Conor McGregor is out of the USADA pool and is officially an inactive fighter. It’s time to drop him from the rankings

Following Saturday night’s UFC 280 post-fight press conference, I thought the UFC would drop Conor McGregor from the official UFC rankings pool. Barring that, I hoped the folks responsible for deciding what fighters land on those rankings would have the decency to drop McGregor from the rankings. Silly me.

During his time on the dais in Abu Dhabi, UFC president Dana White implied that former two-division UFC champion Conor McGregor is no longer in the USADA testing pool. USADA has since confirmed this as well.

With that, McGregor is now considered an inactive fighter. To compete in the UFC again (barring special dispensation from the UFC – and the last time the UFC gave that, it bit them in the ass), he needs to opt into the testing pool and participate in USADA testing for six months — and test clean — before he can step into the octagon again.

Despite White and now USADA’s revelations, the UFC left McGregor’s name on the rankings list. And then, although the former champ, who has not fought since July 2021 and who hasn’t been tested by USADA since the third quarter of 2021, made the top 15. McGregor, whose last win in the division happened six years ago, somehow remains ranked at lightweight despite officially being an inactive fighter.

That fact is mind-boggling.

Perhaps McGregor was left available to be ranked before this week because the UFC wanted to pretend he was in the USADA pool and his return was imminent. But now that White and USADA both publicly said that’s not the case, why is he still eligible to be ranked? Others in a similar situation — like Henry Cejudo and Khabib Nurmagomedov — were removed from the rankings after they left the testing pool.

And why did the voting panel, which we have been led to believe are real live MMA media members who follow the sport, still elect to put McGregor in the rankings?

The truth is out there. McGregor is not coming back anytime soon. Because of that fact, the UFC needs to drop him from the rankings pool. Short of that, the voting panel needs to do the right thing and select an active and available fighter and place him in the top 15 of the lightweight division.

I never expected much from the UFC’s official rankings, but this is just further proof they’re pretty much meaningless.

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Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva shared some insight on his motivation for boxing Jake Paul.

Former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva is all set to try and go three for three in his recent boxing career this Saturday. Having already defeated both Julio Cesar Chavez Jr. and Tito Ortiz in his last couple of bouts, the ‘Spider’ will take on a much younger opponent on October 29th in Glendale, AZ—YouTube sensation Jake Paul.

In an interview with Combate during a press conference for the fight, Silva explained the reason why he accepted the offer to take on Paul. Although he welcomes the money, the Brazilian says the biggest reason why he took the bout was because he is still passionate about fighting and competing.

“People think the money is important, but it’s not. I don’t need it anymore. Sure, I’ll make some money with the fight, because it’s my job. Don’t do something just for the money, though. Work because you’re passionate about it. That’s what I did and that’s why I’ve been successful my whole life.”

Now 47-years-old, Silva will be facing an opponent 22-years his junior in the 25-year-old Paul. While he believes his experience alone will be enough to defeat his youthful adversary, the MMA legend made sure to emphasize that he’s not taking Paul lightly in any way.

“Many people say Jake Paul is not good, that he’s not a good striker. To me, a fight is a fight. I’ve been training hard to win this one. I’m not looking at this like it’s an easy fight for me. Every fight is dangerous when you step into the ring,”

“The most important thing I have is my experience,” Silva said. “Experience is something Jake doesn’t have. I love the challenge. That’s the secret for me. I’m coming into this fight to prove my respect for the community. I won’t lose. Nothing will affect my legacy. I’ve worked hard for many years in order to do something like this for my fans. It’s another fight, another challenge for me, but it won’t affect my legacy or my career.”

In his last outing, back in September of 2021, Silva knocked out fellow former MMA great Ortiz in the first round. Before that, the Brazilian defeated Chavez Jr. by split decision in June of the same year. Meanwhile, Paul scored knockout wins over former UFC champion Tyron Woodley and ex-ONE champ Ben Askren, respectively in December and April 2021—with another split decision victory over ‘T-Wood’ in August.

Silva vs. Paul is set to take place at the Desert Diamond Arena on Showtime PPV. The professional boxing match is scheduled to be an eight-round contest at a 187-pound catchweight. The event will also host the boxing debut of former UFC middleweight Uriah Hall taking on former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell.

