4 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Night

A dozen fights have come and gone.

Some results expected. Some surprising.

But a reality of every Saturday UFC show—regardless of whether it's on Fight Island, at the Apex or staged somewhere in between—is the callouts.

Winners, in the throes of competitive zeal, stand alongside a microphone in the center of the cage and shoot their shot toward whomever's next in line.

Sometimes the shots land. Sometimes they don't.

But the B/R combat team is here to inventory the callouts and give a thumbs-up on the ones that ought to be a priority. Here are four from Saturday in Abu Dhabi that we believe make the cut.

Take a look at what we came up with and drop a thought in the app comments.

Magomed Ankalaev vs. Paulo Costa

Raise your hand if you saw this coming.

Brazilian muscleman Paulo Costa, after his fourth loss in five fights at middleweight (to Sean Strickland in June 2024), would be a sought-out player at light heavyweight barely more than 24 months later.

But here we are, after Costa followed up the Strickland loss with consecutive defeats of Roman Kopylov (UD 3) and Azamat Murzakanov (KO 3) at 205 pounds, the former failed title challenger is a sought-after commodity at light heavyweight.

His name was on the lips of former champion and current No. 2 contender Magomed Ankalaev on Saturday, soon after the Russian finished ninth-ranked Bogdan Guskov by TKO in Round 5 at Etihad Arena.

"I believe I saw that Paulo Costa wrote something my direction. I'm not sure what he was trying to say," Ankalaev said at the post-show press conference. "Was he trying to bother me? Was he trying to get my attention? So if the champion is indeed going to be out for a little while, then potentially maybe we could have a good fight with Costa – unless he's going to be running away."

Ramazan Temirov vs. Joshua Van

There's something about Steve Erceg.

The Australian flyweight was fast-tracked to a title shot in just his fourth fight with the organization in 2024 and ultimately lost a unanimous decision to then-champ Alexandre Pantoja on the UFC 301 show in Brazil.

He'd remained in the title conversation with mixed results since, going 2-2 in four subsequent fights while beating Ode' Osbourne (UD 3) and Tim Elliott (UD 3) and losing to Kai Kara-France (KO 1) and Brandon Moreno (UD 5).

He was still ranked 13th heading into a Saturday date with third fight newbie Ramazan Temirov, which ended abruptly when the 29-year-old Uzbek flattened Erceg with a right hand and beat him into a first-round finish with a follow-up flurry that forced the hand of referee Mike Beltran at 4:21 of the first.

And not surprisingly, Temirov now wants the same "title shot with a bullet" treatment that Erceg had gotten upon his arrival a few years back.

"Joshua," he said, identifying champion Joshua Van, when asked what could be next.

Rizvan Kuniev vs. Curtis Blaydes

Sometimes, you've got to steer into the history angle.

Russian heavyweight Rizvan Kuniev was a dramatic winner in a main-card bout on Saturday's show, finishing Tyrell Fortune in the final round of their scheduled three-rounder with a knee at 1:12.

Lest anyone forget, the 34-year-old, who'd arrived ranked seventh in the weight class, was a narrow loser to long-time contender Curtis Blaydes just 13 months ago in Azerbaijan, winning one of three rounds on one scorecard while losing two of three on the other two, in June 2025.

Kuniev had won his one and only fight in the interim, beating Jailton Almeida by unanimous decision in February, and it's probably no surprise that Blaydes was on his mind when the topic of next in line came up.

"I'm ready for anybody the organization give me. Anybody the promotion offers me, I'll take them. But most importantly, I would love to fight Curtis Blaydes," Kuniev said. "The reason being is because we have sort of a history between us. He thinks he won the last fight. I think I might've won the last fight. So I think that we need another matchup, another fight, to figure out who's better because I don't think that one was decisive."

Valter Walker vs. Josh Hokit

If you're going to shoot a shot, make it a big one.

There's hardly a hotter name in the promotion these days than Josh Hokit, thanks to the chatty heavyweight's four straight UFC wins (three by finish) since a Contender Series debut and a proclivity for memorable post-fight rants.

Meanwhile, when it comes to unconventional finishes, it's all about Valter Walker.

The 28-year-old Brazilian, younger brother of high-profile light heavyweight Johnny Walker, scored a fifth consecutive finish of his own on Saturday when he forced a tap from Thomas Petersen via calf slicer at 1:32 of Round 1.

Walker had scored each of his previous four wins—from August 2024 through October 2025—via heel hook submissions, climbing into the No. 11 position in the heavyweight rankings after a loss in his UFC debut in April 2024.

So, with Hokit just six positions ahead of him, Walker had a logical target.

"I don't think he's a tough fight for me," Walker said. "Honestly, I don't think he's the fighter people are making him out to be. Come on, he's small. I'm not intimidated by that guy at all. Fight fans don't really understand fighting, you know? He beat Curtis Blaydes, I think that's the biggest win of his career. He beat him convincingly, sure. But I still don't know how Curtis Blaydes lost to him like that."