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This weekend’s UFC Fight Night card presented a special feature program: “Attack of the Middleweights!” A total of four middleweight bouts took place on Saturday night, including a main event win for Jack Hermansson against Joe Pyfer. This means we have a special 185-pound flavored version of Fights To Make this week, finding new matches to put together in an already pretty booked-up division.
This week on Fights To Make: We maneuvered the numerous middleweight bouts of the night and found some potential matchups to make going forward. We also looked at the big co-main event at featherweight, we considered who undefeated Hyder Amil could face next, and we tried to find the shortest fighter who is also a good match for Loma Lookboonmee because she’s understandably sick of facing people who tower over her. Let’s get started!
Jack Hermansson
Jack Hermansson had to return to remind folks that “The Joker” is no joke. He showed his experience against Joe Pyfer, getting a feel for the fighter early on and then piecing together rounds to edge a win on scorecards. Above all, at the age of 35 and coming back 14 months after a rough finish loss, it showed that he still has a case for his spot in the middleweight rankings.
It was a great performance and just what you wanted to see from him. However, it’s not the type of performance that makes me want to immediately see him against higher-ranked guys at 185 pounds. While the fight was good and it’s worth giving him all the credit he’s due, it’s hard to see how this win moved him forward too much.
It’s worth noticing this too: Ranked one spot above him is Roman Dolidze, who beat him in 2022. Three spots higher is Nassourdine Imavov, who beat Dolidze recently! MMA math is not a real way to decide things — this I will admit — but my gut says he should fight against a respectable ranked fighter just a little lower than him before he gets back to the discussion of names higher in the standings.
There’s a fight in early May that I see as a potential target for Hermansson’s next opponent, and I would imagine Hermansson is okay with waiting that long since he just fought five rounds. Rising contender Caio Borralho will take on Paul Craig on a card in Brazil. Borralho is a rising name, although he has a much more impressive lineup of wins than Pyfer, having scored five victories in the UFC since 2022. If he can overcome Craig, Borralho will be a solid contender that Hermansson can put to the test. If Craig wins, that’s still a great matchup for Hermansson to take, as he is a tested UFC vet with 17 fights in the promotion.
Whatever result emerges in May, Hermansson would have the chance to face a fighter just a few spots below him in the middleweight rankings. It’s never easy to sell the idea of getting a fighter to face someone lower than them in the standings after earning a high-profile win. However, I believe that this is the right move, especially since Hermansson made his return against a less-tested name in Pyfer.
Joe Pyfer
The initial UFC rise of Joe Pyfer has come to an end. The deck was honestly stacked against him this weekend, as he took on an experienced talent in a five-round fight, despite being a fighter who has made it into the third round just once in his career before.
But that loss is behind him now, and we have to remember it’s just that: One loss. Very few fighters go flawless in the UFC on their quest to the top, so this very well could be just a bump in the road of the much longer story that is Pyfer’s UFC career. Anyway, let’s figure out what he should do next.
After his loss to Hermansson on Saturday, I don’t want Pyfer to think about ranked matchups until he at least picks up a couple more victories. However, I want to see him keep going up against more experienced names. While Saturday was a loss, it wasn’t a humiliating defeat that made you think Pyfer has no business against bigger names in the division. We don’t need to halve the skill level he’s facing or something like that.
I want Pyfer to test himself against an experienced UFC fighter who can drag him into deep waters. 16-fight Eryk Anders is someone who has gone the distance frequently and has solid wins in the UFC. However, he’s currently tied up in a March 2 booking against Jamie Pickett. I’m thinking the winner of that bout should face Pyfer and be a good match to either put him back to his winning ways or prove that his initial UFC run was just hype.
Note: The opponent for Pyfer in this article was changed after an error in the previous version of the story.
Dan Ige
Dan Ige sure knows how to live up to his “50k” nickname. A brutal stoppage against Andre Fili caused a brief and lucrative night at the office for Ige, earning him a Performance of the Night bonus along with a big victory.
Ige had the quickest performance of the night on Saturday, dropping Fili with a right hook in the third minute to bring his fight to a close. The performance protected Ige’s 13th-ranked position at featherweight and put him back to his winning ways after dropping a decision to Bryce Mitchell last year.
