5 Fights We Need to See After UFC 308

There are some huge fights to be made after UFC 308.

The card went down this past Saturday in Abu Dhabi, and while it only included one title fight, it seemingly opened the door to three others.

The headlining spot went to a featherweight title fight between champion Ilia Topuria and former champ Max Holloway. It was a close fight through two rounds, but Topuria put a stamp on things with a crackling left hook in round three, setting himself up for a second title defense next year.

In the co-main event, undefeated middleweight contender Khamzat Chimaev made his long-awaited return to the cage, taking on former champion Robert Whittaker. It was considered the toughest test of his career to date, but he won it with ease, submitting his foe with a tooth-busting face crank in the first round. After the win, he is clearly one of the top contenders in his weight class.

The same goes for Russian light heavyweight Magomed Ankalaev, who moved to 11 in a row with a decision win over Aleksandar Rakic. Middleweight striker Shara Magomedov also set himself up for some big opportunities on the main card, defeating Armen Petrosyan with a pair of spinning back-fists, as did rising featherweight Lerone Murphy, who picked up a decision win over Dan Ige.

Here are the five fights we'd like to see the UFC matchmakers put together in the wake of the stacked card in Abu Dhabi.

What a year Ilia Topuria has had.

Back in February, he knocked out Alexander Volkanovski — one of the best fighters ever — to win the featherweight belt. Then, at UFC 308, he knocked out another featherweight great in Max Holloway — and holds the distinction of being the first man to do so.

At this point, he's clearly one of the top two or three fighters on earth. However, he definitely has some tough challenges ahead.

In terms of his next fight, he definitely has options.

The leading choice seems to be Volkanovski, who certainly deserves the rematch on the basis of his previous dominance. However, it would be more fun to see the former champ head up to lightweight for legacy fights with the likes of Dustin Poirier and Charles Oliveira. In that event, the next man in line for Topuria should be Mexico-based Brazilian Diego Lopes.

Lopes is fresh off a decision win over two-time title challenger Brian Ortega, who remains one of the best fighters in the division. The winner of an upcoming fight between undefeated contender Movsar Evloev and former bantamweight champ Aljamain Sterling will also be in prime position, but neither guy has as much hype as Lopes right now.

Topuria vs. Lopes is the fight to make.

Sean Strickland needs to face reality.

Dana White may have promised the former middleweight champ a rematch with reigning champ Dricus Du Plessis, but he just doesn't deserve that opportunity as much as Khamzat Chimaev, and all the whining in the world won't change that.

Since losing the title to Du Plessis in January, all Strickland has done is beat a fading Paulo Costa in a terrible fight that he promised would be a "war." It was a near-meaningless accomplishment when compared to Chimaev's UFC 308 blowout of a middleweight legend in Robert Whittaker — who Strickland previously refused to fight. It seems most fans see it this way. Hopefully the UFC does too, even if Strickland refuses to.

Du Plessis vs. Chimaev is the fight to make — unless the former is going to sit out for another year like he did before his fight with Whittaker. If he's not available, Strickland can have his shot, but for now, he is simply Chimaev's understudy.

There still seems to be some uncertainty about whether Magomed Ankalaev will get the next crack at UFC light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira. That there is any doubt whatsoever is ridiculous.

The No. 1-ranked Russian has won 11-straight fights, and if you factor in his draw against Jan Blachowicz and no contest against Johnny Walker, he's unbeaten through 13 fights. It's not like he's beating nobodies either. Rakic is a great fighter, as are most of the other men the Russian has faced in the Octagon.

Nobody has more momentum in the weight class than him. There's also nobody else that really deserves a crack at Pereira right now. Everybody else in the top-5 is either riding a loss or injured, and those outside in top-5 simply haven't done enough.

Ankalaev may not be the most exciting fighter, and there's a very good chance he will beat Pereira with his wrestling — something the UFC undoubtedly wants to avoid — but if rankings and win-streaks matter at all, this is the fight to make.

Shara Magomedov delivered one of the best knockouts of 2024 on the UFC 308 main card, zapping his opponent Armen Petrosyan with back-to-back spinning back-fists. It was something we have never seen in the Octagon before, but it certainly wasn't out of character for the Russian middleweight, who has quickly established himself as one of the flashiest strikers in the sport.

After his highlight-reel win, Magomedov shot for the stars with a post-fight callout of former champ Israel Adesanya.

While Adesanya is riding back-to-back losses to Dricus Du Plessis and Sean Strickland, he remains a premier middleweight, and is clearly the second best fighter in the division's history behind Anderson Silva. He's still ranked No. 2 in the weight class, levels ahead of the unranked Magomedov, which would normally make the Russian's callout totally futile, but this fight is just too good not to make.

Magomedov and Adesanya are two of the best strikers in the game, and the Russian claims he's been chasing the former champ since they were competing as kickboxers in China. They're also two of the most interesting characters in the sport — Magomed actually looks like he could be a character in one of the anime series that Adesanya takes so much inspiration from.

As far as the rankings go, it makes no sense. We should definitely follow the rankings where title shots are concerned — as in the case of Magomed Ankalaev — but it's not a big deal to ignore them for a fight like this.

It's got to be "Shara Bullet" vs. "The Last Stylebender" next.

The top fights on the UFC 308 bill were so exciting and high-stakes that many impressive performances earlier on the card were immediately forgotten, such as Lerone Murphy's decision win over Dan Ige at featherweight.

Murphy was ranked No. 11 heading into the card, and with a 15-0-1 record, will most likely crack the top-10 when the rankings are updated. While he doesn't have quite as much hype as Diego Lopes, or quite as much momentum as Movsar Evloev, he's definitely one of the most promising new contenders in the weight class. He's ready for a big step up — particularly after fighting down the rankings against the No. 14-ranked Ige.

Josh Emmett seems like the perfect opponent for him. Emmett, a former interim title challenger and maybe the hardest puncher in the division, hasn't fought since he delivered an absolutely brutal knockout against Bryce Mitchell. Assuming he's healthy enough to fight again soon, this is the perfect fight for both guys.