This past Saturday at UFC 299, in Miami, there were big upsets throughout the entire 14-fight card with some fighters gaining exponential stock, but others losing a lot of their shine.
In the main event, Sean O’Malley did what most people thought he would by beating Marlon ‘Chito’ Vera over an extremely dominant five rounds. Although it was the expected outcome, the performance ‘Suga’ put on was pretty mesmerizing.
The 29-year-old champion undoubtedly gained stock from the perfect performance, but because most of the fanbase expected him to defend his title successfully, I don’t consider him one of the ‘biggest’ stock gainers from the night.
Biggest winners
Dustin Poirier: ‘The Diamond’ came out of UFC 299 back in the title picture, after suffering a devastating loss back in July to Justin Gaethje. There was a lot of concern amongst fans that the demise of the 35-year-old would begin from that defeat, because of the 13 years of taxing battles that Poirier has endured during his UFC tenure.
Despite that, Poirier took all of Benoit Saint-Denis’ shine and reminded everyone that he is still able to compete at the very highest level in the lightweight division.
Following the impressive comeback win, there have already been murmurs that the 35-year-old could slip into a lightweight title shot, against Islam Makhachev in June.
Michael ‘Venom’ Page: After such a big move over to the UFC, ‘Venom’ Page’s UFC debut was one of the most anticipated UFC’s debuts, ever.
Although Kevin Holland might not be regarded as one of the best fighters in the welterweight division, he does occupy a spot in the top 15 of the division and is a popular fighter amongst the fans.
Because it looked like Page didn’t have to get out of second gear, it made the win feel bigger. The 36-year-old has already laid the foundations for a possible Brit vs Brit title fight against Leon Edwards, somewhere down the line.
With even just one more win against someone inside the top eight of the 170lb division, Michael ‘Venom’ Page could end up getting fast-tracked to a title fight.
Petr Yan: ‘No Mercy’ had the risk of being the forgotten man in the stacked 135lb division. Coming in on a three-fight losing streak, a loss at UFC 299 could’ve been catastrophic for the Russian.
Although it is unlikely that the UFC would’ve decided to let Yan go, he would’ve ended up suffering a similar fate to Cody Garbrandt, who had to take some time off and come back and to fights outside of the rankings.
With Sean O’Malley retaining his title, there is already a narrative between Yan and O’Malley because of their very close fight at UFC 280 in 2022. One or two more wins could see the 31-year-old competing for bantamweight gold once again.
Biggest losers
Gilbert Burns: Unfortunately for Gilbert Burns, he suffered back-to-back losses for the first time in his MMA career. The most frustrating part for Burns, is that he was just over a minute away from beating Jack Della Maddalena, a win that would’ve done a lot for him.
‘Durinho’ is now 37 years old with time completely against him. With the Brazilian now likely to drop out of the top five of the welterweight division, his next move is completely unclear. It is unlikely that Burns is going to string together enough wins from here to compete for the title again.
Jailton Almeida: A homecoming was pretty much guaranteed for Jailton Almeida, as long as he was able to beat Curtis Blaydes in the featured prelim fight. Not just any homecoming too, he would likely have been fighting for the interim heavweight title against Tom Aspinall.
The Brazilian failed the test though and lost a lot of stock in the process.
Mateusz Gamrot: ‘Gamer’ Gamrot is on this list for a different reason to the aforementioned two. Although he picked up a hard fought win against Rafael Dos Anjos, it likely doesn’t take him any further up the rankings.
Even though for the lare part, rankings are redundant, in this case they are important. Dustin Poirier’s win puts him ahead of the Polish fighter. If Gaethje is victorious against Holloway at UFC 300, he will be prioritised after that as will the winner of Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan.
This was seemingly a fight for Gamrot to be able to stay active, but ultimately it doesn’t do much for his title charge.