4 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Night: Song vs. Figueiredo

Song Yadong's return to Asia couldn't have gone much better.

Song, who is from China but has spent years training at Team Alpha Male in Sacramento, was back in action in the main event of the UFC's Saturday stop in Macau. His opponent was former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo, from Brazil. Both men have been mainstays of the bantamweight top-15 for several years.

While Song is generally known for his boxing and punching power, he showed off a different side of his game this time around, submitting his Brazilian rival with a guillotine choke in round two. In victory, he will continue to be a player at the top of the bantamweight division, and may well get a top-5 opponent next.

Song wasn't the only fighter to significantly improve his standing in Macau. In the card's co-main event, light heavyweight veteran Alonzo Menifield did the same, spoiling the homecoming of China's Zhang Mingyang with a first-round KO. He can also expect a big name opponent next time out.

Outside the top two fights of the night, the biggest winners of Saturday's card were Russia's Sergei Pavlovich, and Japan's Kai Asakura, both of whom also scored impressive knockouts. Pavlovich, a heavyweight, finished Tallison Teixeira inside a round. Asakura, a former flyweight title challenger making his bantamweight debut, blew away Cameron Smotherman, also in round one.

Here's what we like to see next for Song, Menifield, Pavlovich and Asakura after Saturday's UFC card in Macau.

Song Yadong vs. Umar Nurmagomedov

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Song Yadong's submission win over Deiveson Figueiredo was very impressive, but he's unfortunately in a bit of a tough situation nonetheless. After his latest victory, he is just 2-2 in his last four. While all four of those fights have been against elite bantamweights, he's just been too inconsistent to become a serious title contender, and will definitely need to put together a solid win streak if he intends to make it happen.

We'd like to see him try to get a streak going against Russia's Umar Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov has been one of the top three or four bantamweights in the UFC for a few years now. After back-to-back decision wins over Mario Bautista and Figueiredo, he's probably hoping for a crack at the title himself, but it's not going to happen. The next shot at reigning champ Petr Yan is all but guaranteed to go Merab Dvalishvili, who Nurmagomedov lost to last year. With that option off the table for the time being, a fight with Song makes a lot of sense for him. Despite spending years in the top-15 together, they have yet to meet in the Octagon, and it's a great matchup on paper, as both guys are very well rounded.

The UFC may be looking to match Nurmagomedov up with Sean O'Malley, who is set to fight Aiemann Zahabi at the White House in two weeks' time, but who knows how that one will end. O'Malley could certainly lose, and even if he wins, it could be months before he's ready to fight.

Nurmagomedov vs. Song is a great fight that could be made before the summer is out.

Alonzo Menifield vs. Dominick Reyes

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Alonzo Menifield is probably never going to fight for the UFC light heavyweight title, but he is clearly capable of beating anybody outside the top 13 or 14 best fighters in the division. He proved that again in Macau, when he wiped out Zhang Mingyang in a wild, one-round war.

With his win over Zhang, Menifield is now 3-1 in his last four. That success should set him up for a nice step up in competition. Our choice for his next opponent would be No. 11 contender Dominick Reyes.

Most hardcore fans known Reyes' story. He nearly beat Jon Jones in what would have been one of the greatest upsets in UFC history, then completely fell off, losing three straight fights by knockout. While that looked like the end of the road for him, he's since gone 4-1, losing only to reigning champ Carlos Ulberg in that stretch. While his latest win, a decision defeat of Johnny Walker, was objectively horrible to watch, he's proven he's still a high-level fighter, and a real player in the division.

Given their recent results, Menifield and Reyes are right in each other's orbits, and surprisingly, they've yet to meet in the Octagon. It's a matchup that makes sense for both of them right now, and there's a great chance it ends in a highlight-reel KO, one way or the other.

Sergei Pavlovich vs. Serghei Spivac

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After knocking out Tallison Teixeira in Macau, Sergei Pavlovich is now riding three-straight victories. Based on his post-fight comments, he believes that should set him up for a crack at the belt, but that clearly isn't going to happen, because the division is in shambles right now.

Undisputed champ Tom Aspinall is still out of action, recovering from an eye injury he suffered in a fight with Ciryl Gane. In his absence, Gane will fight Alex Pereira for the division's interim title at the White House in two weeks' time. If reason prevails, Aspinall will fight the new interim champ to unify the title sometime late this year. Beyond that, Alexander Volkov will probably get the next opportunity to fight for gold—especially since he's beaten Pavlovich.

All that to say, there is a huge, messy queue forming at the top of the division, and Pavlovich is nowhere near the front of it. He's going to need to keep working.

Our pick for his next opponent is Moldova's Serghei Spivac. Spivac has been a little more consistent than Pavlovich overall, but is riding a dominant win over former PFL champ Ante Delija, which put him just behind the Russian in the rankings. Pavlovich could certainly also fight Josh Hokit, who is set to fight Derrick Lewis at the White House, but let's not matchmake for him until that fight is over.

Kai Asakura vs. Davey Grant

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Kai Asakura needed a win in Macau. Badly.

The Japanese fighter, who is a massive star in his home country, and a former champ in Rizin, made his UFC debut late last year, walking right into a title fight with flyweight champ Alexandre Pantoja. Unfortunately, he was quickly submitted in that fight, and to make matters worse, was then submitted again in his next fight, by a much less dangerous Tim Elliott. In hopes of giving himself a fresh start, then Asakura decided to move up to bantamweight. He made his debut in the division in Macau, opposite Cameron Smotherman.

Asakura looked like himself again against Smotherman, showing off the sizzling knockout power he became known for in Rizin en route to a quick KO win. The victory isn't going to turn him into a bantamweight title challenger overnight, or even put him in the top-15, but it leaves him in a great position going forward.

From here, we'd like to see him matched up with England's Davey Grant.

At 40 years old, Grant should not still be winning in the UFC, but he's amazingly 3-1 in his last four, and continues to collect bonuses as one of the promotion's most underrated action fighters. A fight between him and Asakura would be a guaranteed barnburner that would surely end with somebody leaving the cage with a bonus—possibly both of them, if their chins hold up.