4 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Night: Fiziev vs. Torres

The UFC's matchmakers have some interesting decisions to make following the promotion's second visit to Baku, Azerbaijan.

The UFC returned to the city last Saturday, with a 13-fight card topped by a lightweight clash between top-15 contenders Rafael Fiziev and Manuel Torres. Fiziev, Azerbaijan's top MMA talent, ultimately won the fight in style, stopping his adversary with a spinning kick and follow-up punches in round two. It was a huge victory for the Azerbaijani star, who had been struggling greatly with results ahead of time, and it will ensure he's only matched up with top lightweights for the foreseeable future.

Saturday's co-headliner was contested in the middleweight division, where fan favorite striker Shara "Bullet" Magomedov took on enigmatic veteran Michel Pereira. Unfortunately—despite a high potential for spectacle—this fight fell a bit flat, as Magomedov slipped by his opponent with a decision win after three slow rounds. While it would have been nice to see both men push the pace a little more, it was still an important win for Magomedov, who still believes he can work his way to the top of the weight class.

Outside the top two fights on the bill, there were not a lot of big names participating in the UFC's return to Baku. That said, the card did feature appearances from several rising contenders and very exciting prospects, several of whom made big statements with highlight-reel finishes.

Here are the fights we'd like to see next for Fiziev and Magomedov, as well as a few matchup ideas for the other big winners from the UFC's return to Baku.

Rafael Fiziev vs. Mateusz Gamrot II

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Rafael Fiziev needed a win badly in Baku. While he wasn't really showing signs of decline ahead of time, his recent record suggested otherwise, as he had won just one of his last four fights. Granted, one of those losses was a flukey defeat to Mateusz Gamrot, and two others were close decision setbacks against Justin Gaethje, who is of course the new UFC lightweight champion, but there is just no substitute for victory, and it had definitely been eluding the Azerbaijani striker.

Now that he's back in the win column, he can breathe a little easier. He's still got some work to do to turn himself into a serious title contender, but he's no longer at risk of slipping completely out of the conversation, which is great.

Since Saturday's card there have been numerous suggestions of a fight between Rafael Fiziev and fellow striking specialist Dan Hooker. While that's definitely a fun idea, it makes no sense, as Fiziev now has some real momentum behind him, and Hooker has been dominated by Benoit Saint Denis and Arman Tsarukyan in his last two fights. It would be better to match Fiziev up with another ranked lightweight riding a win.

So how about a do-over with Gamrot?

As aforementioned, Fiziev's first fight with Gamrot ended with what can only be called a fluke stoppage, as he injured his own foot kicking his opponent's elbow in the first round of the fight. That outcome left plenty of room for a rematch, but for some reason, it hasn't happened yet.

With Fiziev riding a stunning win over Manual Torres, and Gamrot looking for an opponent after a recent submission defeat of Esteban Ribovics, the timing seems perfect. Let's just hope things end more decisively the second time around, no matter who wins.

Shara Magomedov vs. Ateba Gautier

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

After defeating Michel Pereira by decision in Saturday's co-headliner, Russia's Shara "Bullet" Magomedov is sporting a strong 17-1 MMA record, including wins in his last two fights. That all sounds great, but it doesn't really paint a full picture. The truth is that Magomedov hasn't looked that great in his recent fights—even those he's won. While he's technically getting the results he wants, he's definitely got some work to do if he wants to convince fans he's a serious threat to the fighters at the top of the middleweight division.

Let's give him the chance to make a real statement against Ateba Gautier.

Gautier, from Cameroon, isn't as big of a name as some of Magomedov's recent opponents, but has gone 5-0 since joining the UFC roster, and is one of the middleweight division's brightest prospects at the moment. He's definitely not as refined of a striker as Magomedov, but like his countryman Francis Ngannou, he possesses devastating power that gives him a good chance of victory against anybody.

It's a great matchup in that it would tell us a lot about what the future holds for both middleweights, and it could turn out to be a fun fight, even if Magomedov's performances have been a little underwhelming lately.

Ikram Aliskerov vs. Abus Magomedov

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

Saturday's card was an important one for the middleweight division—and not just because of the Shara Magomedov vs. Michel Pereira co-main event. The show also saw two other rising middleweights pick up big wins, as Ikram Aliskerov defeated Brunno Fereira by decision, and Abus Magomedov dropped and submitted Michał Oleksiejczuk in round one.

Aliskerov, who has now won two straight fights since a tough loss to Robert Whittaker, is probably a few rungs above Magomedov on the middleweight ladder. That said, Magomedov's Baku victory came against slightly better opposition, and certainly ended in more impressive fashion, as he sat his opponent down with an elbow, then choked him out. As such, it makes a good deal of sense to match them up against each other. The two fighters are also on the same schedule, having fought on the same night, so they should be ready to go again around the same time.

They'd both probably like to fight a bigger name next time out—Magomedov actually called out former champ Israel Adesanya after his win—but let's not get ahead of ourselves. Instead, let's match them up against each other, and give the winner a fight with somebody a little higher in the rankings.

Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev vs. Alonzo Menifield

Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC

It's time to get serious about Abdul Rakhman Yakhyaev.

Heading into Saturday, the Turkish light heavyweight sported a 9-0 MMA record, with all of his victories coming by way of stoppage, and most of those in the first round. While it bears mentioning his level of competition hasn't been great, it's been clear for some time that he is a very high-level prospect.

Despite that, Yakhyaev's latest fight saw him matched up with Julius Walker, a struggling light heavyweight who had gone just 1-2 in the UFC ahead of time. It looked like a huge mismatch on paper, and it turned out to be just that, as the prospect finished his opponent with strikes in just 8 seconds to keep his undefeated record intact. As impressive as the win was, it unfortunately served very little purpose, as it really seemed like foregone conclusion.

Hopefully, the UFC matchmakers are done giving Yakhyaev these kinds of matchups. He's ready for much tougher opposition.

From here, we'd like to see him matched up with American knockout artist Alonzo Menifield. While Menifield has been quite inconsistent in the Octagon, he's been ranked on the outer edges of the top-15 years, and is fresh of a thrilling knockout win over the dangerous Zhang Mingyang—also in the first round. Truth be told, he would probably be a significant underdog against a prospect with Yakhyaev's momentum, but he's just the kind of credible test the up-and-comer needs to pass before mixing it up with the division's best fighters.

Let's see if Yakhyaev can rise to the occasion.