Final Combating Championship (UFC) lately tied a ribbon round its UFC 317 pay-per-view (PPV) card, which featured Ilia Topuria’s first-round knockout victory to say the vacant light-weight title. As well as, Alexandre Pantoja defended his flyweight strap by subbing longtime 125-pound contender, Kai Kara-France within the UFC 317 co-main occasion.
Elsewhere on the cardboard, Beneil Dariush acquired again to his successful methods by outlasting light-weight veteran Renato Moicano, not lengthy after 23 year-old flyweight wunderkind Joshua Van scored a call victory over Brandon Royval. As well as, Payton Talbott blasted his approach again into the bantamweight win column on the expense of Felipe Lima.
Now it’s time to play matchmaker for all 5 winners.
Winner: Ilia TopuriaNext Struggle To Make: Paddy Pimblett
Photograph by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Arman Tsarukyan is ranked No. 1 at 155 kilos and Justin Gaethje is sitting two spots beneath him at No. 3, so it sounds a bit ridiculous to present the No. 8-ranked Paddy Pimblett subsequent crack on the light-weight crown. However UFC CEO, Dana White, blacklisted Tsarukyan (due to this) and Topuria has no real interest in preventing Gaethje, who’s already 0-2 in light-weight title fights. As well as, Pimblett has a sanitized historical past with “El Matador” (actually) that could be extra marketable than the rest the promotion has to supply proper now within the 155-pound division. In addition to, matchmakers already set a precedent by awarding title pictures to No. 8-ranked contenders final fall.
Winner: Alexandre PantojaNext Struggle To Make: Joshua Van
Photograph by Ian Maule/Getty Pictures
This one is pretty simple and handles two winners from the UFC 317 PPV principal card. Pantoja retained his flyweight title by dispatching Kai Kara-France and has just about cleaned out the 125-pound division. To wit, “The Cannibal” already holds victories over Manel Kape, Brandon Moreno, Kai Asakura, Brandon Royval, and now Kara-France. Joshua Van is the winner of 5 straight and simply beat Royval, who’s presently ranked No. 1 on the planet. “Fearless” solely has one end throughout his latest stretch, however there’s not a flyweight within the Prime 10 (see it right here) who could make a greater argument for the following crack at Pantoja, particularly with No. 3-ranked Amir Albazi shedding to Brandon Moreno final fall.
Winner: Beneil DariushNext Struggle To Make: Dan Hooker
Photograph by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Having Paddy Pimblett combat for the light-weight title shakes issues up a bit within the middle-to-lower half of the division, at the least from a matchmaking perspective. By defeating Renato Moicano at UFC 317, Dariush snapped a two-fight shedding streak and can doubtless retain his spot within the Prime 10 of the official light-weight rankings. Dan Hooker is ranked just a few spots above him however has additionally been calling for a Dariush showdown, even going as far as to threaten decapitation. Michael Chandler can also be an possibility, however I might a lot fairly see “Iron” again contained in the cage towards the rebounding Rafael Fiziev, in what would certainly be a automobile crash-style “Struggle of the Night time” battle. That leaves Arman Tsarukyan to battle Justin Gaethje, with the winner shifting on to say the following light-weight title shot.
Winner: Payton TalbottNext Struggle To Make: Chris Gutierrez
Photograph by Ian Maule/Getty Pictures
Payton Talbott was in a position to rebound from his first skilled loss by outpointing one other red-hot bantamweight prospect within the type of Felipe Lima. I feel one of the simplest ways to erase his unhealthy efficiency towards a grizzled, 30-something bantamweight veteran is by defeating a grizzled, 30-something bantamweight veteran. The unranked Chris Gutierrez actually matches the invoice and “El Guapo” is coming off back-to-back wins over Quang Le and John Castaneda. Cody Garbrandt might additionally show to be an intriguing opponent, he’s simply appeared so horrible over the previous few years {that a} victory over “No Love” would doubtless be considered by way of the lens of “Cody is washed” versus “Payton is bettering.” As well as, the once-electric Adrian Yanez is coming off a call loss to Daniel Marcos and has now dropped three of his final 4.
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