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There were a lot of changes to the rankings coming out of UFC 280.

Well folks, UFC 280 certainly didn’t disappoint. The event produced a new lightweight champion in Islam Makhachev, who starched Charles Oliveira in the second round of their headliner. The show also produced two new top contenders in their respective divisions – Sean O’Malley and men’s bantamweight, and Manon Fiorot at women’s flyweight.

Here’s a look at all the changes from this week, which are extensive.

Men’s P4P – Makhachev enters at three. Oliveira drops four spots to seven. Leon Edwards and Francis Ngannou flip-flop the five and six spots. Aljamain Sterling drops a spot to eight despite his win. Jiri Prochazka is up one to nine. Deiveson Figueiredo drops one to ten. Dustin Poirier falls three big spots to 11. Jon Jones and Max Holloway fall one spot each to 12 and 13. Robert Whittaker re-enters at 15.

Heavyweight – No changes.

Light Heavyweight – Nikita Krylov and Volkan Oezdemir flip-flop the eight and ten spots.

Middleweight – No changes.

Welterweight – Belal Muhammad’s huge win moves him up one spot to four, dropping Gilbert Burns to five.

Lightweight – New champ. Since the title was vacant before, Oliveira remains the number one contender. Beneil Dariush rises two spots to four with his victory over Mateusz Gamrot. Rafael Fiziev, Rafael dos Anjos, Gamrot, and Arman Tsarukyan are all up one slot to six through nine respectively. Jalin Turner is up three spots to ten. Dan Hooker’s up two to 12. Conor McGregor falls one to 13, as he should. Tony Ferguson is up one to 14. Drew Dober re-enters at 15.

Featherweight – The Korean Zombie drops from a tie for six to take over seven on his own. Sodiq Yusuff and Dan Ige switch 11 and 12.

Bantamweight – O’Malley nails one of the biggest rises I’ve ever seen in the rankings, moving up ten gigantic spots to become the number one contender. Yan is now two, and he’s tied with Mareb Dvalishvili for it. Marlon Vera is up one to four. Dillashaw falls three spots to sit at five. Cory Sandhagen falls two slots to six. Five fighters – Rob Font, Dominick Cruz, Pedro Munhoz, Song Yadong, and Ricky Simon – are all down one to seven through 11 respectively.

Flyweight – Sumudaerji is up one to 12, pushing Manel Kape to 13. Muhammad Mokaev enters at 15.

Women’s P4P – Carla Esparza is up one into a tie for three with Julianna Pena. Taila Santos is up one to 12. Fiorot enters at 13. Xiaonan falls two spots to 14. Irene Aldana is down one to 15.

Women’s Bantamweight – No changes.

Women’s Flyweight – Fiorot is the new number one contender, rising five spots. Chookagian falls two spots to three. Lauren Murphy is down one to four. And Jessica Andrade drops two slots to six.

Women’s Strawweight – Tecia Torres takes over eight on her own.

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The young fighter has two years to break the former UFC light heavyweight champion’s record. 

Muhammad Mokaev is hoping to become the youngest champion in UFC history.

That distinction belongs to former UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones, who won the title by finishing Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua at UFC 128 when he was 23 years old. Though Jones’ record remains intact, Mokaev says he can break it — and will do so within the next two years.

Following his third-round submission win over Malcolm Gordon at UFC 280 this past Saturday, the 22-year-old laid out his plan.

“To be the youngest UFC champion, that’s March 2024 — end of March,” said Mokaev (video provided by MMA Fighting). “The 29th or the 30th of March, that’s how I worked it out. I have plans. I work out every day and count the days. I believe I will fight for the interim belt [by] the end of next year.

“Who has done three fights in six or seven months in the flyweight division? I only know one guy, it’s Rustam Khabilov, who has four fights in the UFC in one year.”

As he inches closer to his goal, Mokaev wants a step up in competition for his next UFC appearance. The ‘Punisher’ says he is ready for someone at the top of the division, which is why he was interested in Brandon Royval, the No. 5 ranked flyweight. However, ‘Raw Dawg’ got booked against Amir Albazi for an upcoming UFC Fight Night in December, so Mokaev may have to wait a while for that fight.

When asked what he thought about Royval vs. Albazi, the undefeated upstart was unimpressed with both potential opponents.

