7 Fights We Need to See After UFC 296
Saturday's UFC 296 card in Las Vegas was the promotion's last offering of the year, and in the end, it set the stage for some huge matchups for the first half of 2024.
The card was headlined by a welterweight title fight, with champion Leon Edwards looking for his second title defense against former interim champ Colby Covington. Edwards bested his challenger without much effort, controlling the fight on the feet and on the mat en route to a clear-cut unanimous decision.
There was also a title up for grabs in the co-headliner, with new flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja taking on challenger Brandon Royval in his first defense. The bout was a rematch of 2021 bout that Pantoja won by submission. Royval avoided getting finished the second time around, but he ultimately came up short again, losing a unanimous decision.
Earlier on the card, undefeated welterweight contender Shavkat Rakhmonov picked up the biggest win of his career with a submission win over two-time title challenger Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, and rising lightweight Paddy Pimblett made a triumphant return to action with a decision win over former interim champion Tony Ferguson.
The main card was kicked off by a stunning performance from featherweight contender Josh Emmett, who cemented himself as the division's hardest puncher with a vicious knockout of Bryce Mitchell.
All of the main card's winners can expect to see some big names on their next bout offers.
Keep scrolling to see the fights we're hoping will be made next.
Leon Edwards vs. Belal Muhammad
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At this point, it seems just about certain that the next crack at Leon Edwards and the UFC welterweight title will go to Belal Muhammad.
The No. 2-ranked welterweight has been victorious in nine of his last 10 fights. The lone hiccup in that stretch came in a fight with Edwards, which was ruled a No Contest after Muhammad suffered an accidental eye poke and could not continue.
He's on one of the hottest streaks in the division, beating the likes of Gilbert Burns, Sean Brady, Vicente Luque, Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia. He's got unfinished business with the champion. Edwards isn't sold on Muhammad as the next welterweight title challenger, but it has to be him.
Anything else would make a mockery of the promotion's rankings and call the integrity of its matchmakers into question.
Colby Covington vs. Dustin Poirier
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Colby Covington is in a tough spot after his lopsided UFC 296 loss to Leon Edwards.
It was the worst performance of his career, and his third failed bid for the welterweight title. He's got plenty of options in the welterweight division going forward, due in large part to the fact that he barely ever fights, but has always been very picky about the kinds of matchups he accepts, and will likely only take a winnable fight against a big name at this point.
Let us suggest lightweight legend Dustin Poirier.
While Poirier is likely only a win a way from a crack at lightweight champion Islam Makhachev, he's also found himself in a tough position after a knockout loss to Justin Gaethje.
In the time since that loss, he has stated repeatedly that he won't fight again until he's offered a fight that interests him. He seems to be eyeing a long-awaited clash with current free agent Nate Diaz, but that will depend on Diaz re-signing with the UFC, so perhaps he should consider Covington.
The pair are former training partners at American Top Team, but have been enemies since Covington turned heel and burned all his bridges at the gym, and they have a score to settle.
For that to happen, Poirier would need to move up to welterweight. While he seems to have cooled on that idea recently, he has expressed interest in making it happen in the past, and he could probably be convinced for the right price. Covington's awful UFC 296 performance has also probably given the lightweight more confidence that he could beat his old training partner despite being at a notable size disadvantage.
Alexandre Pantoja vs. Moreno-Albazi Winner
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Brazilian flyweight Alexandre Pantoja can now call himself a defending UFC champion, having thwarted would-be usurper Brandon Royval in the UFC 296 co-main event.
Much like Leon Edwards, it's pretty clear who he'll be defending his title against next: the winner of a February 24 fight between Brandon Moreno and Amir Albazi.
Moreno is a two-time former champion and the man Pantoja beat with a narrow split decision to win the belt earlier this year. He arguably already deserves a rematch with Pantoja based on his previous accomplishments, and if he beats Albazi, he'll be pretty much undeniable.
The same will be true for Albazi. The 30-year Iraqi is a fantastic 17-1 overall and has won five straight fights in the Octagon. While his recent split-decision defeat of Kai Kara-France was pretty controversial, a win over someone like Moreno—particularly a convincing win—will make him the obvious top contender.
