B/R Staff Roundtable: Questions That Need to Be Answered After UFC 255

UFC 255: Figueiredo vs. Perez has come and gone, so now all there's left to do is sort through what happened at UFC APEX in Las Vegas on Saturday night and think about all the new questions that emerged afterward.

To help sort through everything, Bleacher Report's MMA team got together to discuss the four most important questions that need to be answered following the latest UFC pay-per-view event.

Read through our takes, and be sure to leave your own in the comments.

Has Deiveson Figueiredo Saved the UFC Flyweight Division?

Leo Correa/Associated Press

Savior of UFC's flyweight division?

Kelsey McCarson: I don't know if Deiveson Figueiredo saved it, but he's certainly made the men's 125-pound division way more compelling to watch than it would be without him.

Figueiredo is one heck of a fighter. He's fast, powerful and just as adept at knocking people out as he is submitting them. Most importantly, Figueiredo is ambitious. UFC president Dana White told the media after UFC 255 he already wants to fight again next month.

On top of that, Figueiredo revealed to Heavy's Stephen McCaugherty last week he wants to become the next UFC "champ champ." So I don't know about him saving the division, but I do know he's on his way to doing big things.

Tom Taylor: Figueiredo is an exciting flyweight champion, and unlike his predecessor Henry Cejudo, he actually seems intent on staying put rather than immediately hiking up to bantamweight. That's a good thing for the division. That being said, I don't think he can be given sole credit for saving it.

The division is definitely better than ever right now, but it's not just because of its exciting new champ. It's also packed with fresh and compelling contenders like Brandon Moreno, Askar Askarov, Brandon Royval, Kai Kara-France and David Dvorak, and any of them could conceivably give the champ a run for his money under the right circumstances.

A division is the sum of its parts, and right now, flyweight has a lot of interesting parts.

Lyle Fitzsimmons: I'll leave the purist definition of the term "saved" to those with a higher level of education than my own. But if you're asking me if the champion and his menacing ways have become a must-watch proposition and therefore made the division a must-watch along with him, my answer is: absolutely.

It's amazing when I stop and consider he's five inches shorter and 30 pounds lighter than my 12-year-old son, because Figueiredo is a baaaad man.

He has an aura that screams, "I'm going to be violent and you won't be able to look away," but the sublime skill he showed in working Alex Perez into a submission showed that it's far beyond just car-crash titillation. It's sophisticated destruction, and it will make me come back every time he's on the marquee.

No other 125-pounder does that for me, so I'll call it a yes.

Did Valentina Shevchenko Show Vulnerability in Her Win over Jennifer Maia?

Nam Y. Huh/Associated Press

Invincible or vulnerable in the flyweight division?

Kelsey McCarson: Valentina Shevchenko is only human, so if there exists any more vulnerability today in one's viewpoint of her as the women's flyweight champion, I think probably that's only because one would have had to buy into the idea that she was somehow invincible in her division in the first place.

Nobody is that.

Shevchenko knows that, and it's part of what makes her so special. No matter what happens on fight night, Shevchenko told me last week that she's always trying to improve. She's been operating under the same mindset since she was five years old, and that's why when she finds herself in tough fights as she did against Jennifer Maia, she rises to the occasion.

Tom Taylor: Prior to UFC 255, it was difficult to imagine Shevchenko losing a round. But now we've seen it happen, and it's possible that somebody who implements the right blend of pressure and grappling could make it happen again—somebody like Jessica Andrade.

Andrade, who is hyper-aggressive, wickedly powerful, and lethal on the mat, will probably get the next crack at Shevchenko. After watching the champ's fleeting patch of adversity at UFC 255, it's a lot easier to picture the Brazilian springing the upset in that potential matchup.

So, yes. It was a hint of vulnerability, but vulnerability nonetheless.

Lyle Fitzsimmons: The mere fact that we're asking the question shows the women's flyweight champ is a victim of her own greatness.

She clearly won four rounds while coming off an injury against a streaking third-ranked contender who'd been a champion in another promotion, and it wasn't like the round she lost was a beatdown in the other direction. In fact, there was never a moment in the fight where I stopped and said, "Shevchenko could lose."

