4 Fights We Need to See After UFC on ESPN 47
Jared Cannonier surprised a lot of people in the main event of Saturday's UFC on ESPN 47 card.
Heading into his middleweight showdown with No. 3-ranked Italian contender Marvin Vettori, it was obvious he had an edge in terms of firepower. Vettori, however, is known for his relentless pressure and high-volume striking—among other things—and seemed well positioned to out-point Cannonier over five rounds.
In the end, it was Vettori who nearly stopped Cannonier early, and Cannonier who surged back and took control with his volume in rounds two through five. The No. 4-ranked middleweight from Alaska set the record for the most significant strikes landed in a middleweight fight in the UFC.
It was quite a performance and one that cemented him as one of the very best middleweights on earth.
UFC on ESPN 47 went down inside the promotion's Apex facility, and like most recent cards in that setting, offered very little in terms of rankings-relevant matchups or big names. No. 8 lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan defeated Joaquim Silva by TKO in the co-main event, but beyond that and the headliner, there were no ranked fighters on the card.
Still, it opened the door to some fun matchups in a couple of entertaining weight classes.
Jared Cannonier vs. Paulo Costa
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After beating Marvin Vettori in the UFC on ESPN 47 main event, Jared Cannonier has fought nearly everybody in the middleweight Top 10 and beaten the bulk of them. At this point, he has firmly established himself as the division's third-best fighter.
Unfortunately, he doesn't have a ton of options for his next fight.
He lost to the champion, Israel Adesanya, less than a year ago. He hasn't fought No. 1 contender Alex Pereira yet, but the Brazilian is headed up to light heavyweight to fight Jan Blachowicz. No. 3 contender Robert Whittaker is booked to fight Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 290 next month and Cannonier lost to him a little over a year ago anyway.
In other words, Cannonier won't be getting anybody above him in the rankings in his next fight. He'll have to fight somebody below him.
Our pick is No. 5 contender Paulo Costa. Costa hasn't fought in nearly a year and is booked for a nonsensical matchup with unranked Russian Ikram Aliskerov at UFC 291 on July 29, but if the Brazilian wins that fight, he should be next for Cannonier. They haven't fought before, despite sharing the middleweight Top 10 for years, and they match up beautifully on paper, as two proven knockout artists.
If Costa loses to Aliskerov, well, we're just going to have to cross that bridge when we come to it.
Marvin Vettori vs. Derek Brunson
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After being beaten at his own game in the UFC on ESPN 47 main event, it's back to the drawing board for Marvin Vettori.
Unfortunately, much like Cannonier, he is short on options.
The best option available would seem to be a fight with No. 8-ranked middleweight contender Derek Brunson.
Brunson, who has historically been one of the better wrestlers in the middleweight division, has lost his last two, having suffered a pair of stoppages at the hands of Du Plessis and Cannonier.
He would likely jump at the opportunity to rebound against an established, Top-5 talent like Vettori, and Vettori, as we've covered, doesn't really have any better options.
It's a decent match-up on paper—though Vettori would likely be a solid favorite at this point—and it will tell us a lot about the current state of the middleweight pecking order.
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Beneil Dariush
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No.8 lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan picked up an impressive TKO win over Joaquim Silva in the UFC on ESPN 47 co-main event, but it's hard to say what the win will do for his standing in the Top 15, as his foe was unranked heading into the matchup.
He isn't helped by the fact that he's a bit of an unusual case.
Despite being ranked well inside the Top 10, Tsarukyan is still lacking a true marquee win. He's beaten a handful of fighters in the Top 15, but nobody has been there for a significant period of time, and none of them ranked any higher than No. 12.
While he's obviously very good, his position at No. 8 still feels a bit dubious, which makes it difficult to suggest a fight between him and somebody like the winner of Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje's UFC 291 rematch.
Luckily, the same can kind of be said for No. 4 contender Beneil Dariush. While Dariush is certainly more proven than Tsarukyan, he has surprisingly few wins over fighters currently ranked in the Top 15. In fact, if we're counting, he has just one: a 2022 decision win over No. 7 contender Mateusz Gamrot.
To be clear, again: Tsarukyan and Dariush are both obviously very good fighters. But both guys definitely have more to prove at lightweight. It only makes sense that they attempt to do that against each other, especially after Dariush's title dreams were temporarily dashed by a TKO loss to Charles Oliveira at UFC 289 last weekend.
Dan Argueta vs. Ronnie Lawrence II
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UFC on ESPN 47 wouldn't be a UFC card—or an MMA card, for that matter—if it didn't feature some kind of officiating controversy.
Oftentimes it's the judges that earn our scorn on Fight Nights, but this time around, it was referee Keith Peterson, who unfortunately did not live up to his "No Nonsense" nickname.
Peterson was on reffing duty for an undercard bantamweight fight between Dan Argueta and Ronnie Lawrence. Less than three minutes into the first round, Argueta began attacking a guillotine choke. It looked tight, but Lawrence never tapped. Unfortunately, Peterson thought he saw a tap, and waved off the fight, spoiling what might have been a solid win for Argueta—or possibly an epic comeback for Lawrence.
It's a lot easier to fault judges for their mistakes than referees. Unlike judges, who only need to learn the relevant criteria and pay attention to the fight unfolding in front of them, referees must make hugely important decisions in seconds—sometimes milliseconds—with massive consequences for the fighters' bodies and bank accounts every time. Furthermore, Peterson seem to recognize he'd make a mistake pretty quickly.
So let's let the poor man off the hook—we've all had bad days at work—and just run this one back. Argueta and Lawrence get closure, and the fans get to see them fight without a premature stoppage.
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