After Ige fought down in this fight — since Fili is unranked — he deserves to fight up again this weekend. Yes, I know that a lot of the damage on his record comes from facing numerous top names at featherweight, but it’s simply unfair to bench him after a win like this.
If Ige wants to move up the 145-pound standings, I have a name for him: Giga Chikadze. As of writing this, Chikadze is ninth at featherweight. He has won eight of his nine UFC fights, with that sole loss being an upset defeat to Calvin Kattar in early 2022. His last victory was in August of last year against Alex Caceres.
Ige and Chikadze could be an intriguing stand-up matchup. It might not be a match that Chikadze wants, considering he was originally expected to face a higher-ranked name in Josh Emmett late last year, but I think it would be a good pairing to do.
Andre Fili
It’s hard not to feel for Andre Fili. Just two months after his impressive victory over Lucas Almeida, he had the chance to face a super skilled name at featherweight. And, if successful, it would be his first two-fight winning streak since 2019. But, it wasn’t his night.
It happens. Fili has an ugly UFC record, but he’s facing absolute killers in the division basically every time. He’s a lot better than his record reflects. Because of that, I want to give him another tough test. I don’t think that Saturday’s performance means that he is way out of depth against ranked fighters. In fact, I still believe he’s knocking on the door of the featherweight rankings. So, I’ve put together an idea to give him a second chance at getting into the top 15.
I want Fili to test himself against 15-ranked featherweight Alex Caceres. Both fighters are coming off losses against notable featherweights. For Caceres, he suffered a decision loss last summer to Giga Chikadze. He was on a roll before then, putting together a whopping seven wins in eight fights since mid-2019. He’s a fun fighter stylistically for Fili, too. This is a fight where Fili can prove himself after getting caught by Ige. It would be competitive and likely very entertaining too.
Ihor Potieria
Ihor Potieria made his middleweight debut this weekend, sort of. Okay, he did miss weight, but this was also technically his first middleweight fight after being at a much higher light heavyweight limit. Despite coming in on short notice, Potieira picked up a decision victory over OKTAGON alum Robert Bryczek.
Potieria’s UFC campaign has been rough since 2022. Other than an early 2023 win over Mauricio Rua, Potieria has lost all of his fights at light heavyweight via finish — and against names who aren’t particularly big in the division.
Winning on short-notice is impressive, although I’m not going to give him much of a step up in the division just yet. It’s way too early for that given his track record. Instead, I want him to face the winner of next month’s fight between Dusko Todorovic and Edmen Shahbazyan. Both guys have similarly struggled in recent years: Todorovic is three-for-seven in the UFC, and Shahbazyan has dropped four of his last five fights. This is a low-level fight at middleweight, but one that feels like it is at the level we should see Potieria at currently.
Gregory Rodrigues
It feels like Gregory Rodrigues only knows how to win one way: Eventually steamrolling his opponent with strikes. Rodrigues picked up the fifth finish victory of his UFC career on Saturday, stopping veteran Brad Tavares in the third round. The victory earned Rodrigues his second victory in a year’s time.
I personally consider Rodrigues a very underrated fighter at middleweight (like Rodolfo Vieira, who we will discuss after this). His two UFC losses are against solid strikers in Armen Petrosyan and Brunno Ferreira. He has made quick work of a lot of guys, including names like Chidi Njokuani and Park Jun-yong.
It was hard to find an opponent for Rodrigues. Because of who is available it felt like he could either get a matchup that feels like a lateral move in the division for him, or a massive step up that feels unnecessary. This was a really challenging one. I felt like I had looked at the Tapology page for every single middleweight on the roster before I finally came to a conclusion.
I didn’t find a fighter, but instead a fight for Rodrigues. I want him to face the loser of the bout between Anthony Hernandez and Roman Kopylov next weekend. You might be thinking: Wait, the loser? Even though he just won? Let me explain.
Both Koplov and Hernandez are on strong runs currently. Kopylov has finished his past four opponents, and beating Hernandez would be a massive victory to add to that streak. Hernandez hasn’t lost since 2021, including a couple of big wins against names like Marc-Andre Barriault and Edmen Shahbazyan.
Considering the momentum that both of these fighters have, it’s hard to justify giving the winner of this bout to Rodrigues. Instead, it feels like whoever comes out as the losing side could face Rodrigues to try to bounce back against a respected name. I completely believe that no matter what, whoever loses this fight next week is still a big name for Rodrigues to fight.
