6 Fights We Need to See After UFC 290

UFC 290 went down on Saturday night in Las Vegas and it opened the door to a bunch of exciting matchup options, including a handful of title fights.

The 13-fight event, which was hosted by the T-Mobile Arena, was topped by two championship bouts.

In the main-event spot, featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski of Australia picked up one of his most lopsided wins to date, battering Mexican knockout artist Yair Rodriguez to a third-round TKO victory.

Before that, Brazil's Alexandre Pantoja became the UFC flyweight champion with an electrifying decision win over Mexican star Brandon Moreno.

The final non-title fight of the night saw top-5 middleweight contenders Robert Whittaker and Dricus Du Plessis collide with a crack at the belt seemingly hanging in the balance. In a notable upset, Du Plessis thumped Whittaker to a second-round TKO win.

Earlier on the main card, we saw big wins from lightweight veteran Dan Hooker and middleweight prospect Bo Nickal, who defeated Jalin Turner by decision and Val Woodburn by TKO respectively, while the undercard was capped off by Robbie Lawler's retirement fight, which ended with a quick KO win over Niko Price.

Now that we've recapped the highlights of the event, here are the six fights we're hoping to see next.

Back in February, after a string of impressive victories over the best competition available at featherweight, Volkanovski climbed up to lightweight to challenge Islam Makhachev for a second title. It was a incredibly entertaining fight that went all five rounds, but Volkanovski ultimately lost a unanimous decision and got his first taste of defeat in 23 fights.

Many fans, however, felt the Australian deserved the win—and the belt—and he has been adamant that he deserves a shot at redemption ever since. After he beat Rodriguez at UFC 290, his argument is even stronger.

Furthermore, a Makhachev vs. Volkanovski rematch increasingly looks like the best option available if the Russian lightweight intends to defend his belt at UFC 294 on October 21 in Abu Dhabi.

Former lightweight champ Charles Oliveira, seemingly the top contender in the division, recently revealed that he won't be available to fight for the title in Abu Dhabi.

The winner of Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje's upcoming rematch, set for the main event of UFC 291 on July 29, will be well positioned for a crack at Makhachev, especially given that neither has fought him before. However, it's hard to imagine either man being ready for October given the kind of slugfest they are expected to have later this month.

That really just leaves Volkanovski, who probably has the best claim to the opportunity anyway. The featherweight champ revealed after UFC 290 that he plans to have arm surgery, but he didn't give the impression that he will be out of action long, so hopefully the October date works for him.

Yair Rodriguez's dream of becoming the undisputed UFC featherweight champion was dashed at UFC 290, but there's no reason to believe the Mexican star can't work his way back into title contention, particularly if Volkanovski ends up losing the title at some point—as unlikely as that seems now.

We'd like to see Rodriguez attempt to get back on track against No. 7-ranked featherweight contender Calvin Kattar. Like Rodriguez, Kattar is currently in the loss column, having experienced losses to Arnold Allen and Josh Emmett in his last two fights. And both of those losses were somewhat dubious, which makes it easy to justify matching him up with somebody hirer up the rankings, like Rodriguez, who should settle at No. 1 or 2 in the wake of UFC 290.

The real appeal of this fight, however, is that Rodriguez and Kattar are two of the most consistently exciting fighters at featherweight, known both for their high-action striking and their absurd durability.

That's the main reason we're suggesting Rodriguez fight Kattar next instead of the No. 4 contender Allen, who is riding a loss to Max Holloway. It's just too good of a matchup to pass up. Get the bonus checks ready.

After five thrilling rounds of action against Brandon Moreno, Alexandre Pantoja is the new UFC flyweight champion.

Given the competitive nature of their fight and Moreno's history at the top of the division, it's tempting to suggest an immediate rematch between the two stars. However, Pantoja has now beaten Moreno two times–three times if you count his win over the Mexican star on The Ultimate Fighter. Based on that, we'd prefer to see some fresh matchups for the time being, especially given that the flyweight title has alternated between Moreno and Deiveson Figueiredo for the last few years.

If the UFC matchmakers agree, the obvious choice for Pantoja would be No. 3-ranked contender Amir Albazi.

The 29-year-old's recent decision win over Kai Kara-France was the subject of a lot of controversy, but he's now 5-0 in the UFC, and clearly, the next man in line for the belt if Moreno is out of the running.

He also looks like a tough test for the new champ, with the wrestling and striking to worry anyone in the weight class.

As we established above, it seems like the right choice to provide Pantoja with a fresh challenger rather than ask him to defeat Moreno again. In that event, we'd like to see Moreno matched up with No. 6 flyweight contender Matheus Nicolau.

Nicolau is the highest-ranked contender Moreno hasn't fought already, with the exception of Albazi, who is seemingly in position for a title shot. And like the former champion, the Brazilian is riding a tough setback, having had a six-fight streak derailed by a quick stoppage loss to Brandon Royval in his last fight.

The fight makes sense given that both flyweights will soon be looking for the opportunity to put themselves back in the title race, and it also looks like a fun one on paper, given their shared habit of exciting fights.

Throw it on a pay-per-view main card, and trust that the winner will be right back in the mix.

The expectation ahead of UFC 290 was that Dricus Du Plessis would get a crack at middleweight champion Israel Adesanya if he defeated Robert Whittaker on the main card. After he stopped the former champ in the second round at the event in Las Vegas and was joined in the cage by Adesanya for a face-off after the fact, their championship collision seems to be set in stone.

Nobody is likely to complain.

After stopping the long-time No. 1 contender Whittaker, Du Plessis is now on an eight-fight streak, which includes other Octagon triumphs over solid opposition like Darren Till and Derek Brunson. And if his win streak doesn't guarantee him a title shot, his beef with the champion certainly will. After their UFC 290 face-off, it's clear that the two top middleweights have a score to settle, and fans are ready to see it happen.

This big question is whether the UFC can make this fight happen at UFC 293 on September 9, which will mark the promotion's latest stop in Australia. That event seems like an obvious choice for Adesanya's next fight, given that he calls New Zealand home, and Du Plessis didn't seem to take much damage in his fight with Whittaker, but the date is coming up fast.

Decorated wrestling specialist Bo Nickal improved to a perfect 5-0 in MMA at UFC 290, knocking out Val Woodburn in just 38 seconds. He was already one of the most hyped prospects in the sport before that performance and is even more highly regarded after it.

Nickal clearly has the skills to make a lot of noise in the middleweight division, but he has yet to face a serious test in MMA. Woodburn, after all, accepted their UFC 290 fight on just six days' notice, after Nickal's original opponent Tresean Gore suffered an injury. Let's not act like he was a world-beater.

One way or the other, it's definitely time to give Nickal some tougher challenges to see if he can start justifying his hype in earnest.

Our pick for his next opponent would be Brazilian jiu-jitsu wizard Rodolfo Vieira. Hats off to Sherdog writer Tom Feely for suggesting this one on Twitter.

Vieira looks like an interesting puzzle for Nickal. As a decorated BJJ black belt, he has some great tools to counter the American's wrestling skill. In fact, he would most likely welcome being taken down in this potential matchup.

He also seems like an appropriate step up in competition for Nickal, as a guy who has never cracked the Top 15, but has come fairly close in matchups with fringe contenders like Anthony Hernandez and Chris Curtis.

If Nickal can get by him, it might be time to give him somebody in the back end of the rankings.