
I think the UFC will give Volkanovski a new matchup — Volkanovski defeated Rodriguez in 2023 — and Rodriguez will take on a different opponent on the Mexican Independence Day card in September. And that opponent should be Lopes. There’s animosity. Rodriguez, a Mexico native, doesn’t like that Lopes, who was born in Brazil, says he represents Mexico, where Lopes trains and coaches. Stylistically, it’s one of the best matchups in the entire 145-pound division. This is a no-brainer.
Dan Ige and Jean Silva, featherweight
What should be next: Ige vs. Silva
I usually don’t combine fighters in these columns, but UFC 314 was constructed to be a featherweight showcase, so it’s not too surprising we’re getting fresh matchups from it. Silva looked unbelievable in his win against Bryce Mitchell. Probably the loudest win on the card, frankly. The sport is all-in on finding out Silva’s ceiling, but there’s no rush. He was not ranked in the top 15 going into this one, but he beat Mitchell, who was ranked No. 13. Ige is right there at No. 15, and his popularity has surged since coming off the couch to fight Lopes during a wild scenario last June at UFC 303 in Las Vegas. I’d make this a five-round main event. Ige and Silva’s stocks went up at UFC 314. The UFC should capitalize on that right away with an announcement of a main event.
Paddy Pimblett, lightweight
Who should be next: Justin Gaethje
This is a tough one because Gaethje is the obvious answer to me. He’s available and the rankings make sense. How much more can the UFC ask Gaethje to do before rewarding him his title shot, though? He knocked out Dustin Poirier to earn a shot two years ago at UFC 291. He never got it, though, because he put it on the line to do the company a favor and fight Max Holloway for the BMF title at UFC 300. He then accepted a lower-ranked opponent in Dan Hooker, and when Hooker got injured, he took on the challenge of having to beat Rafael Fiziev a second time at UFC 313. After outlasting Fizev, is the UFC really going to ask him to fight another young, rising contender? It feels terribly unjust. But depending on what happens with the title shot, I don’t see Gaethje sitting around and waiting too long. If Gaethje’s next fight isn’t for the belt, it’s probably against Pimblett.
Wildcard: Charles Oliveira
Similar to Gaethje, Oliveira is deserving of a title shot right now, but with Ilia Topuria moving up and Gaethje’s UFC 313 win in March, Pimblett can’t bank on Oliveira being next. Pimblett’s callout of Oliveira in his postfight interview was very intriguing. When Oliveira was champion, challengers literally would not follow him to the ground if he was knocked down, out of respect for his grappling. Pimblett is saying he wants to test his grappling against Oliveira. In many ways, this is actually a more appealing stylistic matchup to me than Gaethje, but I’d guess it’s the slightly less likely of the two. Either way, both are fire matchups.
Michael Chandler, lightweight
Who should be next: Dan Hooker
Dan Hooker? It’s more of a question than an answer, because honestly, I don’t know. No one does. Chandler has more or less exhausted his big matchups, and this three-loss skid he is currently on puts him in a tough spot in which it’s either sit and wait or fight someone down the rankings. That said, I don’t know who that next up-and-comer would be that the UFC would really want to spotlight in a fight against Chandler. So maybe the UFC gives Hooker an opportunity to win back that knockout loss to Chandler at UFC 257 in 2021. It’s an imperfect answer to a question that has no good solution. Hooker’s health status since pulling out of the Gaethje fight last month is still up in the air. It feels like Chandler is in a wait-and-see period.
Wait-and-see period, if he even fights again, that is. I feel as though he will. Yes, the record is ugly — Chandler is 2-5 in the UFC — but many of these fights have been competitive, and they’ve all been against the best in the world. The UFC loves having someone like Chandler on its roster. I’ll be surprised if he walks away, but my colleague Chael Sonnen predicted on the UFC 314 post-show that Chandler will, so we are at that crossroads.
This post was originally published on this site