The
Ultimate Fighting Championship traveled to St. Louis and gave
fans a heavyweight showdown between
Derrick
Lewis and
Rodrigo
Nascimento. While the
UFC on ESPN 56 main event didn’t need five rounds, the 12-fight
card will have plenty of ramifications moving forward with
important fights in the welterweight, light heavyweight and
featherweight divisions.
Here are five matches to make following UFC on ESPN 56:
Lewis (28-12, 1 NC) showed that he still has more left in the tank
at the age of 39 by knocking out Nascimento. While the best days of
“The Black Beast” still seem behind him, Lewis is still near the
top of the division. A fan-friendly scrap against Rozenstruik would
be a fun next step as both fighters have a penchant for delivering
vicious knockouts and throwing their hands wildly. It would make
for a solid Fight Night main event and would add another name to
Lewis’ resume as he’s faced a who’s who of the division at this
point.
Buckley took care of business by defeating Nursulton Ruzivboev in
the co-main event. Now 19-6, Buckley is riding an impressive
four-fight win streak since losing back-to-back fights to
Chris
Curtis and
Nassourdine
Imavov. This means it is time for “New Mansa” to get another
opportunity up the rankings. A fight against Magny makes sense, as
the “Hatian Sensation” has served as middleweight’s gatekeeper for
several years now. Great fighters like
Ian Garry,
Gilbert
Burns and
Shavkat
Rakhmonov have passed the test in recent years, while
Mike Malott,
Phil Rowem
Daniel
Rodriguez and
Max Griffin
have not. What camp Buckley winds up in will determine if he’s a
future contender or not.
Ulberg continued his winning ways at the expense of Alonzo
Menifeld. Since a loss to
Kennedy
Nzechukwu in 2021, “Black Jag” has picked up six wins against
the likes of Menifeld, Da Un Jung and
Ihor
Potieria. That’s an impressive streak that is worthy of a step
up in competition, such as Rakic. “Rocket” is currently in need of
a bounce-back fight after losses to former champions
Jiri
Prochazka and
Jan
Blachowicz. The fight would make sense for both men as Ulberg
(10-1) is in search of a signature win, while Rakic needs a win in
general as the Serbian fighter hasn’t had his hands raised since
2021.
Veteran lightweight Ferreira upset
Mateusz
Rebecki, who is no longer undefeated inside the promotion.
Ferreira (19-5) has now won two straight after beating
Michael
Johnson last year. At 39, the Brazilian’s title hopes are in
the past but he still has plenty of viability as a gatekeeper to
the top contenders. A fight against the streaking Klose would be a
good contest as both are experienced fighters that still have
plenty left in the tank. Klose (15-2-1) is riding a four-bout win
streak after beating
Joaquim
Silva,
Joe
Solecki,
Rafa Garcia
and
Brandon
Jenkins.
The ascent of Woodson continued in the night’s opening main card
bout as “The Sniper” outpointed veteran featherweight
Alex
Caceres. Having now won five in a row, including key wins over
Charles
Jourdain and
Dennis
Buzukja, Woodson (12-1-1) is in a prime position for a bigger
fight in his next outing. After the fight, Woodson called out
Mitchell and that’s a fight that makes sense. "Thug Nasty" has
struggled recently, losing to
Ilia
Topuria and
Josh Emmett,
but there's no shame in those losses. Mitchell (16-2) would get a
chance to get back into the win column over a streaking opponent,
while Woodson could vault into being a real contender at 145 with a
victory.