“Both [are] not in my league,” said Mokaev. “If I have a good rest now and I fight, for example, in March, I will smoke both of those guys in the same night. Royval, if you think he’s a different level fighter, watch his fight against Charles Johnson. It was a split decision and I believe Charles Johnson won that fight for the LFA belt. And I did 30-27 to Charles Johnson.”

With his win over Gordon, Mokaev improves to 3-0 under the UFC banner. He also joins the UFC rankings, where he is now No. 15 officially.

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Jake Paul says he’s moving up to heavyweight next, and he’s already issuing callouts.

After an unsuccessful attempt at making a fight happen against Tommy Fury, Jake Paul is now gunning for an elder member of the family. In a recent social media post, “The Problem” Child issued a rather attention-grabbing callout to two-time heavyweight champion Tyson Fury.

“Ever since I moved up to the heavyweight division, Tyson Fury… where the f—k you at, pussy??” Paul said while mean-mugging at the camera as he slapped his overblown belly.

The 25-year-old Paul (5-0) was slated to face the younger Fury on August 6th at Madison Square Garden, but the latter had after being barred entry into the United States. He was subsequently replaced by Hasim Rahman Jr., but that pairing also fell through when the latter refused to comply with the 200-pound weight limit.

Paul will now face former long-time UFC champion and future Hall of Famer Anderson Silva on October 29th in Glendale, Arizona. Also part of the event is UFC and TUF alum Uriah Hall, who faces former Pittsburgh Steelers running back Le’Veon Bell.

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Mitchell had been set for a Fight Night headlining bout against Movsar Evloev on November 5th before an injury pulled the Russian from that event.

If everything had fallen the way it was supposed to, Bryce Mitchell would have been stepping in the cage in a little less than two weeks’ time. ‘Thug Nasty’ had been set to tangle with fellow rising featherweight star Movsar Evloev in the main event of UFC Vegas 64 at the Apex facility on November 5th. At least that was the plan right up until Evloev had to pulled from the bout due to injury.

Shortly after Evloev’s withdrawal, Ilia Topuria stepped up to the plate to offer himself as a replacement. There was just one problem, it seems that despite Topuria’s offer (and thirst traps), he couldn’t actually make the featherweight limit.

“I just wanna update y’all with some fight news,” Mitchell told fans in a self recorded video for his social media accounts on October 17th. “To the best of my knowledge, Ilia Topuria has not accepted the fight, as of now. So, they’re moving on, looking for other opponents. That’s to the best of my knowledge. I don’t really know. Maybe in a couple days he’ll change his mind. But, I hear that Ilia is now saying that he can’t make the weight, which is crazy, because he was supposed to fight the week before.”

Topuria denied that narrative, calling Mitchell a “piece of shit! Coward and liar!” Whatever the truth of the situation it seems the fight is now back on track, just kicked a few more weeks down the line. Mitchell and Topuria have both confirmed a report from Eurosport Nederland’s Marcel Dorff, that the two men will face off at UFC 282 on December 10th.

Unbeaten in his pro career, Mitchell will enter the fight with a shiny 15-0 record alongside six victories inside the Octagon. Back in March the Arkansas native defeated former top-ranked lightweight competitor Edson Barboza at UFC 272.

For his part, Topuria will also enter the bout with a spotless MMA career to date, sitting comfortably at 12-0. Topuria made his UFC debut back in 2020 against Youssef Zalal, and followed that decision win up with knockout victories over Damon Jackson, Ryan Hall, and Jai Herbert. Topuria last competed up in the lightweight division after being removed from an expected January contest against Charles Jourdain, following weight cut complications. Despite the trouble on the scales, ‘El Matador’ has seemed confident he can make the drop down to 145 lbs again.

UFC 282 is expected to be headlined by a light heavyweight title rematch between Jiri Prochazka and Glover Teixeira. A bout between former champ Jan Blachowicz and top contender Magomed Ankalaev is currently set for the co-main event.

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Former champion Charles Oliveira analyzed his loss to Islam Makhachev in the main event of UFC 280.

Charles Oliveira has no excuses for his loss at UFC 280.

After being dominated by the newly crowned Islam Makhachev, the former UFC lightweight champion shared some of his impressions on his performance, as well as his training camp and his future intentions.

