What is Next for the Main Card of UFC Fight Night: Luque vs Muhammad
Mounir Lazzez vs Ange Loosa
After losing his first opponent due to injury, Mounir Lazzez entered this fight needing an impressive performance considering the change in opponent and TKO loss against Warlley Alves.
Winning on the feet due to the use of his forward pressure and volume of strikes. Lazzezz landed a career-high 141 strikes and provided a dominant takedown offense.
What is next?
Mounir Lazzez: Coming off an impressive striking display, opponents for Lazzez include Matt Semelsberger or Ramazan Emeev.
Ange Loosa: Future opponents for Loosa feature Niklas Stolze, Mike Mathetha, or Pete Rodriguez.
Pat Sabatini vs T.J. Laramie
Anticipating the wrestling and jiu-jitsu specialty of Pat Sabatini, T.J. Laramie showcased the best he could to reverse Sabatini’s positions. In the end, Sabatini grinded his way to a unanimous decision extending his UFC win streak to four.
What is next?
Pat Sabatini: Future opponents for the phenomenal fighter out Renzo Gracie Philly include Damon Jackson, Nate Landwehr, or Sung Woo Choi.
T.J. Laramie: Future matchups for TJ include Mark Striegl, Herbert Burns, the winner or loser of Souza/Saldana, or Christina Rodriguez
Mayra Bueno Silva vs Yanan WU
Matchmade to be a striking contest, Mayra Bueno Silva proved in this fight she was the fresher and dominant fighter. Dropping a Yanan in the first round and threatening a submission in the second. However, in the third Bueno Silva seemed to take her foot off the gas medal cruising through the round ensuring herself a unanimous decision win.
What is next?
Mayra Bueno Silva: After successfully making her return to bantamweight future opponents for Bueno Silva are Joselyn Edwards or Jessica Rose-Clark
Yanan Wu: Matchups to make for Yanan include Ashlee Evans-smith, Bea Malecki, or a fighter from the contender series.
aNDRE fIALHO vs Miguel Baeza
Anticipated to be a contender for the fight of the night, Andre Fiahlo versus Miguel Baeza lasted shorter than expected after Fiahlo landed multiple uppercuts and a left hook to get his first TKO victory in the UFC.
What is next?
Andre Fialho: With this massive TKO victory, future opponents to up his stock include Benoit Saint-Denis, Kenan Song, or Jason Witt.
Miguel Baeza: Now coming off two TKO losses, Baeza is going to need the right matchup to get him back on track. Future opponents for him include a fighter coming off the contender series, Court McGee, Jeremiah Wells, or Warlley Alves
cAIO Borralho vs Gadzhi oMARGADZHIEV
In a battle between two debutants from Dana White’s Contender Series, Caio Borralho versus Gadzhi Omargadzhiev was a matchup of who could get the upper hand on the ground. That fighter ended up being Caio Borralho who won the fight by dominating Omargadzhiev on the ground. Controlling his back and threatening submissions for a total of ten minutes and eleven seconds.
Although the fight finished with Borralho landing an unintentional illegal knee on Gadzhi, the bout went to the judges scoring a (Technical) unanimous decision
What is next?
Caio Borralho: As a middleweight prospect, now will come the real test for Borralho so matchups that make sense for him are Jamie Pickett or Bryan Battle.
Gadzhi Omargadzhiev: Future opponents could be A.J Dobson or Tresean Gore.
Vicente Luque vs Belal Muhammad
For the right to be merely a fight or two away from welterweight title contention, Vicente Luque versus Belal Muhammad was a highly contested match that saw Muhammad take the fight early to the ground. In the third Vicente was able to find a rhythm but from the fourth round and beyond, Belal stuck to his game plan of utilizing his combinations to set up his takedowns whenever Luque was in a bad position both on the feet or near the cage.
What is next?
Vicente Luque: With this loss, Vicente is likely to drop out of the top five welterweight rankings. Future opponents for him include Sean Brady (a fantastic wrestler and future contender), a rematch versus Stephen Thompson, or the winner of Magny/Rakhmonov.
Belal Muhammad: Riding a seven-fight win streak, Belal in his post-fight interview called out Colby Covington even though Dana White mentioned last week he was interested in creating a matchup between Khamzat and Colby.
So if Belal’s callout does not come to fruition an ideal opponent would be Vicente’s teammate and Dominance MMA client Gilbert Burns who is coming off a hard-fought loss against Khamzat Chimaev last week at UFC 273.
Thumbnail and all photos used are by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC. Rankings, information, and future matchups done with UFC and Rankingmma.com
