Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently tied a ribbon around its
UFC 317 pay-per-view (PPV) card
, which featured
Ilia Topuria’s first-round knockout victory
to claim the
vacant lightweight title
. In addition, Alexandre Pantoja defended his flyweight strap by
subbing longtime 125-pound contender, Kai Kara-France
in the UFC 317 co-main event.
Elsewhere on the card, Beneil Dariush got back to his winning ways by
outlasting lightweight veteran Renato Moicano
, not long after 23 year-old flyweight wunderkind Joshua Van scored a
decision victory over Brandon Royval
. In addition, Payton Talbott blasted his way back into the bantamweight win column
at the expense of Felipe Lima
.
Now it’s time to play matchmaker for all five winners.
Winner: Ilia Topuria
Next Fight To Make: Paddy Pimblett
Arman Tsarukyan is
ranked No. 1 at 155 pounds
and Justin Gaethje is sitting two spots below him at
No. 3
, so it sounds a bit ridiculous to gift the
No. 8-ranked
Paddy Pimblett next crack at the lightweight crown. But UFC CEO, Dana White,
blacklisted
Tsarukyan (
because of this
) and Topuria has
no interest in fighting Gaethje
, who is already 0-2 in lightweight title fights. In addition, Pimblett has a
sanitized history
with “El Matador” (
literally
) that might be more marketable than anything else the promotion has to offer right now in the 155-pound division. Besides, matchmakers already set a precedent by
awarding title shots to No. 8-ranked contenders
last fall.
Winner: Alexandre Pantoja
Next Fight To Make: Joshua Van
This one is fairly easy and handles two winners from the
UFC 317 PPV main card
. Pantoja retained his flyweight title by
dispatching Kai Kara-France
and has pretty much 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 five straight and just beat Royval, who is currently
ranked No. 1 in the world
. “Fearless” only has one finish during his recent stretch, but there is not a flyweight in the Top 10 (
see it here
) who can make a better argument for the next crack at Pantoja, especially with
No. 3-ranked
Amir Albazi losing to Brandon Moreno last fall.
Winner: Beneil Dariush
Next Fight To Make: Dan Hooker
Having Paddy Pimblett fight for the lightweight title shakes things up a bit in the
middle-to-lower half of the division
, at least from a matchmaking perspective. By defeating Renato Moicano at UFC 317, Dariush snapped a two-fight losing streak and will likely retain his spot in the
Top 10 of the official lightweight rankings
. Dan Hooker is
ranked a few spots above him
but has also been calling for a Dariush showdown, even going so far
as to threaten decapitation
. Michael Chandler is also an option, but I would much rather see “Iron” back inside the cage against the
rebounding
Rafael Fiziev, in what would surely be a car crash-style “Fight of the Night” war. That leaves Arman Tsarukyan to battle Justin Gaethje, with the winner moving on to claim the next lightweight title shot.
Winner: Payton Talbott
Next Fight To Make: Chris Gutierrez
Payton Talbott was able to rebound from
his first professional loss
by outpointing another red-hot bantamweight prospect in the form of Felipe Lima. I think the best way to erase his bad performance against a grizzled, 30-something bantamweight veteran is by defeating a grizzled, 30-something bantamweight veteran. The unranked Chris Gutierrez certainly fits the bill and “El Guapo” is coming off back-to-back wins over Quang Le and John Castaneda. Cody Garbrandt could also prove to be an intriguing opponent, he’s just looked so terrible over the last few years that a victory over “No Love” would likely be viewed through the lens of “Cody is washed” as opposed to “Payton is improving.” In addition, the once-electric Adrian Yanez is coming off a decision loss to Daniel Marcos and has now dropped three of his last four.
To check out the latest and greatest UFC 317: “Topuria vs. Oliveira” news and notes be sure to hit up our comprehensive event archive right
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.