“There’s not much to say. It wasn’t my day,” Oliveira said in an interview with Combate shortly after UFC 280’s main event. “Islam was better than me on the mat and on the feet. I haven’t had time to watch it yet. I asked the boys some things in the bathroom. He was better than me today. I have to give him credit and go back home. I know myself. I’ll come back 10 times stronger. I have a family and a huge team that will make that happen. We’ll take it back.”

Though ‘Do Bronx’ admitted that Makhachev was one step ahead of him in all aspects of the fight, he also noted that he would not have done anything differently during his training camp.

“I wouldn’t change a thing we did during camp. We did everything really well,” Oliveira said. “I was hitting hard, my mind was strong. In the lockeroom, I was telling my team: ‘Be at peace. It’s already been written. We’ll take what’s ours.’ But we don’t write it, God does. That’s the truth. I’ve learned a lot from it. It wasn’t my time. I think it was my day to lose, to go back home, relax and overcome.”

Oliveira’s loss to Makhachev snapped an 11-fight winning streak that included wins over some of lightweight’s most notable names, such as Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, Tony Ferguson and Dustin Poirier, among others. Before UFC 280, the 33-year-old’s most recent loss was a TKO defeat to Paul Felder, in December 2017.

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Sorry cry babies! It’s time for another of our infamous and patented Care/Don’t Care Podcasts, with your talent: Eugene S. Robinson, John S. Nash, & Stephie Haynes. The format of the show is to review the prior weeks picks & then to announce each fight on the upcoming card, commenting on which upcoming fights are hot and which fights are not – for UFC Vegas 63: Kattar vs Allen.

It’s time for another one of our infamous and patented Care/Don’t Care Podcasts, with your talent: the astounding Eugene S. Robinson, author of the ‘Eugene S. Robinson Substack’, the fight book: “Fight: Everything You Wanted to Know About Ass-Kicking but Were Afraid You’d Get Your Ass Kicked for Asking”, host of the ‘Eugene S. Robinson Show Stomper!’ Podcast, and co-host of the ‘If The Shoes Fit’ Podcast, along with the indubitable John S. Nash, our chief financials columnist and host of our brand new ‘Hey Not the Face!’ Podcast, co-host of our ‘Show Money’ Podcast; he is also one of the co-hosts of the ‘If The Shoes Fit’ Podcast. Our trio is moderated by the insightful Stephie Haynes, of Bloody Elbow’s ‘The Level Change Podcast’, & the ‘Crooklyn’s Corner Podcast’.

NOTE: Eugene is on hiatus while he is on tour with the band, Bunüel. He will return in a few episodes. In the meantime, John and Stephie have got you covered!

June M. Williams

The format of the show is to review the prior weeks’ picks & then to announce each fight on the upcoming card, quickly commenting on which fights are hot, and which fights are not, based on relevancy to the sport as a whole. This format of “Caring” or “Not Caring” about each bout is geared to our listeners who consider themselves to be “Casual MMA Fans”. This effort is in the hopes that we can steer you towards fights that affect rankings, title contention, have significant meaning, or are sure to be “must see tv” fights; therefore saving you the tedium of watching every fight on every card – or perhaps missing out on something you might have otherwise skipped.

UFC 280: Oliveira vs Makhachev REACTIONS —

June M. Williams

Here’s a look at the UFC 280: ‘Oliveira vs Makhachev’ fight card & current records…

Overall, this now 12-bout card saw one exciting first round finish, two thrilling KO/TKO’s, two sweet submissions, and eight hard-fought decisions; one controversial split, one majority. Rounding things out, our fighters who were awarded for putting forth BONUS efforts included — POTN: Belal Muhammad and Islam Makhachev. FOTN: Sean O’Malley vs Petr Yan.

