What’s Next For The Winners at UFC 232?

What’s Next For The Winners at UFC 232?

By Myles Hutton 

In the article, I will be taking a closer look at what I believe is the next move in the careers of the winning fighters at UFC 232, held in Los Angeles, California.

Jon Jones def Alexander Gustafsson via TKO in Round 3:

After all this week’s controversy, Jon Jones returned to the octagon to rematch ‘The Mauler’ Alexander Gustafsson for the vacant UFC light heavyweight title, which Daniel Cormier recently relinquished.

The fight started off fairly slowly, with Jones working out the distance of Gus, using his arsenal of unorthodox kicks and straight punches to manage distance early. Jones then turned on the gas in round 3 where he executed a takedown and from there, showed great awareness to transition into a variety of dominate positions on top, forcing Gustafsson to turn and give up his back.

Jones got the hooks in, postured up and followed up with lovely ground and pound to finish the highly anticipated rematch. After the fight, Jones went on to call out Daniel Cormier for a third fight, however I would like to see Jon Jones face new competition in his next outing. A fight between Jones and either Anthony Smith at light heavyweight or possible a heavyweight debut makes most sense. Though, I can see the UFC booking the fight vs Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight belt. Only time will tell.

Amanda Nunes def Cris Cyborg via KO in Round 1:

We were lucky enough to witness the first ever real women’s super-fight in the co main event of UFC 232, with bantamweight queen Amanda Nunes taking on the scariest women in mixed martial arts, Cris Cyborg.

Cyborg, who hadn’t lost in 13 years was the betting favourite going into this one, but Nunes possesses real knockout power, something that Cyborg has never faced before; and it was all over in under a minute!

The fight started with both ladies swinging for the fences, both had landed power punches and weren’t willing to back off. The start of the end was when Nunes landed a lovely leg kick into a straight right which rocked Cyborg a little, leading to a barrage of punches by Cyborg after backing Nunes up against the fence, but all of a sudden Nunes counters with a beautiful and accurate right hand with drops Cyborg.

Cyborg then fell to the ground a further 2 times before Nunes landed the knockout punch, and the referee Marc Goddard stopped the contest before Nunes could follow-up with any more strikes. After being on top of the bantamweight division for over 2 years now, she has finally became the first women’s double champion in the UFC.

What is next for ‘The Lioness’? I believe she should defend her 135lbs belt vs Germaine de Randamie or Ketlen Vieira in 2019. Most would believe Cyborg should get an immediate rematch, however I think the UFC should build up their women’s featherweight division a bit more before Nunes defends her title.

Michael Chiesa def Carlos Condit via Kimura in Round 2:

After stepping up to welterweight, having competed at lightweight for many years with the weight cut affecting his performances, Michael Chiesa took on the former interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit. With Chiesa edging the first round with the pressure against the cage and the takedowns into submission attempts, he went into the second round and immediately looked to take Condit down again, doing so very quickly.

He started to isolate his arm from half guard, moving into side control and rapidly locking in a very unusual kimura only using one arm, leading to a tap by Condit. This was Chiesa’s first fight at welterweight, and although he is still ranked in the top 10 at lightweight, I think he needs 1 or 2 more wins before being ranked in his new weight class of welterweight, due to the fact that there are multiple fighters including Curtis Millender who also fought on the fight pass section of the UFC 232 card, who are pushing their way into the rankings after picking up dominate wins elsewhere.

A fight I’d like to see next is Michael Chiesa vs Alan Jouban or Abdul Razak Alhassan. Both guys are on the verge of breaking into the top 15, and both have had a fairly easy previous fight. Chiesa is a man who can test the skills of Jouban or Alhassan, possibly taking them into deep waters, which is what they both may need.

Corey Anderson def Ilir Latifi via Unanimous Decision:

After taking the first round of the fight, Latifi seemed to gas out very early in the second round, which affected the remainder of the weight. Anderson, who is known to be very well conditioned, used his long jabs and reach to keep the distance so that Latifi could not land power punches which he is well-known for.

Anderson has not been the most consistent fighter in the light heavyweight division in recent years, however a win vs the #5 ranked fighter now puts Anderson into contender status. He is on a 3 fight win streak, and is proving that he can hang with the best in the division. The majority of fighters above Anderson in the rankings have either recently fought, or is booked the fight in 2019, therefore I believe Anderson should be matched up with Misha Cirkunov.

Alexander Volkanovski def Chad Mendes via TKO in Round 2:

Australian rising star Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski faced the dominant former title challenger Chad Mendes in a fight which kicked off the pay per view portion of the card.

Volkanovski came into this bout with an outstanding record of 18-1, picking up 5 previous wins in his UFC career. But, Mendes was by far the biggest test of his career.

After having 2 years away from MMA due to failing a drugs test, Mendes returned to finish Myles Jury at UFC Boise, making a big statement. But prior to this, Volkanovski had defeated Mendes’ teammate Darren Elkins on the same card, later calling out Chad Mendes in his post fight speech.

Matchmakers made this fight happen at UFC 232, and what a fight is was! Both guys were exchanging big punches in both round 1 and 2, Mendes knocked down Volkanovski at one point and went hunting for the finish. This seemed to fatigue Mendes, which started to affect his defence, and Volkanovski recovered very well to stop Mendes with a flurry of punches to the mid section and up top.

It is more than likely Volkanovski will break into the top 5 of the featherweight rankings now, and a fight vs Frankie Edgar would be a great watch. Both have a very similar style and build, both are very accurate boxers and have good wrestling abilities; this fight would be a good one to make at UFC 234 in Melbourne, if both are ready.

Other fights to make after UFC 232:

Walt Harris vs Shamil Abdurakhimov
Megan Anderson vs Cat Zingano 2
Petr Yan vs Rob Font
Ryan Hall vs Jason Knight
Nathaniel Wood vs Tom Duquesnoy
Uriah Hall vs Tim Boetsch
Curtis Millender vs Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos
Montel Jackson vs Marlon Vera