5 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Like Hell Night
On Saturday night, the UFC returned to Austin, Texas, with UFC Fight Night 233—arguably the best Fight Night card of the year to date.
Headlining honours for the event went to a lightweight clash between No. 4-ranked contender Beneil Dariush and the eighth-ranked Arman Tsarukyan. The latter shook up the rankings with a huge first-round knockout that should set him up for a fight with one of the division's top dogs.
The co-main event was also a clash of lightweight contenders, with the No. 12-ranked Jalin Turner taking on No. 13 Bobby Green. Turner accepted the fight on short notice, replacing ninth-ranked Kiwi Dan Hooker, but the last-minute circumstances were clearly not an issue for him, as he put Green down with punches inside a round.
While Tsarukyan and Turner were clearly the stars of the night, there were some other big winners on the card, most notably former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo, who debuted at bantamweight with an impressive decision win over No. 8 contender Rob Font.
Welterweight contender Sean Brady also rebounded from the first loss of his career on the card, picking up a decision win over Kelvin Gastelum to defend his No. 9 spot in the rankings, while No. 12 women's bantamweight Miesha Tate bounced back from two straight losses with a submission defeat of Julia Avila.
Here's what we'd like to see next for Tsarukyan, Turner, Figueiredo, Brady and Tate.
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Charles Oliveira
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Arman Tsarukyan's vicious first-round knockout of Beneil Dariush was far and away the biggest victory of his career to date. In fact, were there not already a long queue of contenders awaiting a crack at champion Islam Makhachev, the Armenian might even be looking at a title shot right now.
Unfortunately for Tsarukyan, he is still a step or two behind the likes of Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira and Mateusz Gamrot in the race to a title shot, meaning he will likely have to fight one of them in the meantime.
Our choice would be to see Gaethje, who just knocked out Dustin Poirier, get the next crack at Makhachev, which leaves Oliveira and Gamrot for Tsarukyan. Given that Gamrot beat Tsarukyan last year, a fight with Oliveira seems like the obvious choice.
Oliveira was enjoying an epic reign as the lightweight champion until he ran into Makhachev last year. He then rebounded with his own first-round win for Dariush, and was booked for a rematch with Makhachev in October, only to pull out of the fight with an injury.
A fight with Tsarukyan, who will land in the lightweight top five when the rankings are updated, looks like the perfect matchup for the former champ when he's ready to return. The Armenian is clearly one of the best lightweights out there right now, and is one of the few fighters in MMA to rival Oliveira's propensity for highlight reel finishes on the feet and the mat. It makes sense from a rankings standpoint, and is just about guaranteed to deliver in terms of excitement.
Jalin Turner vs. Benoit Saint-Denis
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Heading into December, Jalin Turner had surely accepted the fact that he would close out 2023 riding back-to-back split decision losses to Dan Hooker and Mateusz Gamrot. Then the UFC called him and asked him to step in against Bobby Green in Austin, and the rest, as they say, is history.
After knocking Green senseless in the card's co-main event, Turner suddenly has a very different outlook heading into 2024. Instead of starting the year eager to rebound from one of the toughest skids of his career, he'll be looking to build on the momentum of arguably the best performance of his career.
We'd like to see him keep the momentum going against No. 11 contender Benoit Saint-Denis. The Frenchman is ranked one spot ahead of Turner and is also riding a vicious, first-round knockout, having recently shut the lights off on Matt Frevola.
The two lightweights are neck-and-neck in the rankings, are riding similar wins, and are both incredibly dangerous on the feet and on the mat. Much like a potential Tsarukyan vs. Oliveira fight, this one has all the makings of a thriller.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
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Former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo made quite a splash in his bantamweight debut, battling the always dangerous Rob Font to a clear-cut unanimous decision victory on Saturday's main card.
The win over the No. 8-ranked Font should set Figueiredo up for another big opportunity at bantamweight, and we're going to suggest a really big one: a fight with Merab Dvalishvili.
Dvalishvili, who is riding six straight wins, including a lopsided decision defeat of former champ Petr Yan, has at this point more than earned a title shot. However, he was passed up for the opportunity so that reigning champ Sean O'Malley can run it back with Marlon "Chito" Vera at UFC 299 in March, and even beyond that, there's no real guarantee he'll be next in line.
Unless he plans on sitting out for the next seven or eight months, he'll need to take another fight. A fight with Figueiredo seems like the perfect way for him to stay busy. As a former flyweight champ, the Brazilian has plenty of name value, and after he beat up on Font, he's deserving of the opportunity to fight a top-ranked bantamweight like Dvalishvili.
Book it for the UFC 299 main card—that way you have two top bantamweights on hand if O'Malley or Vera can't make it to the cage.
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Sean Brady vs. Gilbert Burns
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Late last year, Sean Brady suffered the first loss of his pro career at the hands of Belal Muhammad. After a planned fight with Jack Della Maddalena fell through this summer, he finally got back on track with a third-round submission of former middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum.
The win over Gastelum reasserted Brady as one of the top welterweights in the world, and it should set him up for somebody right on the cusp of title contention. Our pick is former title challenger Gilbert Burns.
Burns is riding a decision loss to Muhammad, but the fight occurred under extremely short-notice circumstances, and both men received criticism for their uninspired performances. Despite that hiccup, he remains one of the toughest tests in the welterweight division. As a decorated jiu jitsu champion, he's also one of the few welterweights out there with grappling chops to rival Brady's, and he backs that skillset up with vicious knockout power.
This seems like the perfect test for Brady right now, and a good opportunity for Burns to get back on track, too.
Miesha Tate vs. Holly Holm II
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Had Miesha Tate come up short against Julia Avila in Austin, she might well have retired. The former bantamweight champ was already riding back-to-back losses to Ketlen Vieira and Lauren Murphy, and at 37, a third setback might have been all the impetus she needed to hang 'em up.
In the end, however, Tate put forth a vintage performance, using her trademark chain wrestling to take Avila down at will and keep her pinned to that mat. For a while, it looked like she was cruising toward a lopsided decision win, but in the end, she put an end to things with a rear-naked choke in the third round.
The win isn't going to turn Tate back into a title contender, but it kept her career alive and should set up for some more tough fights, assuming she's still interested in competing.
Our pick for her next fight is a clash with another legend and former champion in Holly Holm.
Tate and Holm have met once before, all the way back at UFC 199 in 2016. Tate was challenging Holm for the title, and despite losing the bulk of the early rounds, ultimately became a champion with a dramatic, fifth-round submission.
There have been grounds for a rematch between the two women's MMA legends ever since. Today, though both are probably finished as title contenders, they're still capable of beating all the very best at 135 pounds. The timing seems perfect.
Book it for the landmark UFC 300 card this spring. If there's any two women who deserve a spot on the bill, it's Tate and Holm.
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