Main & co-main events scheduled for five rounds. All other bouts scheduled for three rounds. | Official 280 Scorecards

MAIN CARD | SAT. OCT. 22
At 2:26 — 12. UFC Vacant Lightweight Championship: Islam Makhachev (23-1) DEF. Charles Oliveira (33-9) — via submission (arm triangle choke) at 3:17 of Round 2

At 11:17 — 11. UFC Bantamweight Championship: Aljamain Sterling (22-3) DEF. T.J. Dillashaw (17-5) — via TKO (strikes) at 3:44 of Round 2

At 14:50 — 10. Sean O’Malley (16-1) DEF. Petr Yan (16-4) — via controversial split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

At 21:08 — 9. Beneil Dariush (22-4) DEF. Mateusz Gamrot (15-9) — via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

At 24:05 — 8. Manon Fiorot (10-1) DEF. Katlyn Chookagian (18-5) — via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)

PRELIMS
At 25:20 — 7. Belal Muhammad (22-3) DEF. Sean Brady (15-1) — via TKO (strikes) at 4:47 of Round 2

At 28:03 — 6. Caio Borralho (13-1) DEF. Makhmud Muradov (25-8) — via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 29-28)

At 30:04 — 5. Nikita Krylov (29-9) DEF. Volkan Oezdemir (18-7) — via unanimous decision (30-27, 29-28, 29-28)

At 31:26 — 4. Abubakar Nurmagomedov (17-3) DEF. Gadzhi Omargadzhiev (13-2) — unanimous decision (29-28, 30-27, 29-28)

3. Armen Petrosyan (7-2) DEF. AJ Dobson (6-2) — via unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

At 31:36 — 2. Muhammad Mokaev (8-0) DEF. Malcolm Gordon (14-6) — via submission (armbar) at 4:26 of Round 3

1. Karol Rosa (16-4) DEF. Lina Lansberg (10-7) — via majority decision (29-27, 29-27, 28-28)

UFC Vegas 63: Kattar vs Allen PICKS — at 33:17

At this point in the show we offer you our ‘disclaimer’, then our trio will go about predicting the UFC Vegas 63 Fight Night bout sheet from the bottom up, wrapping up the C/DC quick-picks portion of the show with the Main Event. This UFC on ESPN+ event will take place from the APEX facility in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, October 29th, 2022.

Here’s a look at the fight card & records for the upcoming event via tapology.com, bout order subject to change…

UFC Vegas 63 (2 Cares):

ESPN+ MAIN CARD | SAT. OCT. 29 — 7/4PM ETPT ( 2 Cares)
9. 145lbs: Calvin Kattar (23-6) vs. Arnold Allen (18-1) — At 42:08, 2 Cares

8. 170lbs: Tim Means (32-13) vs. Max Griffin (18-9) — At 40:37

7. 205lbs: Dustin Jacoby (18-5) vs. Khalil Rountree (10-5) — At 39:59

6. 265lbs: Waldo Cortes-Acosta (7-0) vs. Jared Vanderaa (12-9) — At 38:57

5: 185lbs: Tresean Gore (3-2) vs. Josh Fremd (9-3) — At 37:50

ESPN+ PRELIMS | 4/1PM ETPT (0 Cares)
4. 265lbs: Andrei Arlovski (34-20) vs. Marcos Rogério de Lima (19-8) — At 37:11

3. 145lbs: Chase Hooper (11-2) vs. Steve Garcia (12-5) — At 36:59

2. 185lbs: Joseph Holmes (8-2) vs. Jun Yong Park (14-5) — At 36:38

1. 185lbs: Roman Dolidze (10-1) vs. Phil Hawes (12-3) — At 36:09

* Christian Rodriguez vs. Garret Armfield CANCELLED: Armfield Withdrew — At 35:50
* Cody Durden vs Kleydson Rodrigues CANCELLED: Rodrigues Withdrew — At 35:08

*** We will update the post later this week when Eugene’s picks have been obtained.

Be sure to follow Eugene on twitter @EugeneSRobinson, John is @heynottheface, and of course you can catch Stephie @CrooklynMMA, and twice a week she’s on @LevelChangePod.

If you would like to catch the show on our BE Presents YouTube Channel, join the gang right here:

If you enjoy our variety of shows, give us a shout out in the comments here on Bloody Elbow, or give us a “like”, share & subscribe over on whichever BE Presents Podcast Channel happens to be your listening platform of choice: SoundCloud, YouTube, iTunes & Apple TV, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Spotify, TuneIn, OverCast, Player FM, & Amazon Music – For previous episodes, check out our playlists on all of our BE Presents channels.

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Khabib and Bobby Green had hilarious reactions to the controversial split decision.

