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Jack Sturdivant

Fights to make after UFC 296

After an action-packed night of fights and the crowning of two new champions, the curtain has finally been closed on UFC 296. However, the end of one card can only set up another. 

Merab Dvalishvili vs Umar Nurmagomedov 

After using his wrestling to impose his will on O’Malley, Merab Dvalishvili was awarded a decision to take the belt away from O’Malley, avenging his teammate, Aljamain Sterling in the process.  

With this win comes his inevitable title defense against highly touted contender, Umar Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov is coming off a dominant performance against fellow bantamweight contender Cory Sandhagen where he took home a unanimous decision victory.  

Nurmagomedov comes from a long line of UFC royalty, including arguably the greatest fighter of all time, Khabib Nurmagomedov, current UFC lightweight champion Islam Makhachevand current Bellator lightweight champion Usman Nurmagomedov. SSome are saying another belt-holding Nurmagomedov is just a foregone conclusion.  

Sean O’Malley vs Petr Yan 2 

After losing his belt, “The Suga Show,” will no doubt have to string together impressive wins to earn the chance to get his belt back in this stacked bantamweight division.  

However, a great place to start would be picking up a second win against fellow former bantamweight champion Petr “No Mercy” Yan. These two met at UFC 280 in October of 2022, where O’Malley scraped away a very controversial split decision win.  

However, if anyone is hungrier than O’Malley to regain the belt, it would have to be Petr Yan. After losing his title by disqualification in March of 2021, Yan quickly became interim champion in his next fight before losing three in a row, the second loss coming against O’Malley.  However, after picking up a win against Song Yadong in March of 2024, Yan looks poised to get another shot at his long-lost title.    

Valentina Shevchenko vs Manon Fiorot 

After dominating Alexa Grasso for five  rounds en route to regaining her belt, Valentina Shevchenko looks to make her second title run even more dominant than the first. However, to do that, she will have to defeat a new list of fighters spearheaded by Fiorot, a French kickboxing standout with wins over Rose Namajunas and Erin Blanchfield. Fiorot has a fighting style that ensures an extremely entertaining showdown. 

Alexa Grasso vs Maycee Barber 2 

While Grasso was dominated from bell to bell Saturday night, her future is still bright – as is the future of Maycee Barber. Once thought to be the biggest threat to Shevchenko during her first reign, Barber suffered a left knee as well as a shocking upset loss to Roxanne Modafferi, and then, she lostanother decision to Grasso in her return fight.  

However, that loss proved to be a turning point in her career because she would soon go on a six-fight winning streak. She looks poised for a title shot in the near future if she can grab another win against a fighter like Grasso while Grasso can put herself right back in title contention with a win against a fighter like Barber. 

Diego Lopes vs Winner of Ilia Topuria vs Max Holloway 

Give the kid his title shot. Ilia Topuria is slated to defend his belt this October in Abu Dhabi against Max Holloway, so Lopes will likely have to wait until at least the first half of 2025, but Lopes should no doubt be next in line. 

Brian Ortega vs Alexander Volkanovski 2 

This is a great fight to make, especially as it seems both fighters might be on the tail end of their careers. While Ortega submitted Yair Rodriguez in his previous fight, he was rocked and almost finished early into the fight. After multiple injuries and health problems derailing his career, it seems T-City might not be the same fighter he was before his first title fight.  

After a long and dominant title run, Volkanovski might be in the same boat as Ortega. Volkanovski lost a close split decision, and many thought he won when he moved up a weight division to challenge Islam Makhachev for his lightweight title.  

Volkanovski had hopes of becoming a two-division champion but then rebounded by dominating and finishing Yair Rodriguez in his return to featherweight. After it was announced Volkanovski would step in for Charles Oliveira to rematch Makhachev, expectations were high for “The Great.” 

 However, Makhachev would make quick work of the featherweight champion, knocking him out with a head kick in the first round, and this time, Volkanovski’s return fight to the featherweight division would not go as well.  

His coming home party was spoiled by Ilia Topuria who knocked him out in the second round. These two are also familiar with each other as they faced off in September of 2021 for Volkanovski’s featherweight title, a matchup Volkanovski won after surviving two late Ortega submission attempts. 

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