The UFC returned to Kansas City, Missouri, for only the second time in the promotion’s history this past weekend, with a fight night with title implications on UFC Kansas City’s top card.
The Max Holloway vs. Arnold Allen match was the highlight, with Arnold Allen winning all but cementing a title shot in his next fight. The Briton was unable to pass the tough test for Holloway, with the featherweight division once again being put in an unexpected position.
Let’s take a look at what could be next for tonight’s winners.
Max Holloway has shown once again that the best is ‘blessed’, at least outside of Alexander Volkanovsky. Coming into this bout, the 31-year-old knew that even with a win here, it wouldn’t do anything for him in terms of getting a fourth fight booked with the champ, but he silenced doubters with his performance.
Holloway broke his own 3,000-plus record, giving a vintage performance against Arnold Allen that had a lot of people and is still going viral. Size versus strength was the talk and this is what has been done. Allen threw some big shots, but couldn’t do enough to be the first man to knock down Max Holloway.
In a department crying out for new challengers, Holloway knows winning here does nothing for him to move forward. Coming into this bout, he admitted that if he lost, he’d move up to the 155 lb class, but after his impressive win, it looks like he’s staying at featherweight.
In the post-fight press conference, Holloway told the media that he wanted a fight with the “Korean zombie”, but for me this fight does absolutely nothing. Chan Sung Jung has shown a clear career slump against the top leaders in the past few years, and someone like Holloway pouring it on any opponent would be a terrible match for “The Korean Zombie’s” retirement match.
In my opinion, Holloway has two options. Why doesn’t he continue and move up to lightweight despite beating Allen? If that was something he knew he should think about if he lost, why wouldn’t he do it anyway? Having said that, I believe unlike most that there is a path for Holloway back towards a featherweight title shot.
Josh Emmett and Elijah Topuria are set to meet in June. If Topuria passes this test, match it with Holloway. If Holloway can stop Topuria being torn apart from the division and win again after that, he will be worthy of another title. That said, there is no guarantee that Volkanovski will beat Yair Rodriguez or that Volkanovski will be champ by the time Max gets his shot back, so for me, Max has to keep beating opponents.
Holloway’s next fight: Elia Topuria (if Topuria beats Emmett)
Edson “Junior” Barboza showed he’s still as dangerous as ever last Saturday, with another highlight reel knockdown, on Billy Quarantillo. This co-main event at UFC Kansas City was an opportunity for Quarantillo to earn the rank and start knocking on the door of the top 10, but unfortunately for him, Barboza made a statement that he wasn’t done yet.
The perfect knee shot came midway through the first round, marking Barbosa’s only first-round finish during the UFC tenure. In his interview at Octagon he declared his desire for his next fight to be against someone who was ahead of him in the rankings, rather than fighting someone trying to take their place.
With that in mind, there are a few different options for the 37-year-old Brazilian. Siddig Yusef is someone who sits two points ahead of him, but he would make a huge fight for Yusef’s career. Failing that Calvin Kattar is looking to return to the Octagon this year after a major injury in his last outing, a fight with Barboza will be fireworks. That said, Barboza’s fierce kicking might not have been what Katar needed in his comeback fight.
The third and final option I’ll put out there is Edson Barboza against “The Korean Zombie.” For Chan Sung Jung, it would be a great fight for him to go through and excite me more than the two mentioned.
Barbosa’s Next Battle: Chan Sung Joon “Korean Zombie”
Russia’s Murzakanov maintained his unbeaten record this weekend by defeating forward Dustin Jacoby. Since emerging from the Contender series in 2021, “The Professional” has won three in a row, all against relatively heavy-caliber competition.
By beating Jacobi, Murzakanov will jump on him and take 13th place, looking up in the division. In his two previous fights, the Russian managed to secure the finish in the last round, but this time he only needed to survive the final round to win by decision.
The first round was an obvious run for the 34-year-old, with the second round being a bit closer for the judges to select. Jacoby decided to turn up the pressure in the final five minutes, but it wasn’t enough to get his hand up.
Murzakanov is now in a position where he will likely fight inside the top 10. “Bearjew” Paul Craig is losing to Johnny Walker and will likely defend his ranking next time around. Craig vs Murzakanov makes a lot of sense in every way.
Murzakanov’s next fight: Paul Craig
The Hulk entered his fight against Tanner Bowser with the point to prove it, and he did just that. Boser was making his light heavyweight debut, with Cutelaba being a tough test first. Bowser had piled on his weight with room to spare, which made this fight even more difficult.
Cutelaba had other plans, as he secured himself a first round stoppage on the Canadian. The ending caused a bit of controversy, with many people in the MMA world believing it came too early. I personally had no issues with downtime.
Cutelaba though, is the one who raised his hand and is now likely to fight outside or inside the arrangement again.
The one who ranks very narrowly and lost this weekend, is Dustin Jacoby. The two met in 2021 where the match ended in a draw. Now could be the time to bring it back.
Cutelaba’s next fight: Dustin Jacoby
“The Young Punisher” lived up to his title once again, defeating 31-year-old Chris Gutierrez. Coming into this game, fans were excited at the potential for this character to be a master kicker from any of the fighters. Such was the case with Gutierrez’s 39 touchdown and Munhos’ 31 touchdown. But it was Munhoz who did the best job outside of that, edging out the winning decision.
Just when it looks as if the 36-year-old is on the decline, he bounces back with a huge win that keeps his name in the talks. While it won’t get him close to a title fight anytime soon, it does mean his next fight is once again going to be big.
I wouldn’t be surprised to see Munhos match Umar Nurmagomedov in his next tour, possibly for the Abu Dhabi card in October. Failing that, a showdown with Jonathan Martinez could be great.
Munhos Next Fight: Umar Nurmagomedov
The “talented” Garcia put in a crisp, impressive performance against the longest-serving active UFC fighter in Clay Guida.
The former Combate Global Lightweight Champion put in an impressive performance in what was always a relatively tough fight against Guida. Even though Guida is 41 years old, he still has one of the most impressive tanks of gas in MMA with Garcia knowing he has to be on it for 15 minutes straight. During the 15 minutes, Guida only attempted three takedowns, not all of them being successful. Over seven fights in the UFC, Garcia has accumulated a defense percentage of 79%, which indicates that he has improved in this aspect of his game.
From there, García knew he could keep the fight where he wanted it, capitalizing on almost every amazing exchange they were involved in.
From now on, Garcia will be knocking on the door of the top fifteen. The person who has had an impressive streak of victories is Jimmy Mularkey. The match between these two strikers can be interesting.
Rafa Garcia’s Next Fight: Jimmy Mularkey