Sean O’Malley had the performance of his career Saturday at UFC 280, which got him near universal praise for putting up such a great fight against former champion Petr Yan. That being said, most of those people didn’t seem to think he actually won the fight, leading to a lot of outrage from fighters on social media as soon as the split decision was awarded to O’Malley.

One of the more interesting live reactions to the controversial decision was from Khabib Nurmagomedov, who was captured on camera seemingly going through a range of emotions from shock and confusion, to complete disbelief and then utter disappointment.

“Split?!” Khabib exclaimed as Bruce Buffer started to reveal the scorecards.

When it was announced that O’Malley took the victory, Khabib had a completely puzzled look.

“How? How? No, how? How is it possible, brother?” Khabib reacted. He spoke in Russian after, which supposedly translated to “I swear I gave him every round! It was close but he won every round.”

UFC lightweight Bobby Green also had a pretty hilarious reaction live. Immediately after the third round ended, he recorded himself and posted an Instagram Story congratulating O’Malley for putting up a good fight.

“Sean O’Malley, you fought with the best. You really shot for the stars, brother. I’m not here to kick you while you’re down, you fought a great fight,” Green said. “No knock, you did your thing, brother. I just wanted to see you test yourself, you did the shit. You ain’t ready to fight that in the division yet, but you’re up there. You’re close. You actually proved it this time. I respect you for going out there and trying.”

The very next Instagram story, was a video of Green reacting to the decision, laughing and screaming at his phone “Robbery! Robbery! Robbery!!”

“This shit is fixed,” Green also wrote.

It was a back-and-forth, close and competitive fight, so it’s not at all comparable to any of the worst robberies in the sport. For what it’s worth though, MMA Decisions compiled the scores of 26 media members and outlets, and every single one scored it for Yan.

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All the best, most interesting, and unquestionably coolest fights the UFC needs to book following their latest event in Abu Dhabi.

UFC 280 was a fascinating card. In the main event, Islam Makhachev made a difinitive statement, that he’s the best lightweight in the world today, with a second round submission of Charles Oliveira. The co-main event was nothing short of a sham, with TJ Dillashaw showing up in no condition at all to fight Aljamain Sterling. And questions about with Sean O’Malley’s split decision win over Petr Yan in an absolute thriller of a contest.

So, does Alexander Volkanovski have a chance in hell against the new king at 155 lbs? Did O’Malley do enough to get the title shot Dana White promised? And is there any way that the UFC rewards Belal Muhammad for his continued string of top-flight victories?

To answer those questions—and a whole lot more—I’ll be using the classic Silva/Shelby fight booking methodology from the UFC of years past. That means pitting winners against winners, losers against losers, and similarly tenured talent up against one another. Hopefully, by following that model, a few of these bout ideas will actually make it off the page and into the Octagon. Now, let’s get to the fights!

ISLAM MAKHACHEV

Those who doubted Islam Makhachev’s resume and skills heading into Saturday night looked pretty foolish pretty fast. The longtime heir apparent to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s throne finally ascended on Saturday night, with a dominating second round submission win over Charles Oliveira. And not only did he have no trouble hanging with the Brazilian submission ace on the mats, he was laser focused with his heavy-handed counter-punching game as well—catching ‘Do Bronx’ time and time again as he stepped into the pocket to initiate offense. A masterful victory for the Dagestani, and one that has all the appearances of a long reign atop the lightweight division.

Teased ahead of the fight—with Alexander Volkanovski flying out to the event to serve as ‘backup’, in case of last minute weight or injury shenanigans—the UFC already has their next title challenger ready. Volkanovski was escorted into the cage after Makhachev’s win, where both fighters agreed to meet with the lightweight title on the line at UFC 284 in Perth, Australia. 23-1 squares off against 25-1 in a battle for top pound-for-pound supremacy. Volkanovski vs. Makhachev should be awesome.

CHARLES OLIVEIRA

Barely recovered from his loss, Charles Oliveira was quick to reassure fans that he would hold lightweight gold once again. Based on what we just saw, beating Makhachev will be no easy task. But with wins already over Poirier, Gaethje, and Chandler, if anyone has the inside track on a quick return to contendership, it’s the 33-year-old Chute Boxe talent. I’ve made a case further down for Dariush vs. Gaethje (and I’m averse to matching guys from the same card), but a fight between Dariush and ‘Do Bronx’ would also be an excellent next bout since Dariush himself seems out of the immediate title conversation.