Rodolfo Vieira
Even if you didn’t know about Rodolfo Vieira’s past as a grappler, his UFC run tells you that he’s good on the mat. The 34-year-old Brazilian talent picked up win number five and submission number five of his UFC career this weekend, stopping Armen Petrosyan in the first round.
After a couple of minutes of striking — likely where Petrosyan hoped the fight would remain for the entire bout — Vieira took him down and applied the head and arm choke. It was wraps from there.
Vieira’s UFC career hasn’t been flawless: A submission loss to Anthony Hernandez and a decision defeat two years ago have interrupted the five wins he has attained since 2019. Despite this, I consider him an underrated middleweight, mostly due to his dominant work on the ground.
I feel like a good way to track Vieira’s growth is to keep matching him against guys who can strike and grapple. He was met with real resistance when he faced Chris Curtis, who stuffed takedowns and picked him apart on the feet in 2022. I want Vieira’s next opponent to be someone who might not be a big step-up challenge on paper but has a skillset that could give him trouble.
I feel like Marc-Andre Barriault could be an interesting next opponent for Vieira. They share similar losses, having dropped bouts to Curtis and Anthony Hernandez in the past. But Barriault has a record with lots of finishes with strikes and also work on the ground. If Vieira can beat Barriault, it will certainly be the best win of his UFC run thus far. It would also be a victory that would justify giving him a name higher in the division, I feel.
Loma Lookboonmee
I feel for Loma Lookboonmee. She’s an incredibly talented striker and great in her division, but she’s just so much shorter than all of the women she faces. After out-landing Bruna Brasil for her third consecutive win this weekend, Lookboonmee mentioned her hopes that UFC will open an atomweight division, which is 10 pounds down from strawweight.
It’s a tough situation for Lookboonmee. She is arguably not in the division that suits her best, but she would also have to leave the UFC to get into that division — and it’s unreasonable to expect her to do that.
We’re going to have some sympathy for Lookboonmee when considering who to match her against next. We’ll try to give her someone who is just a few inches above her height. After beating three different women who are taller than her, she deserves this as a little treat.
I initially planned to match Lookboonmee against five-foot-three Iasmin Lucindo, who is coming off a year that saw her score a pair of wins at strawweight. However, when looking at Lookboonmee’s record, it feels like she has faced a lot of fighters who are somewhat new to the promotion and are still getting their footing like Lucindo is. I want her to instead face someone who has more UFC experience but could also make for a solid, fair matchup.
I think it would be interesting to see Lookboonmee face Karolina Kowalkiewicz, who is also five-foot-three. She’s on a four-fight winning streak against some lower-ranked names at strawweight. This gave her some stability after going on a four-fight losing streak against higher-up names at 115 pounds.
That matchup might be cool, I think. If you don’t like that or think Lookboonmee isn’t ready for that, we have the Lucindo pairing to fall back on as well. But either way, can we give her someone a little shorter to face next?
Hyder Amil
Hyder Amil is the ultimate fan-friendly fighter, and his debut on Saturday night showed that. The former Bellator and LFA talent put away Fernie Garcia in the second round, closing out a solid stand-up performance.
It’s been a rocky few weeks before Amil’s UFC debut. He was originally scheduled to face Shayilan Nuerdanbieke, but then was paired against Melsik Baghadasryan. After Baghdasaryan also withdrew, he was given Garcia. Honestly, Garcia was not as good of an opponent for Amil as the previous bookings, as he came into this weekend winless in the UFC through three fights.
I want to be careful with who we give Amil next. As impressive as his debut was this weekend, it was against a very short notice opponent who has yet to win on the UFC stage. I want to see how Amil does against an opponent who is coming off a win and has a full training camp.
I’ve selected a fellow UFC newcomer to face Amil next. I want him to meet Jean Silva in his second UFC fight. Silva won his UFC debut earlier this month against Westin Wilson after previously winning on Dana White’s Contender Series. Similar to Amil facing Garcia, it felt like Silva facing Wilson didn’t mean much. This is a meaningful matchup for both fighters and can give one of them a notable win, truly starting their run in the busy featherweight division.