4 Fights We Need After UFC on ESPN 50
The UFC returned to Nashville on Saturday night and while the 12-fight card was somewhat overshadowed by Jake Paul and Nate Diaz's boxing battle in Dallas, it featured action in some of the promotion's best divisions. It also may have opened the door to two title fights.
The card was topped by a bantamweight clash between No. 4 contender Cory Sandhagen and the No. 7-ranked Rob Font. Sandhagen had originally been set to fight Umar Nurmagomedov, but accepted a fight with Font after his original foe was forced off the card.
It wasn't the most exciting fight, as Sandhagen broke from his trademark striking to wrestle Font to a unanimous-decision win, but it was certainly decisive, and it pushed the victor onto a three-fight streak.
The penultimate bout of the night occurred in the strawweight division, where undefeated wrestler Tatiana Suarez picked up the biggest victory of her career with a second-round submission of former champion Jéssica Andrade.
The card featured several other impressive submission wins, but the lone knockout of the night came courtesy of No. 15-ranked light heavyweight contender Dustin Jacoby, who showed off his world-class kickboxing with a quick knockout of the streaking Kennedy Nzechukwu.
Scroll on for the fights we want to see when the dust has settled.
Cory Sandhagen vs. Sterling-O'Malley Winner
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Cory Sandhagen is now riding impressive victories over top-10 contenders Song Yadong, Marlon Vera, and Rob Font. That streak, when combined with his No. 4 ranking, should be enough to earn him a title shot. This seems particularly likely given that Merab Dvalishvili, the other contender in the division, refuses to fight the champion Aljamain Sterling due to their friendship and training affiliation.
Sterling is set to defend the title against Sean O'Malley at UFC 292 later this month. He's a substantial favorite in the fight, but his challenger definitely has the skill to pull off the upset, particularly when the action is unfolding on the feet. Luckily, Sandhagen looks like a great test for either man on paper.
He's fought Sterling once before, suffering a first-round submission loss in 2020, but has made huge strides with his grappling since then, as evidenced by his win over Font. A rematch with his former foil would most likely be a totally different fight, and would probably be pretty entertaining too.
If O'Malley beats Sterling, on the other hand, we would get a fight between two of the best strikers in the bantamweight division—though Sandhagen may once again look to his wrestling in this potential matchup.
Of course, it's also possible UFC 292 will lead to an immediate rematch between Sterling and O'Malley, but whenever their rivalry has come to pass, Sandhagen should be next in line.
Rob Font vs. Petr Yan
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Rob Font had nothing to offer Cory Sandhagen in Nashville, but deserves from props for taking the fight on short notice. And while it's clear that he has some issues with takedown defense, he is clearly still one of the division's top fighters. He proved that with his recent knockout win over the upstart Adrian Yanez.
From here, we'd like to see him matched up with former bantamweight champion Petr Yan. While Yan once had the look of a long-time champion, he ultimately surrendered the belt with a decision loss to Sterling, and has lost decisions to O'Malley and Dvalishvili in the time since.
A three-fight skid is a precarious spot for any fighter to be in, even a former champ. Yan is in desperate need of a big win, and a fight with Font, who has lost three of his last four, would be a great opportunity for that, and would also give the American his own big chance to get back on track.
The real appeal of this potential matchup, though, is that Yan and Font are two of the best boxers in the weight class, with plenty of knockout power to boot.
It'd be a great addition to any future pay-per-view, and could easily co-headline a Fight Night card.
Tatiana Suarez vs. Zhang-Lemos winner
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Tatiana Suarez's second-round submission win over Jessica Andrade was one of the biggest achievements of her MMA career so far and it brought her to an impressive 10-0 overall. That streak has been constructed with wins at both strawweight and flyweight and includes a submission victory over the latter division's reigning champion, Alexa Grasso.
Suarez is definitely in reach of a title shot in both weight classes and has expressed her desire to be a two-division champion, but should probably focus on the strawweight title first, as there is a huge queue of contenders waiting for title shots at flyweight, including Valentina Shevchenko, Manon Fiorot, Rose Namajunas, Erin Blanchfield and Taila Santos.
As luck would have it, there's also not really anybody more deserving of a strawweight title shot than she is. There's an argument to be made that Yan Xiaonan deserves the opportunity after a knockout win over Andrade, but she's 2-2 in her last four and hasn't beaten quite the level of opposition that Suarez has.
So let's give Suarez a crack at whoever comes out on top when strawweight champion Zhang Weili defends her belt against stone-fisted challenger Amanda Lemos at UFC 292 later this month.
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Dustin Jacoby vs. Alonzo Menifield
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Dustin Jacoby needed a win in Nashville, having lost back-to-back decisions to fellow striking specialists Azamat Murzakanov and Khalil Rountree. Getting that win seemed like a tall order, as he was matched up with the streaking Kennedy Nzechukwu, but he ultimately made it happen in quick and emphatic fashion with a first-round knockout.
With the win, Jacoby will remain right on the edge of the light heavyweight rankings, at No. 15, and in his post-fight interview, he called for a fight with No. 8-ranked contender Volkan Oezdemir. That's a decent fight, but it feels like a bit of a jump, and Oezdemir is also booked to fight Murzakanov in September. So let's put that one on the back burner, and match Jacoby up with another big knockout threat in Alonzo Menifield.
Menifield is currently ranked No. 14 at light heavyweight and is riding wins over Askar Mozharov, Misha Cirkunov, and Jimmy Crute, who he knocked out inside a round last month after their first fight ended with a draw. He may be reluctant to take a small step back against Jacoby, but most of the guys ranked right in front of him are either occupied with other fights or riding tough losses.
Jacoby vs. Menifield seems like the fight to make in the back end of the light heavyweight rankings, and it would probably be a fun fight for as long as it lasted.
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