Fights to make after UFC 286
Lasts nights UFC 286 card in London promised to deliver and it did such. With home crowd hero Leon ‘Rocky’ Edwards retaining his Welterweight title in a 5-round battle with Kamaru Usman in their trilogy fight, to Justin Gaethje and Rafael Fiziev putting on an absolute war in a potential fight of the year bout. Today at Expansive Sports we wanted to look at what's next for these fighters.
1) Leon Edwards vs Colby Covington
As you all would have seen if you were watching UFC 286 last night, Covington was front row for the main event and was also seen calling Edwards out during his post-fight interview in the octagon. Later in the evening in the post-fight press conference UFC president Dana White was asked about this matchup, he went on to say that this is “the fight to make”. Covington's last fight was a dominant decision win over Jorge Masvidal on March of last year. Although that fight shouldn’t grant him a title fight, you also must look at his two previous bouts with former champ Usman. With Covington being seen by many MMA fans as Usman’s toughest opponent it's hard to believe that Edwards vs Covington would not be a compelling fight to watch.
2) Usman vs a middleweight
After suffering back-to-back defeats, Usman is left in an awkward position. He can’t face the champion again, but he’s already defeated most of the contenders in the welterweight division. With two wins over Covington, two wins over Masvidal and a win over Gilbert Burns there aren’t many fighters he can face in 170 that would elevate him back into the title picture. Therefore, I believe a move up to middleweight could be very successful for the former pound for pound number one. Now Usman did come out and say that he would not fight fellow Nigerian Israel Adesanya for the belt, but with him being dethroned by Alex Perriera it leaves the door right open for him. If Usman were to move up, I could see him having a lot of success with top contenders at 185 such as Paulo Costa, Jared Cannonier and even Robert Whittaker.
3) Gaethje vs Dustin Poirier 2
With Gaethje getting a win last night against Fiziev it leaves him also in an awkward position. As everyone in the top 5 already has a fight booked. That is everyone apart from Poirier. The last time these two fought was in April of 2018 where Poirier stopped Gaethje via TKO in the fourth. However, since then both men have improved and shown us that they are mainstays at the very top of this lightweight division. The rematch would be fans favourite and the winner should go on to challenge for the world title once more.
4) Jack Shore vs Dan Ige
Shore managed to bounce back last night in his featherweight debut against veteran Makwan Amirkhani. After suffering his first loss against Ricky Simon, Shore looks revitalised with this move up to 145 and could be a major threat in the division. I believe he should be put up against number 13 ranked Ige next. Ige has had an up and down run at the moment in the UFC with his last fight being a win over Damon Jackson. I think this fight will be a good Stylist matchup for Shore with his superior wrestling and rangier build being able to compromise Ige on the feet. After this fight Shore can continue to work his way up the rankings and eventually bring a UFC title to Wales.