Even though Dana White finally let slip that Conor McGregor needs six months of USADA testing before he can take his next fight, that’s a bout that Oliveira seems likely to find himself eyeing as well. And there’s always Rafael Fiziev out there as a dark horse. Given all the options, I’ll say the UFC should go with Oliveira vs. the Poirier/Chandler winner. Both those men want to compete for gold again, both have a loss to avenge, both would make for thrilling fights. Feels like a rematch here, whoever the winner might be, would be a great way for someone to make the best argument for another chance at a UFC belt.

ALJAMAIN STERLING

After an absolutely crushing (and injury tainted) victory over TJ Dillashaw, Aljamain Sterling had a whole bunch of callouts ready; “Henry Ce-doo-doo,” “Sugar Tits,” “Chito Dorito”—all of them can get it, apparently. Considering that Cejudo still hasn’t actually returned from retirement (and more recently sounded less intrested in a comeback than he has in quite a while), then we’re really just looking at Vera and O’Malley. There’s Dvalishvili too, but Sterling has said in the past that he’d move to featherweight before fighting his teammate (an offer notably not made after this latest title defense). My guess is that the UFC plows ahead with the O’Malley vs. Sterling fight that they had all ready to go. At this moment that seems like the biggest bout to make in the bantamweight division.

TJ DILLASHAW

An absolute, unmitigated disaster for TJ Dillashaw, who revealed shortly after the brutal loss that his shoulder has been badly injured for the last six months and that he was just hoping to push through the injury all the way through the title bout. From the very first takedown entry though, his left shoulder dislocated. He made it to the bell and got it back in place, but it dislocated again immediately in round 2. Shortly afterward, Sterling picked up the GnP TKO.

A fight that honestly shouldn’t have happened and should have been cancelled the moment officials were informed of the injury before the bout. There’s a reason that the UFC puts two title fights on a card, it’s so they can afford to lose one and still have a strong PPV. This was that time. Whenever he returns, assuming he does, then a Dominick Cruz rematch seems like a fight that should have happened five years ago. Cruz vs. Dillashaw 2 is still a lot of fun, if Dillashaw is ever ready to go again.

SEAN O’MALLEY

Whether or not fans feel Sean O’Malley won this fight, this was an a fantastic performance for him and speaks volumes for his potential as a title challenger. He took all the best that Yan had to offer and answered with powerful offense of his own every time. He hurt Yan at multiple points during the fight, did well to fight off takedowns and fight his way up when he did hit the ground. It was a consummate showing and one that should allay any criticism of O’Malley as a frontrunner. Yan had him in serious trouble and he rallied hard to convince judges that he won.

After the bout, ‘Sugar’ was anything other than his usual brash self, however. He sounded like he had been through hell and was as surprised as anyone to get the win for it. Will he be the next title challenger, as advertised? Probably. If not, however, then a fight with Cory Sandhagen or a Marlon Vera rematch would both be must see. O’Malley’s likely headed for the belt, but there are plenty of great fights for him to take if not.

PETR YAN

Yan had the gameplan set to win rounds. Heavy strikes, mixed right into takedowns and ground and pound. There’s a reasonable argument (at least to me) that he could have taken all three frames against O’Malley. But, he got hurt, bad, a couple of times along the way. Anytime that happens, there’s no guarantee at all that judges are going to credit your own violence and offensive success more than the shots you’ve taken. O’Malley was out there landing heavy leather. Even if Yan was putting it back on him, he was taking a lot of big shots to do it. With that out of the way, there’s only one clear fight for Petr Yan right now, and that’s against Marlon Vera. Vera vs. Yan would be a legendary battle. Just make sure it’s five rounds in a fight night headliner. We deserve it.

BENEIL DARIUSH

An absolutely perfect fight from Beneil Dariush. Gamrot came out looking to put the pace on the 33-year-old with his takedowns and scrambles, but Dariush stayed with him every step of the way landing the heavier shots and jumping on sub opportunities whenever he could. The result—surprisingly, given the ‘Gamer’’s cardio credentials—was that Gamrot’s wrestling game only got less effective as the fight went on. Dariush shut him down over and over in prolonged takedown attempts and made him pay standing with heavy leather. All of which led to a commanding win for the longtime Kings MMA product.

