Matchmaker Monday following UFC Vegas 17

UFC Vegas 17 was the final UFC event of 2020. Hard to believe that we’re at this point of the year after dealing with a global shutdown earlier in the year.

In the final main event of the year, Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson won every single round against Geoff Neal on the way to a unanimous decision win.

Thompson was banged up after the fight, but he’s hoping he didn’t suffer a serious injury to his leg and he could once again fight Jorge Masvidal.

As for Neal, he’s going to have to work his way back to fight a big name opponent like Thompson.

Let’s find out what’s next for these fighters on the final Matchmaker Monday of 2020.

Stephen Thompson
Result: defeated Geoff Neal by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 17
Next: Winner of Leon Edwards and Khamzat Chimaev

Thompson looked great and I think he’s a legit threat at 170-pounds.

If you look at his record as of late you might want to push back at the statement of him being a threat because he’s 3-3-1 in his last seven fights, but hear me out.

He has a draw and a loss to Tyron Woodley in two title fights which were so close that if Thompson won those fights you wouldn’t of seen any push back. Same with his loss to Darren in which many people actually thought Thompson straight up won the fight.

The only other loss is to Anthony Pettis and I’ll say it, that loss was a fluke. Thompson was dominating the fight until Pettis landed another one of his highlight reel knockouts by throwing a superman punch that put Thompson out cold.

In between all that he has a win over Masvidal and now he’s on a two-fight winning streak. He’s earned a big fight.

He’s not going to get Masvidal because Masvidal and Covington are going to most likely fight in early 2021. So I think the winner of Edwards and Chimaev makes a lot of sense. It could even be a title elimination fight.

The loser of Kamaru Usman and Gilbert Burns can also slid into a fight with Wonderboy as well, but I just feel like the winner of Edwards and Chimaev is the way to go.

Geoff Neal
Result: lost to Stephen Thompson by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 17
Next: Michael Chiesa

I still Neal has a lot of potential in this division despite being on the losing end of a one sided decision. Neal has a lot to take away from this fight and if he uses it as a learning experience he can comeback better than ever.

As for what’s next, how about Michael Chiesa?

I don’t really think Neal needs to fight someone ranked below him in the rankings, so I feel like Chiesa makes sense. Not to mention Chiesa hasn’t fought in forever so I doubt he’ll return to the octagon and get someone ahead of him in the rankings.