Sean Shelby’s Shoes: What’s next for Usman, Volkanovski, Nunes after UFC 245?

Sean Shelby’s Shoes: What’s next for Usman, Volkanovski, Nunes after UFC 245?

After every event, fans wonder whom the winners will be matched up with next.

With another night of UFC action in the rearview mirror, it’s time to look forward, put on a pair of Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard’s shoes, and play UFC matchmaker for UFC 245’s key winning fighters.

Those wins including Kamaru Usman (16-1 MMA, 11-0 UFC), who defended his welterweight title for the first time against Colby Covington (15-2 MMA, 10-2 UFC) in the headliner at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, as well as champs Alexander Volkanovski (21-1 MMA, 8-0 UFC), Amanda Nunes (19-4 MMA, 12-1 UFC) and big winners Marlon Moraes (23-6-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC), Petr Yan (14-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) and Geoff Neal (13-2 MMA, 5-0 UFC).

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Geoff Neal

Should fight: Santiago Ponzinibbio

Why they should fight: Neal continued to thrive to begin his UFC tenure when, in his most high profile fight to date, he turned in his most impressive performance with a 90-second TKO of Mike Perry.

Neal destroying the fan favorite opened a lot of eyes in the MMA world, and now he is very much deserving a big fight in the welterweight division. He’s the first fighter in the weight class to start 5-0 in the octagon since Usman, and that should say a lot about his potential.

On the broadcast, commentator Daniel Cormier suggested a matchup with Ponzinibbio (27-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC), who is on a seven-fight winning streak but has been out of action since November 2018. It appears he’s back training now, though, and if healthy, a showdown against Neal has the potential for dazzling results.

Petr Yan

Should fight: Marlon Moraes

Why they should fight: Yan added a signature win to his resume when he picked UFC Hall of Famer Urijah Faber apart for more than two rounds before ending it with strikes in the third to improve to 6-0 inside the octagon.

It has seemed like Yan’s basically been in cruise control for most of his octagon tenure. He’s yet to have an opponent to push him to the brink, and usually when that happens, a title shot is in order.

Unfortunately for Yan, though, he still lacks the name value of other bantamweight contenders, and with Henry Cejudo holding both the 135-pound and flyweight titles, Yan’s chances of being selected to challenge for the title out of all the possible options seems grim. That’s just reality.

Yan is a fighting machine, though, and there’s no question he’ll take another fight to strengthen his profile. Moraes is the perfect top contender.

Marlon Moraes

Should fight: Petr Yan

Why they should fight: Moraes got the split decision nod over Jose Aldo just minutes after Yan got his victory. Right then, the stars seemingly aligned for a matchup.

Moraes is trying to get back to a bantamweight title shot after losing to Cejudo in his first opportunity at UFC 238 in June. He was doing extremely well in that matchup, but then Cejudo made a brilliant strategic adjustment and got himself back in the fight.

It’s not unfathomable to think Moraes could beat Cejudo, he just needs to make his argument for that rematch. There would be few better ways to do that than hand Yan his first octagon loss.

Amanda Nunes

Should fight: Irene Aldana

Why they should fight: It’s kind of hard to figure out what you do with Nunes at this point. She has trucked every title challenger available across two divisions, and the potential contenders for her look like names who would merely be rushed into that spot.

That’s ultimately what the UFC will have to be forced to do, though, following Nunes’ one-sided decision over Germaine de Randamie. But, the promotion is left in a real pickle if Nunes wants to defend her featherweight belt, because there’s simply just nobody there outside of Megan Anderson coming off a win.

It would be in Nunes’ best interest to wait around and see if an interesting contender emerges. She likes to stay active, though, and that means the UFC will have to cobble something together. It might have to come at 135 pounds, and if that’s the case, Aldana (12-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) seems like the natural next available contender following her stunning knockout
of Ketlen Vieira.

Alexander Volkanovski

Should fight: Max Holloway

Why they should fight: Watch the video above to see why Volkanovski should rematch Holloway (21-5 MMA, 17-5 UFC) next for his first title defense.

Kamaru Usman

Should fight: Jorge Masvidal
Why they should fight: 

Watch the video above to see why Usman should fight Masvidal (35-13 MMA, 12-6 UFC) next for his second title defense.