Matchmaker Monday following UFC 255

UFC 255 was a great night for the UFC flyweight king and queen as both Deiveson Figueiredo and Valentina Shevchenko defended their thrones.

In the main event, Figueiredo submitted Alex Perez in less then two minutes to make his first title defense.

Meanwhile, in the co-main event everyone was shocked when Jennifer Maia won the second round. Despite winning that round, Maia was completely outclassed by Shevchenko as Shevchenko won about 22 minutes of their 25 minute fight.

Now that the event is over, let’s find out what’s next for the men and women involved in the UFC 255 title fights on this Matchmaker Monday.

Deiveson Figueiredo
Result: defeated Alex Perez by first-round submission at UFC 255
Next: Brandon Monero

Easiest breakdown ever.

Following UFC 255 on Saturday night, UFC president Dana White announced that Figueiredo will fight again in three weeks at UFC 256 against Monero, who defeated Brandon Royval on prelims.

I will say this, if Figueiredo wins, I want the UFC to rebook the fight with Cody Garbrandt. I think Figueiredo is becoming a stud and if he beats Garbrandt he can move up 135 pounds and challenge for the bantamweight title.

Alex Perez
Result: lost to Deiveson Figueiredo by first-round submission at UFC 255
Next: Brandon Royval

Perez is still fresh because his fight didn’t last long.

Royval had an unfortunate ending to his highly active fight against Monero when his shoulder popped out of place in the final seconds of the first round.

Following the fight, Royval’s coached popped his shoulder back into place and White went to twitter to say that he’ll get Royval a fight again very soon.

https://twitter.com/danawhite/status/1330348952730947586

So since both guys should be good to go in the very near future, let’s book them.

Valentina Shevchenko
Result: defeated Jennifer Maia by unanimous decision at UFC 255
Next: Jessica Andrade

Well first I’ll address her and Amanda Nunes fighting each other for a third time. I’m not sure if Nunes and Megan Anderson will rebook their fight and if they do that means Nunes has plans already.

Also I’m not going to lie, if Nunes came out and said she’s done fighting at 135 pounds and vacanted the bantamweight title I wouldn’t be surprised given the fact that she has a hard cut to bantamweight and she’s established herself as the GOAT and she doesn’t need to prove anything to anyone.

With that being said let’s keep things at flyweight.

The 125 pound has a good problem right now. Jessica Andrade and Lauren Murphy both deserve a title fight, but only one of them can get one next. Also Shevchenko said she wants to fight one of them in the short future.

I feel that Andrade is going to be next given that she was a former strawweight champion and up to this point the only challenger at 125 pounds that didn’t look completely out of place against Shevchenko was another former champion in Joanna Jedrzejczyk. Also not to mention that Andrade is the only female fighter in UFC history to secure wins in three different weight classes.

Of course if Andrade gets the title shot then that leaves Murphy on the outside looking in. I like Murphy and she definitely deserves a shot, but it’s hard to see the UFC denying Andrade. I’m team Murphy on this one and I want to see Murphy get the shot. She absolutely deserves it, but I just see the UFC skipping over her which isn’t right.

Jennifer Maia
Result: lost to Valentina Shevchenko
Next: Cynthia Calvillo

Maia showed a lot of heart and her stock definitely rose after the fight especially since she won a round of Shevchenko. However at the end of the day, she is in the same boat as a lot of fighters in this weight class. You fought Shevchenko and lost.

Now it’s time for her to work her way back into earning another shot and that journey should begin with Calvillo.

Both are high level grapplers and are top flyweight contenders that are coming off of losses. Whoever would win that fight gets themselves right back into title contention.

John Eric Poli

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