Matchmaker Monday following UFC 267
UFC 267 ended with Glover Teixeira making UFC history.
In the main event, Teixeira upset Jan Blachowicz to capture the light heavyweight title at 42 years old. The win made Teixeira the oldest man in UFC history to win a championship for the first time.
While the historic moment topped off the event, the fight right before it in the co-main event was slug fest between Petr Yan and Cory Sandhagen. As the fight went on, Yan got stronger and stronger on way to a unanimous decision win to make him a two-time bantamweight champion.
Now that the event is over, let’s find out what’s next for the men involved in the championship fights at UFC 267 on this edition of Matchmaker Monday.
Glover Teixeira
Next: Jiri Prochazka
Teixeira has had an incredible story.
There was his first run to a title shot back in 2014 in which he lost to Jon Jones. Then back in 2018, he had lost three of five fights and many people thought it might be time for him to hang it up. Now he’s won six and a row and won the title at 42 years old.
The road to light heavyweight gold will go through Teixeira and first man to get a crack at the new champ is Prochazka, who weighed in as the backup for this fight.
Prochazka hasn’t lost a fight since 2015 and has looked flawless since coming into the UFC. He is absolutely the next contender and Teixeira has already accepted that.
Jan Blachowicz
Next: Thiago Santos
Blachowicz has too be upset with himself. Many people expected him to run away with this fight and he just never got settled in. He looked way off his game and he’ll now look to bounce back in a huge way.
One matchup that jumps out immediately is a rematch with Santos, who was the last man to beat Blachowicz before he went on his run to the title.
Santos is coming off a main event win over Johnny Walker and is ranked in the top five. Not only does the fight make sense because of a rematch and the rankings stand point, but both of these men have losses to Teixeira that they would like to avenge.
Petr Yan
Next: Aljamain Sterling
Yan is now the interim champ and a two-time bantamweight champion.
The next move is easy to figure out. A unification fight with Sterling. Everyone knows what happened the last the time. These two have unfinished business.
Hopefully these two get it on as fast as possible. The division is already log jammed and can’t afford any more delays at the top.
Cory Sandhagen
Next: Merab Dvalishvili
Sandhagen loses another tough one at UFC 267.
He got submitted by Sterling, lost a close war to TJ Dillashaw in a fight that could have went either way and now he fell victim to Yan in another close fight.
Right now the next moves at the top are between Sterling, Yan, Dillashaw and the winner of Rob Font and Jose Aldo.
Sandhagen can work his way back into the mix, but he needs a win to do it. Up next for him is a guy whose been on roll and is also looking to insert himself into the top of this log jammed division in Dvalishvili.