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Shavkat Rakhmonov vs. Sean Brady
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If it weren't for the existence of Belal Muhammad, Kazakhstan's Shavkat Rakhmonov would be eyeing a crack at UFC welterweight champ Leon Edwards right now. With his UFC 296 submission of Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson, he is now a stunning 18-0 with finishes in every one of his victories. Unfortunately, he is going to have to wait his turn. An Edwards vs. Muhammad fight might not be a blockbuster, but it's the fight to make next.
Given that Edwards just fought, we're unlikely to see him defend against Muhammad until late spring at the earliest. In the unlikely event that the winner of a fight in that time frame emerges unscathed, Rakhmonov could probably get his title in the early fall, but the end of the year or even early 2025 seems like a safer bet.
He might be willing to sit out all that time to wait for a title shot, but he also needs to get paid and will probably be compelled to take another fight in the meantime as a result.
In that event, we'd suggest a fight with No. 7 contender Sean Brady, who is riding a lopsided win over Kelvin Gastelum. It would be a bit of a step down for Rakhmonov, who will most likely crack the Top 5 when the rankings are updated, but it seems like his only option, with former champ Kamaru Usman currently committed to the middleweight division and No. 4 contender Gilbert Burns newly occupied with a UFC 299 fight with the 11th-ranked Jack Della Maddalena.
It's too bad, really. Colby Covington didn't even deserve his UFC 296 title shot, having won just twice in his last five fights. If the UFC had given the opportunity to Muhammad, Rakhmonov would probably be looking at a title shot before the snow melts in Kazakhstan.
Paddy Pimblett vs. Diego Ferreira
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England's Paddy Pimblett picked up his fifth straight Octagon win on the UFC 296 main card, scoring a decision win over former interim lightweight champion Tony Ferguson. It wasn't a perfect performance, and it did little to dispel the growing perception that Pimblett isn't championship material, but having extended his unbeaten UFC run, he deserves another step up all the same.
Our pick is Brazil's Diego Ferreira, who has been hovering on the fringes of the Top 15 for ages. The BJJ black belt suffered three-straight losses in 2021, but after a year-long hiatus, returned in May and scored a vicious knockout of Michael Johnson, reaffirming that he's just as dangerous on the feet as he is on the mat.
The Brazilian looks like a tough matchup for Pimblett, but it's the kind of test that makes sense for the Brit at this stage, and if he wins it, he might even be looking at a fight with a Top-15 opponent.
Josh Emmett vs. Edson Barboza
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Josh Emmett was behind one of the most brutal knockouts of the year at UFC 296, flattening fellow featherweight contender Bryce Mitchell in the main card opener. The win got the sixth-ranked featherweight back on track after losses to Yair Rodriguez and Ilia Topuria—two of the best featherweights in the world—and should set him up for another fun fight in the division.
That could certainly be a rescheduled fight with his original UFC 296 opponent, Georgian kickboxer Giga Chikadze, who was replaced by Mitchell after suffering an injury. However, we'd like to put forward another idea: a clash with Brazilian knockout artist Edson Barboza.
Barboza is ranked some distance behind Emmett, at No. 11, but is ready for a step up after back-to-back wins over Billy Quarantillo and Sodiq Yusuff.
The real appeal of this fight, though, is that Emmett and Barboza are arguably the two biggest knockout threats in the division. This one will be engaging as long as it lasts.
Cody Garbrandt vs. Deiveson Figueiredo
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Former UFC bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt was back in action on the UFC 296 undercard, scoring a first-round knockout win over Bryan Kelleher. It was a vintage performance from the former champ, and it put him on a two-fight streak, as he also beat Trevin Jones by decision earlier this year.
Garbrandt's recent wins have been sorely needed, as they have distanced him from a tough 1-5 run between 2017 and 2021, which featured several brutal knockout losses. The wins should also set him up for a big fight in the weight class.
If he gets his way, that will be a fight with former flyweight champion Deiveson Figuiredo.
Brazil's Figueiredo recently debuted at bantamweight with an impressive decision win over long-time contender Rob Font. That win earned him the No. 8 spot in the rankings, which would make him a bit of a step up for Garbrandt, who is unranked. However, given that most of the top 10 is booked up right now, he doesn't really have any better options.
The Brazilian also has some history with Garbrandt, which the former bantamweight champ referenced in his post-fight callout. They were set to fight for the flyweight title in 2020, but the plan fell through when Garbrandt suffered a torn bicep.
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