Matches to Make After UFC 280

On a main card full of question marks and asterisks, Islam Makhachev delivered an exclamation point.

In the main event of UFC 280, the 31-year-old Dagestani finished off Charles Oliveira with an arm-triangle choke after hurting him badly with a right hook in the middle of Round 2. As eye-opening as it was to see the UFC’s all-time leader in submission wins tapping out—it was Oliveira’s first submission loss at lightweight in nearly 12 years—it was just as instructive to see the ease with which Makhachev shrugged off the former champ’s arsenal. “Do Bronx” had, over the course of his UFC career, developed from a one-dimensional grappling specialist into a lethal finisher in every phase of the game, but on Saturday he had next to no moments of serious offense.

Going forward, new champ Makhachev has a wealth of options, since he has faced relatively few of the longtime lightweight contenders. Nonetheless, his next opponent appears to be coming from outside the division. Featherweight kingpin Alexander Volkanovski, who weighed in as a backup for Saturday’s main event, was announced in its immediate aftermath as the presumptive challenger. In the wake of UFC 280 here are some matchups that ought to be made for Makhachev and the other main card winners:

Islam Makhachev vs. Alexander Volkanovski

Frankly, the UFC didn’t need to make this matchup. One positive coming out of UFC 280 is that Makhachev has not yet fought Dustin Poirier, Justin Gaethje or Michael Chandler. The winner of the upcoming Poirier-Chandler fight would have made a sensational first challenger for Makhachev’s title. However, the cross-divisional fight with “Alexander the Great” does make sense in a way. While this might not be the best time for this matchup where the lightweight division is concerned, from the featherweight point of view, it’s ideal. Much like Volkanovski’s teammate Israel Adesanya last year, Volkanovski is on the rematch circuit already—he would never have had to take a third fight with Max Holloway if the division had been flush with other contenders. Make this fight now, and by the time it’s over, both men will have a healthy queue waiting for them.

Aljamain Sterling vs. Sean O'Malley

It sounds as though the UFC will match Sterling, who defeated T.J. Dillashaw in the co-main event, with O’Malley, who was victorious over Petr Yan in the fight immediately prior. While it’s fine, and should sell well, it isn’t ideal. The problem is that neither bout was without controversy: Sterling defeated Dillashaw, who fought one-handed due to an undisclosed shoulder injury and should never have been allowed in the cage, while O’Malley’s split decision over Yan was, to put it mildly, questionable. The normally brash O’Malley seemed cognizant of this, and hesitated to call for the title shot that had been all but promised to the winner of his fight. Here’s hoping that the UFC takes the hint. It would be best for O’Malley, and only fair to give the title shot to Marlon Vera, who is on a four-fight win streak and owns a head-to-head victory over O’Malley.

Beneil Dariush vs. Charles Oliveira

In a just world, Dariush would be the first challenger for the newly crowned Makhachev. His win over Mateusz Gamrot on the UFC 280 main card makes it eight straight, the division’s second longest such streak after Makhachev. Much like Oliveira, he has evolved greatly from the man who seemed too inconsistent ever to develop into a top contender, let alone a champion. If we bow to the likelihood that Volkanovski will get his chance to try for two-division gold, however, Dariush vs. Oliveira is a fantastic matchup. It will either make Dariush completely undeniable as the man on deck, or reaffirm the Oliveira is not going anywhere.

Manon Fiorot vs. Valentina Shevchenko

In the main card opener, Fiorot took a unanimous decision over former flyweight title challenger Katlyn Chookagian. While it offered few moments for either woman’s highlight reel, it was the rare instance of someone fighting Chookagian’s fight for 15 minutes and coming out with her hand raised. The UFC has three plausible options for Shevchenko, arguably its most dominant fighter: Fiorot; Alexa Grasso, who defeated Viviane Araujo last week at UFC Fight Night 212; or a rematch with Taila Santos, who arguably beat Shevchenko in June and inarguably gave her a closer fight than any of her other challengers to date. Realistically, it seemed to come down to deciding who was more impressive between last week’s winner and this week’s. Fiorot, who notched a similarly solid win over a higher-ranked opponent, gets the nod over Grasso.