5 fights to make following UFC Fight Night: Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady
The UFC's latest Fight Night event is in the books. For once, the Las Vegas APEX were treated to a fun show, too.
UFC Fight Night: Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady featured a lot of excellent fights with some truly nasty finishes on offer.
With a number of fighters winning big to move into title contention, too, the matchmakers have their hands full in deciding where they go next.
Here are five fights to make following UFC Fight Night: Gilbert Burns vs. Sean Brady.
#5 UFC welterweight bout: Gilbert Burns vs. Michael 'Venom' Page
Gilbert Burns suffered a loss in last night's headliner, going down over five rounds to Sean Brady.
To be fair to 'Durinho', though, he didn't perform horribly, and instead pushed Brady to his limits. With that considered, the Brazilian still feels like a very viable gatekeeper at 170 pounds.
Therefore, a good match for him could be flashy striker Michael 'Venom' Page. 'MVP' is coming off a loss to Ian Machado Garry, but is still ranked at No.13 in the division.
The former Bellator star is perhaps too old to be considered a "prospect", but he's still quite new to the UFC, and so putting him in with a high-level gatekeeper like Burns would make sense.
Either Page would win, and move up to the higher echelon, or he'd lose and we'd not only know his ceiling, but Burns would remain viable to face another highly touted prospect.
Add in the interesting style clash of striker against grappler, and this fight would be well worth putting together.
#4 UFC featherweight bout: Isaac Dulgarian vs. Nate Landwehr
Strangely in the spotlight after it became apparent that he was the largest betting favorite in UFC history, Isaac Dulgarian picked up a solid win over Brendon Marotte last night.
The win was clearly something that many observers saw coming, but it was hard to argue with the approach of 'The Midwest Choppa', who scored a submission win via arm triangle choke.
Given how heavily he was favored to win last night, it might be fair to give Dulgarian a step up of sorts. He's now 7-1 in MMA and 2-1 in the octagon, and so while he's not ready for an elite opponent, what about matching him with Nate Landwehr?
'The Train' is a proven, tough veteran with a number of solid wins to his name, including a knockout in his most recent bout. More to the point, he's usually involved in exciting, wild fights, and brings the action, win or lose.
If Dulgarian really does have the potential to make it into the top fifteen, then Landwehr is the kind of opponent he'll need to overcome along the way. The matchmakers may as well let him try.
#3 UFC featherweight bout: Steve Garcia vs. Giga Chikadze
One fighter who definitely did earn a step up against an elite-level fighter with his performance last night was Steve Garcia.
'Mean Machine' dispatched Kyle Nelson violently in the first round of their catchweight clash, battering 'The Monster' with a series of brutal elbows.
The win was Garcia's fifth in a row, and more to the point, all of those wins have come via knockout or TKO. Essentially, it appears that the UFC have stumbled upon a featherweight Drew Dober.
While the matchmakers could easily continue to let him bash lower-level foes, then, why not give him a step up to a top fifteen opponent?
If they do this, one name that could work would be Giga Chikadze. 'The Ninja' fell to Arnold Allen in his last fight, but is still ranked at No.10, and still possesses a lot of talent.
If Garcia could find a way to get past the Georgian's explosive striking, nobody could question his position as a legitimate title contender at 145 pounds. If he were to lose, meanwhile, he could easily bounce back against someone lower down the ladder.
This fight would basically guarantee fireworks, and would make plenty of sense to book.
#2 UFC flyweight bout: Natalia Silva vs. Maycee Barber
There's no doubt that Natalia Silva picked up the biggest win of her MMA career last night. Faced with former UFC strawweight champ Jessica Andrade, the Brazilian needed to step up her game to win, and did just that.
Not only did Silva completely outstrike 'Bate Estaca', but she dropped her more than once and absorbed some big shots in return.
The win should move Silva into title contention at 125 pounds, meaning only two opponents make sense for her going forward - Manon Fiorot or Maycee Barber.
Both women are riding lengthy win streaks, but as Fiorot is set to act as the alternate for next weekend's title bout between Alexa Grasso and Valentina Shevchenko, Barber might be the better option.
Sure, the UFC might frown upon matching two young prospects against one another, but if a title shot were on the line, the fight would make sense.
More importantly, it'd be a fascinating one to see, with the bullying power game of Barber against the more finesse-based attacks of Silva.
If the promotion could use this bout as a Fight Night headliner - making it a five-round affair - then it'd be all for the better.
#1 UFC welterweight bout: Sean Brady vs. Kamaru Usman
Like Natalia Silva, Sean Brady also picked up the biggest win of his UFC career last night. He largely dominated former welterweight title challenger Gilbert Burns over five rounds, showing much-improved striking skills in the process.
The Philadelphia native should now be viewed as a very real threat to the 170-pound title, and one more big win could allow him to leapfrog other rising stars like Ian Machado Garry and Jack Della Maddalena for a shot at the gold.
So who to match him with next? There are plenty of options, but assuming that champ Belal Muhammad is facing Shavkat Rakhmonov next, while Garry is likely to fight Colby Covington, one obvious name comes to mind.
That name is Kamaru Usman, the former dominant champion now on a three-fight skid.
There have been some rumors of 'The Nigerian Nightmare' facing Muhammad for the title, but as Burns stated this week, that simply would not make sense right now.
A fight between Usman and Brady, though, would be fascinating. Brady has proven that he's one of the most physically imposing grapplers at 170 pounds, dominating and bullying Burns, Michael Chiesa and Kelvin Gastelum.
However, could he really outwrestle Usman, who has never really been physically handled in his octagon career, even by Khamzat Chimaev? It's a very fair question to ask.
If Brady could beat 'The Nigerian Nightmare', though, a title shot would probably be within his grasp.
Overall, then, this sounds like the next step in Brady's career, and it would make for an excellent Fight Night headliner or pay-per-view co-main event.