After UFC Macau on Saturday, 26 fighters will have weeks to months to wait to hear about their next bout. After going over the top names on the card, the ranked fighters of UFC Macau, we now take a look at who should be next for winners and other notable unranked main card fighters. Here are the articles on Petr Yan & Deiveson Figueiredo, Yan Xiaonan & Tabatha Ricci, and Carlos Ulberg & Volkan Oezdemir.
Muslim Salikhov
Muslim Salikhov turned 40 earlier this year, but on Saturday he turned back the clock with a spinning wheel kick knockout, becoming the first fighter with two such KOs in UFC history.
Salikhov can clearly still compete with decent welterweights, so a fight against a fellow veteran like Jake Matthews makes sense. Matthews, like Salikhov, won his last fight but has had up and down results lately.
Salikhov’s Next Fight: vs Jake Matthews
Gabriella Fernandes
Fernandes did the unthinkable on Saturday when everyone had counted her out, as a 7-1 underdog she finished a former kickboxer who once beat Valentina Shevchenko, knocking her down on the feet before sinking in a choke.
After starting her UFC career 0-2, Fernandes has fixed things to get to 2-2. If she beats another young flyweight, like Eduarda Moura and her 2-1 UFC record, then maybe she will be ready to face veterans like JJ Aldrich or Maryna Moroz.
Fernandes’ Next Fight: vs Eduarda Moura
Wang Cong
Being knocked off of one’s undefeated throne cannot feel good, but it happens to almost everyone at some point. For China’s budding kickboxing sensation, it came in her seventh professional fight. Nobody thought Cong would become a UFC champion after starting her MMA career at age 30, but most thought she would lose to a grappler further down the line.
Regardless, this does not mean she is not UFC level; she was dominating her opponent before the knockdown and still clearly has the striking/power to engineer fun fights at women’s flyweight.
Cong can fight against someone like Ivana Petrovic, who is 1-2 in the UFC but has potential as a former Ares FC champion and will be able to threaten Wang on the ground and the feet.
Cong’s Next Fight: vs Ivana Petrovic
Mingyang Zhang
‘The Mountain Tiger’ earned his second straight UFC win by first round knockout, extending his overall streak to eleven. He also won each of those eleven fights in the first round; that and the knockout power have the athletic light-heavyweight on a potential track to stardom. Maximizing this opportunity to fight on the first UFC card in China since 2020 helps as well.
After all, the UFC is looking for a male star from China as they already have champ Zhang Weili and even Yan Xiaonan on the female side. If Zhang can become a ranked light-heavyweight then there is no doubt he will be pushed as a budding star.
Yet his third UFC fight is not the time to fight in the rankings, not yet. He could perhaps fight #15 Alonzo Menifield, but a fight against someone on the fringes makes more sense now. Someone like Philipe Lins – a former PFL heavyweight champion – would be the best fighter ‘the Mountain Tiger’ has ever fought, and would legitimately test him on the feet, with the potential for a wrestling attack as well.
Zhang’s Next Fight: vs Philipe Lins
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