The UFC returned to Abu Dhabi this past Saturday with a phenomenally put-together card, which played out equally as phenomenal as Umar Nurmagomedov continued his impressive ascent of the bantamweight division.
In the main event, the undefeated Russian held his own against the number two-ranked bantamweight in the world, Cory Sandhagen, and came out with a unanimous decision and a 135lb title shot.
‘The Sandman’ on the other hand got so close to a title fight, but once again came up short, resulting in fans wondering if the exciting striker will ever get to compete for undisputed gold.
Let’s take a look at some potential matchups that can be made following the blockbuster event.
Cory Sandhagen is running out of options at bantamweight
With Umar Nurmagomedov having secured his bantamweight title shot against the winner of Sean O’Malley vs Merab Dvalishvili which takes place at UFC 306, he can sit patiently knowing he will get his chance.
Sandhagen, though, will be sitting this Monday, wondering whether he will ever get to compete for the undisputed UFC title. Ultimately, the promotion failed the 32-year-old when they gave Marlon Vera the title shot instead of him this past March.
After coming so close, Sandhagen will now attempt to rebuild a win streak to get back to a position of being in the title picture. The biggest issue is, that the Coloradan has fought quite a few of the names that sit at the top of the division.
Having already shared the cage with the likes of Vera, Song Yadong, Rob Font, Petr Yan, and Aljamain Sterling, Sandhagen is running out of options. Henry Cejudo, though, is one name that he hasn’t had the pleasure of fighting.
Although ‘Triple C’s’ fighting future is relatively unclear at the moment, if the former two-weight world champion does decide to return to the bantamweight division, then that fight could make sense.
Umar Nurmagomedov’s next fight: UFC bantamweight title shot
Cory Sandhagen’s next fight: Henry Cejudo
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Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov wastes a callout on Nick Diaz
After once again impressing the UFC masses with another well-rounded performance, Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov made one of the most pointless callouts in recent memory.
The undefeated Russian dominated the gritty Michal Oleksiejczuk for three rounds, showcasing his complex kicking game and his ability to fight at a high pace for three rounds.
Annoyingly, though, instead of demanding a fight inside the rankings next, the 30-year-old called out Nick Diaz, who was originally scheduled to co-main event against Vicente Luque. Despite having not competed for three years and being on a four-fight losing streak, Magomedov concluded that it would be a good idea to fight the Stockton native next.
Although I understand the notion that he wants to rack up a win over a huge name in the sport, a win over Diaz at this point in his career largely does nothing for him. Frustratingly, though, it is a fight I’m sure the UFC would be keen on putting together, to continue to build the Russian’s name.
Before his fight this past Saturday, ‘Bullet’ did flirt with the idea of fighting Michel Pereira next, instead, which makes a lot more sense considering he is ranked 13th in the 185lb division.
Shara ‘Bullet’ Magomedov’s next fight: Michel Pereira
Deiveson Figueiredo emerges as a potential challenger as Vera comes up short, again
Since making his move to bantamweight last year, Deiveson Figueiredo has shown that he still has the capabilities of becoming a UFC champion, again.
Marlon Vera was by far his toughest test at bantamweight so far and he dispatched the former title challenger relatively comfortably. Unfortunately for the 36-year-old Brazilian, though, there is a holdup at 135lbs.
‘Deus Da Guerra’ will have to wait for Nurmagomedov to fight for the title before he is given his shot, meaning he will likely get one more fight in before then. Petr Yan returned to the win column with his last outing, and a fight between him and Figgy would be guaranteed fireworks.
Fortunately, Yan is already a fan of the potential matchup, making it an easy fight to put together.
Vera on the other hand needs to take some time off, in my opinion, and upon his return, a rematch against Song Yadong could make sense.
Deiveson Figueiredo’s next fight: Petr Yan
Marlon Vera’s next fight: Rematch against Song Yadong
Tony Ferguson should go through with his half-retirement
Tony Ferguson set a new record this past Saturday, but it’s one that makes for grim reading. The former UFC interim lightweight champion now holds the record for the longest losing streak in UFC history, with eight losses.
Stupidly, I actually thought this matchup was a relatively close one stylistically for the 40-year-old and actually held out hope that ‘El Cucuy’ could finally feel a win inside the UFC Octagon again.
Enough is enough now and Ferguson should not fight in the UFC, or anywhere outside of the promotion for that matter, and should officially retire from the sport.
At this point, Ferguson is damaging the once-great legacy that he created for himself and will continue to do so if he doesn’t finally bid farewell. After his disappointing loss, he placed one glove down in the center of the cage and claimed that he would consider retiring.
Despite that, just thirty minutes later during his post-fight media interviews, the 40-year-old stated that he won’t be retiring from competing and will continue providing ‘entertainment’.
Tony Ferguson’s next fight: Retirement