Matches To Make After UFC 293

UFC 293 went down last night (Sat., Sept. 9, 2023) inside Qudos Bank Arena in Sydney, Australia, which saw Sean Strickland upset Israel Adesanya after pulling off one of the biggest shockers of the year, dominating “The Last Stylebender” for 25 minutes to become the new Middleweight champion (see it here). In further action, Alexander Volkov stopped Tai Tuivasa via submission in round two of their Heavyweight tilt to earn his third straight win (highlights).

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Winner: Sean Strickland

Who He Should Face Next: Israel Adesanya rematch…I guess

After Strickland did the unthinkable, many felt Driccus Du Plessis would be the new champion’s first challenge. But that may not be the case if Dana White has a say in the matter (he does). That’s because the outspoken president revealed during the post-fight presser that a rematch between Strickland and Adesanya was highly-intriguing. It’s nothing new, really, because “Izzy” was given that same opportunity after Alex Periera knocked him out, allowing him to regain the strap in the rematch. Since “The Last Stylebender” has been ruling the division for a while, it’s not out of the question that we get another do-over. Sorry, Driccus.

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Winner: Alexander Volkov

Who He Should Face Next: Wait and see…

Volkov finds himself in an odd situation at the moment. He has losses to Ciryl Gane, Tom Aspinall, Curtis Blaydes, three fighters ranked ahead of him. I kind of like a fight between he and Jailton Almeida, assuming the big man gets through the aforementioned Curtis Blaydes in a couple of months. Another fresh matchup would be against Stipe Miocic should the former champion come up short against Jon Jones at UFC 295. For now, Volkov can sit back to see how it all unfolds in the coming months because it doesn’t make sense for him to fight someone ranked below him if he wants to get into championship consideration. Unless he wants to get revenge on Derrick Lewis.

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Winner: Manel Kape

Who He Should Face Next: Kai Kara-France

Kape and France were set to throw down in a pivotal Flyweight bout at this event before Kara-France bowed as a result of a concussion. The two men got into a war of words at the pre-fight press conference, which also got Adesanya involved. It only makes sense to re-book this fight after Kape managed to scrap by late replacement and UFC newcomer. Felipe dos Santos.

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Winner: Justin Tafa

Who He Should Face Next: Chris Barnett

Tafa improved to 3-0-1 after settling his business with Austen Lane, knocking him out in the very first round (see it again here). Up next for Tafa, a showdown against fellow big man, Chris Barnett, sounds interesting. Barnett was last seen knocking out Jack Collier at UFC 279 exactly a year ago. His return was delayed after he withdrew from his scheduled showdown against Chase Sherman earlier this year. If “Huggy Bear” is ready to get back into the swing of things, this would make for an interesting matchup.

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Winner: Tyson Pedro

Who He Should Face Next: Alonzo Menifield

Pedro picked up an impressive technical knockout (TKO) win over Anton Turkalj (see it) improving his record to 3-1 in his last four fights inside the Octagon. The longtime veteran is starting to put it together, and a few more wins could really get him on track for bigger and better fights. I would like to see a matchup between Pedro and Menifield next because both men are on pretty good runs. Menifield is 3-0-1 in his last four fights, and is coming off a big win over Jimmy Crute, choking him out at UFC 290 a couple of months ago. The winner here takes a huge leap forwards toward a spot in the rankings.

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For complete UFC 293 results, coverage, and highlights click HERE.