Matchmaker Monday following UFC Vegas 16

UFC Vegas 16 was a big night for Marvin Vettori as he is not only the official face of Italian MMA, but he is now going to be a top five middleweight contender.

Vettori picked up a hard fought unanimous decision win over Jack Hermansson in the main event to catapult himself towards the top of the division after coming into the fight ranked No. 12.

Now Vettori is in the drivers seat for a big fight and Hermansson is going going to be in an interesting spot to say the least.

Let’s find out what’s next for both of these men on this Matchmaker Monday.

Marvin Vettori
Result: defeated Jack Hermansson by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 16
Next: Paulo Costa

Vettori was emotional after the fight and rightfully so. He’s been telling everyone he’s a top tier middleweight and this is actually the second time he’s showed it. He fought current middleweight king Israel Adesanya to a split decision just two years ago and now he beat the No. 4 contender in Hermansson.

The future of the middleweight division as a whole is tricky because of Adesanya. He should fight Robert Whittaker next, but there has been rumors of him moving up to light heavyweight and challenging Jan Blachowicz. So he moves up or if he moves up and wins, the middleweight division is going to be extremely tied up.

Now for Vettori he’s not getting a title shot, but he’s getting a top tier opponent. After the fight he called for Costa, but then retracted that call out and instead called for a title shot. We’ll I can tell you that a title shot is highly unlikely, but a top tier opponent is definitely next so him and Costa makes a ton of sense.

Jack Hermansson
Result: lost to Marvin Vettori by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 16
Next: Derek Brunson

Hermansson is still a solid middleweight contender. Vettori is the real deal and the only reason why he was ranked No. 12 coming into the fight is because the UFC never really gave him a shot to show off his true potential until now.

As for Hermansson’s next opponent it once again gets tough based on what’s happening with Adesanya. When you look at the rankings, you have Robert Whittaker needing an opponent if he if doesn’t get another title shot and Hermansson can be matched up there. However, I’m not overly confident in making that prediction.

Now one matchup I can definitely see next for Hermansson is Derek Brunson. Over the summer, Brunson picked up a win over Edem Shahbazyan and now he wants a bigger named opponent. Hermansson is a bigger name and he’s coming off a loss so I think it’s a matchup that makes sense.

John Eric Poli

See Full Bio