Does that mean she'll win every fight from here on out? No. But I didn't see anything Saturday that makes me think anyone in the top 15 at 125 pounds would arrive as anything better than a prohibitive underdog. In fact, the only fights that will move the intrigue needle for me will be crossovers with other champions.

Too good for her own good in her weight class? Yes. But vulnerable there? Absolutely not.

Is It Time for Shogun Rua to Call It Quits?

Gregory Payan/Associated Press

Is it time for a ride into the sunset?

Kelsey McCarson: I think it's silly to suggest Shogun Rua should retire after losing to Paul Craig at UFC 255.

Rua is 2-2-1 over his last five fights, and he's competing in the premier MMA promotional company in the world. There are plenty of fighters in the world who would love to post .500 records competing in the UFC's Octagon, so pushing Rua out of the sport based on any relevant data seems impossible to me at this point.

Tom Taylor: This is a tough one. Shogun is clearly a lot slower and more fragile than he was in his heyday, but as Kelsey pointed out, he's 2-2-1 in his last five fights. That's really not that bad, especially considering the level of competition he's been facing.

With that in mind, I'd recommend that he shift his attention from fights with top-15 contenders to fights with athletes of his vintage. He'd also make a good opponent for somebody like former UFC middleweight champ Luke Rockhold, who has struggled to find wins over the last few years.

He should no longer be fighting contenders, but there are other options for him beyond retirement.

Lyle Fitzsimmons: It's a debate as old as sports. And it works particularly well in combat sports.

Fighter A was a champion in his/her prime, but those days are gone. He/she is still capable of competing and winning as often as losing against B-level competition, but championships are no longer a real possibility. In boxing, it was a discussion I often had about guys like Evander Holyfield and Roy Jones Jr., both of whom fought well into their 40s against lower-profile opposition while the masses howled about damaged legacies.

I never had a problem with them, and I've got no issue with Rua. So long as he can pass physicals, make contracted weights and display enough skills to keep himself out of serious danger—and assuming he still wants to fight—I say let him go on for as long as he wants.

Would I have rather seen Holyfield and Jones ride into the sunset with title belts? Of course. But not everyone gets, or even wants, that fairy tale. And, sure, I would have preferred Shogun's resume not to include one-sided routs to the likes of Paul Craig, too. But it won't take the shine off the glory days.

Joaquin Buckley: Buy or Sell the Hype?

Evan Agostini/Associated Press/Associated Press

Should you buy stock in Buckley?

Kelsey McCarson: Not only am I buying the hype of Joaquin Buckley, but I'm converting all my other assets into Buckley stock.

This guy has everything. He looks the part. He knocks people out. He comes through under pressure. Buckley is the next big thing in the sport. Kanye West already figured that out when he built the release of his latest track around Buckley's viral knockout. It's time for the rest of us to start recognizing it, too.

Tom Taylor: Contrary to my MMA betting habits, I am a cautious investor, so I'm not ready to buy the Buckley hype just yet.

As incredible as he's looked in his two most recent fights, it was less than six months ago that he was knocked senseless by Kevin Holland. Throw in the fact he also lost twice in the Bellator cage, and that he's seemingly undersized for the middleweight division, and you can hopefully understand my skepticism.

I need to see a bit more from him before I'm convinced he's a legitimate contender and not just a flash in the pan.

Lyle Fitzsimmons: I don't know if Buckley will ever be a champion at 185 pounds, or anywhere else. But I do know one thing. I want to watch. So, you can mark me down as bullish on the New Mansa hype.

Buckley is a big, strong guy with obvious skills and thunder in his strikes. And he's got that extra something that's reserved for the truly magnetic stars of the sport. The guys to whom you must pay attention no matter who they're fighting or what time it's on. He's an "it" guy.

He does things no one else does. He leaves guys in heaps that leave marks on your memory. And the fact that he's done it to consecutive highly regarded prospects gives the impression that there's a lot more room to rise. I want to see him with James Krause. I want to see him with Khamzat Chimaev. And if things go well over the next 12 to 24 months, I want to see him fight someone who arrives with a belt.

It may not be Apple at $10 a share, but it's certainly a stock worth investing in.