At some point he really should be in title contention, but without a lot of fan hype or interest, it feels like the UFC will always have one more option to go to first. To his credit, Dariush seems to know it, and said he’d win another 10 straight if that’s what it took to get UFC gold. With Volkanovski next in line and a willingness to fight all comers, fights with Rafael Fiziev and Justin Gaethje both seem like must make contests. Just the idea of Gaethje vs. Dariush seems like too much fun to refuse.

MANON FIOROT

Even Manon Fiorot seemed to know that she didn’t look like a title contender against Katlyn Chookagian. She did enough to get by the ‘Blonde Fighter’, which is a task more than a few potential prospects have failed to complete. But it was the kind of narrow, sticky, back-and-forth striking battle that saw neither woman clearly separate themselves as a cut above. After the bout, Fiorot suggested she’d probably need to take at least one more fight before getting to Shevchenko. That could mean the winner of Andrade vs. Murphy or a winner/loser fight with Taila Santos. But, by far the most obvious option would be a battle with Alexa Grasso. Similar to Fiorot, Grasso squeaked by Viviane Araujo in her last bout. Both women have the potential to contend for gold, but both still need to prove they can be more than simply the next notch in Shevchenko’s belt. Fiorot vs. Grasso is a great top contender fight.

BELAL MUHAMMAD

Another fight, another great Belal Muhammad game-plan. Sean Brady’s rise in the welterweight division has been marked by lots of power wrestling and grappling, and a noted late decline in competitive striking. Muhammad negated the takedowns with continuous front foot pressure, making sure that Brady never got anywhere near putting his back against the cage. Even if he had to walk through some serious counters to do it, Muhammad kept that pressure high enough that when Brady’s striking defense did start to unravel, it did so in a hell of a hurry. What had been a competitive 1.5 rounds turned into a sudden landslide for ‘Remember the Name’.

After the bout, Muhammad called out Leon Edwards, but it’s a near certainty that Kamaru Usman gets a rematch instead. And if the UFC can put together Covington vs. Chimaev, then there’s not even a guarantee that Muhammad is next in line after that. Realistically, Muhammad deserves his chance at gold, but it just might be that he’ll find himself fighting Gilbert Burns or Jorge Masvidal just to tread water. Muhammad vs. Burns seems like a consolation prize, but the title shot seems unlikely right now.

MUHAMMAD MOKAEV

An interesting performance from Muhammad Mokaev that doesn’t necessarily diminish his status as one of flyweight’s top prospects, but certainly wasn’t the dominance most were expecting him to display as a massive favorite. On the feet, Mokaev looked shaky at best, landing a few big strikes but eating just as many hard shots in return whenever Malcolm Gordon pressed forward. On the mats, as expected, Mokaev was mostly dominant—mostly. Gordon was able to hit some sweeps, get to back control a couple times, and even got a takedown all his own.

Ultimately, Mokaev sealed the deal with a third round submission, making it clear that he’s no less dangerous than advertised as a grappler. But potential opponents got to see a few gaps along the way. To that end, I’d say a smaller step up than Brandon Royval wouldn’t be a bad idea, if that’s still the fight Mokaev wants. We’ve got a bout between Jimmy Flick and Jeff Molina upcoming. Both men are aggressive, tough, and dangerous for 3 rounds and can scramble like hell. Mokaev vs. the Flick/Molina winner would be surefire fun.

OTHER BOUTS: Mateusz Gamrot vs. the Hooker/Puelles loser, Katlyn Chookagian vs. Taila Santos, Sean Brady vs. the Rakhmonov/Neal loser, Caio Borralho vs. the Petroski/Turman winner, Makhmud Muradov vs. Nick Maximov, Nikita Krylov vs. the Reyes Spann winner, Volkan Oezdemir vs. Jim Crute, Abubakar Nurmagomedov vs. Sergey Khandozhko, Gadzhi Omargadzhiev vs. AJ Fletcher, Armen Petrosyan vs. Jacob Malkoun, AJ Dobson vs. the Fremd/Gore loser, Malcolm Gordon vs. CJ Vergara, Karol Rosa vs. Pannie Kianzad, Lina Lansberg vs. Jessy-Rose Clark

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