4 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Night 254

The UFC's latest Apex card was not exactly a home run on paper, but as the promotion's social media was so keen to point out, it definitely delivered in terms of finishes—even if there weren't many fans in the building to see it.

Unfortunately, there was no finish in the middleweight main event, which saw Marvin Vettori and Roman Dolidze run it back after the former won a decision in their first meeting two years ago. While a finish eluded him, Georgia's Dolidze was able to even the score with a decision win of his own the second time around, keeping himself relevant in the weight class in the process.

The co-main event, which was contested at welterweight, did end with a stoppage, and a pretty flashy one at that, as Chidi Njokuani finished Elizeu Zaleski with knees and elbows in Round 2 to move onto a three-fight streak.

One of the other big winners of the night was the Dominican Republic's Waldo Cortes-Acosta, who spoiled Ryan Spann's heavyweight debut with a second-round TKO, defending his own No. 12 spot in the division's rankings.

Here are the fights we'd like to see next for Dolidze, Njokuani, and Cortes-Acosta, as well as the matchup we think should come next for the skidding Marvin Vettori.

Nobody asked for a rematch between Roman Dolidze and Marvin Vettori, and certainly not in a five-round main event, but we got one anyway, and it turned out to be an important development for the victorious Georgian. Not only did he avenge one of his few UFC losses, but he also put himself on a three-fight streak, and will remain a fixture of the division's top 15 for the time being as a result.

Unfortunately, things have gotten a bit messy at middleweight. After the promotion gave Sean Strickland a title shot at champion Dricus Du Plessis in another rematch nobody was really dying to see, there is a huge line of deserving contenders awaiting the same opportunity, namely Khamzat Chimaev, Nassourdine Imavov, Caio Borralho, and Anthony Hernandez.

Here's how we'd clean things up in the division.

Book Khamzat Chimaev against Du Plessis. At the same time, pit Borralho and Imavov against each other so there is a clear No. 1 contender in waiting for whomever wins the Du Plessis vs. Chimaev fight, and keep Hernandez busy with a matchup with Dolidze.

Jared Cannonier could also be a good test for Hernandez, but Dolidze has won three straight, while Cannonier is 1-2 in his last three. The Georgian was also matched up with Hernandez last year, but the fight fell through, so there's some history between them.

It's not a perfect fight, but it makes sense given the current logjam atop the weight class.

The five-fight win streak that earned Marvin Vettori a title shot against Israel Adesanya in 2021 is now a distant memory. In the time since, he's gone 2-3, including losses to Jared Cannonier and Roman Dolidze in his last two fights. At this point, it seems unlikely he'll ever put himself back in title contention. In fact, he's going to need to score some big wins if he even hopes to keep himself in the rankings.

Our pick for his next opponent his Brendan Allen. While Allen has yet to fight for a UFC title, he was getting pretty close by this time last year, with seven wins in the rear-view mirror. Unfortunately, and much like Vettori, he's now lost two straight—against Nassourdine Imavov and Anthony Hernandez. Of course, it helps his case that Imavov and Hernandez are two of the best fighters in the weight class right now, but he's still in a tough spot and will need to win next time out of he wants to stay relevant.

A fight with Vettori makes sense, as they're in very similar situations. They also have some history, having come to blows at a PFL event a few years back.

Let them settle their beef in the Octagon, and trust that the loser is done as a serious contender.

The move down to welterweight is paying dividends for Chidi Njokuani. Granted, he missed weight for his Saturday knockout win over Elizeu Zaleski, but it wasn't a grievous scale fail, and he made weight for his first two fights in the division: wins over Rhys McKee and Jared Gooden. There's a little asterisk beside his latest victory, sure, but he's effectively 3-0 in his new weight class. Not bad for a 36-year-old with 35 MMA fights and 14 kickboxing bouts behind him.

He's due for another main card matchup with a established name. How about Muslim Salikhov?

Russia's "King of Kung Fu" is even older than Njokuani, at 40, but is in the midst of a career resurgence of his own, with a decision win over Santiago Ponzinibbio and a stunning wheel kick KO of Kenan Song behind him.

He and Njokuani are in similar positions, and as two veteran strikers, they'd probably put on a show. Book it.

After his win over Ryan Spann in Las Vegas, Waldo Cortes-Acosta is now 15-1 overall, and 4-0 since his lone loss, a decision defeat at the hands of Marcos Rogerio de Lima. After back-to-back decisions against Andrei Arlovski and Robelis Despaigne, he was developing a bit of a reputation for slower-paced fights, but he definitely took a step toward changing that with his Saturday stoppage win.

He was already ranked No. 12 heading into the fight, and while that speaks to the shallow nature of the heavyweight division more than anything, the Dominican can probably expect a top-10 foe next time out.

The winner of an upcoming fight between the No. 7-ranked Serghei Spivac and the 11th-ranked Shamil Gaziev seems like just the ticket. Cortes-Acosta would be looking at two very different matchups, depending on who wins, but either way, the fight will make sense.