5 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Night 220
Saturday's UFC Fight Night 220 event will probably be best remembered for the fact that the headlining attraction fell through just hours before it was supposed to happen.
The card was originally set to be topped by a clash of light heavyweight contenders, with Ukraine's Nikita Krylov taking on American Ryan Spann. Regrettably, Krylov fell ill late enough in the game that Spann had already arrived at the arena, and the fight was called off.
The good news is that the card ended up being topped by a pretty memorable upset, with Louisiana's Brendan Allen submitting a fighter many saw as a future middleweight title challenger in Brazil's André Muniz.
It also served as the long-awaited comeback of Tatiana Suarez, one of the sport's top female fighters. She defeated Montana De La Rosa by submission on the main card.
Several promising prospects also picked up impressive wins on the card, including Canadian welterweight Mike Malott and Alabamian lightweight Trevor Peek, who submitted Yohan Lainesse and knocked out Erick Gonzalez, respectively—both in the final minute of the first round.
Keep scrolling for the fights we're hoping to see in the wake of this hectic but entertaining night of MMA.
Nikita Krylov vs. Ryan Spann
1 of 5
Nikita Krylov never made it to the Octagon for his planned Saturday showdown with Ryan Spann, which is too bad, because it's a great fight on paper.
Both men have been inconsistent over the years, but both have won two in a row and are now firmly embedded in the light heavyweight top 15. They're also both proven finishers—Spann has been particularly destructive of late—which meant we weren't likely to need the judges. It's really too bad we didn't get to watch them throw down Saturday night.
The good news is that the fight has reportedly been rescheduled for a March 11 Fight Night card, also in Las Vegas, so barring any more last-minute disasters, we'll still get to see it soon.
Brendan Allen vs. Jack Hermansson
2 of 5
American Brendan Allen has always had a lot of potential, but a pair of losses to Sean Strickland and Chris Curtis kept him from gaining enough momentum to become a serious middleweight contender in the UFC.
It looks like that could be changing. In the last-minute UFC Fight Night 220 main event, Allen scored an impressive submission win over Brazil's André Muniz, a dangerous submission threat himself with nine straight wins in the rear-view, including defeats of Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza, Eryk Anders and Uriah Hall. Muniz also entered the Octagon on Saturday as the UFC's No. 11-ranked middleweight.
After beating Muniz, Allen is now on a four-fight streak, and all but one of those wins have come by way of submission. That's the recipe for a nice step up in competition.
Our pick is a fight with Swedish-Norwegian grappling specialist Jack Hermansson. Hermansson has taken some tough Ls over the last few years, but he is still the UFC's No. 9-ranked middleweight contender and a tough test for pretty much everyone.
Hopefully the UFC has better sense to make it a Fight Night main event—neither guy screams headliner at this point—but it's a great fight that would make a welcome addition to any main card.
Tatiana Suarez vs. Rose Namajunas
3 of 5
American wrestling specialist Tatiana Suarez has long been considered one of the top female fighters in MMA, but she's unfortunately missed a huge chunk of her prime years because of a string of injuries.
At UFC Fight Night 220, she made her first walk to the Octagon since June 2019 and submitted Montana De La Rosa in Round 2 of their flyweight fight.
After the win, Suarez is probably only a win or two from a title shot at flyweight, where champion Valentina Shevchenko faces an increasingly long list of fresh and dangerous challengers. Yet speaking after the event, she laid out plans to return to the strawweight division, where she's spent the bulk of her career, and set her sights on former champion Rose Namajunas specifically.
That's a perfect fight.
Suarez deserves it. Despite her layoff, she's beaten the likes of two-time strawweight champion Carla Esparza and upcoming flyweight title challenger Alexa Grasso. It also makes sense for Namajunas, who has not fought since she lost the title to Esparza last year but will seemingly need one more win to lock up a shot at reigning champ Zhang Weili.
We're here for it, and it would give Zhang a chance to defend her belt against Amanda Lemos—a fresh contender in a division that needs them—in the meantime.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Mike Malott vs. Jeremiah Wells
4 of 5
Mike Malott might be Canada's best shot at a UFC champion since Georges St-Pierre. The Canadian returned to action Saturday, submitting his countryman Yohan Lainesse inside a round. It was his second win in the UFC after he knocked out welterweight staple Mickey Gall in his debut, and it brought his overall streak to five. He's lost just once, to fellow UFC fighter Hakeem Dawodu, and that was almost 10 years ago.
It remains to be seen if Malott can make his way to a UFC title or if he'll stumble at the precipice like Rory MacDonald, but his next few fights should give us a much better sense.
Our pick for his next opponent is Philadelphia's Jeremiah Wells. Wells is now 3-0 in the UFC, having most recently knocked out the veteran Court McGee, so he's got roughly the same level of big-stage experience as the Canadian. He's also finished nine of his pro victories, just like Malott.
It would be unfortunate to see either guy's momentum get derailed, but that's the nature of this sport. Every time a fighter takes a step up the proverbial ladder, it's at somebody else's expense.
Trevor Peek vs. Ismael Bonfim
5 of 5
Trevor Peek made one heck of a UFC debut Saturday night.
The Alabama native took on his amply more experienced countryman Erick Gonzalez and ultimately won with a wild first-round knockout. After watching the replay a few times, I'm still not sure if the fight-ending sequence was awesome or absolutely stupid looking—it featured some standing hammer fists—but it sure was violent, and nobody is going to be forgetting it anytime soon.
With that result, Peek has now finished all eight of his pro victories, and all but two of them in the first round. It's good practice, as a fight fan, to exercise quite a bit of leeriness when dealing with prolific young finishers like this—oftentimes all it takes to beat them is dragging them out of the first round. But whatever the future holds for Peek, he's clearly going to entertain, and he should be matched up accordingly.
Our pick for his next opponent is Brazil's Ismael Bonfim, who recently scored a devastating knockout win over Terrence McKinney in his UFC debut. He's got more than twice as much pro experience as Peek, but many of his wins have come against shoddy-looking opposition, so we'll call it even.
Throw it on a Fight Night main card and make sure to time your bathroom breaks accordingly—this one would be wild for as long as it lasted.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
