Matchmaker Monday following UFC Vegas 19

UFC Vegas 19 was a big night for Derrick Lewis as he picked up a huge win over Curtis Blaydes in the main event as Lewis landed a perfectly timed upper cut that knocked Blaydes out cold.

The win will put in Lewis in a great position to fight for the UFC title down the line. As for Blaydes, the loss shouldn’t set him back too far.

Let’s breakdown the future matchups for these two fighter on this Matchmaker Monday.

Derrick Lewis
Result: defeated Curtis Blaydes by second-round KO at UFC Vegas 19
Next: Alexander Volkov

The heavyweight division is tied up at the moment. Champion Stipe Miocic is set to fight Francis Ngannou at UFC 260 with the winner fighting Jon Jones in the summer.

With that being said the rest of the division will need to play itself out and it will begin with a rematch between Lewis and Volkov.

I think the UFC should book the two given the drama of their first meeting. Volkov was on his way to a win until Lewis knocked out Volkov with just seconds remaining in the fight. Following their fight, Lewis earned a title fight against Daniel Cormier.

Given all of that, plus the fact that both fighters are ranked in the top five of the division and they are both coming off wins, this fight is an easy one to book.

If the UFC doesn’t go with Volkov, expect Lewis to fight with the winner of Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane or the loser of the UFC 260 title fight

Curtis Blaydes
Result: lost to Derrick Lewis by second-round KO at UFC Vegas 19
Next: winner of Jairzinho Rozenstruik and Ciryl Gane

Blaydes is in an interesting spot now as he’s fought just about everyone.

Two people he hasn’t fought are Rozenstruik and Gane so I think Blaydes fighting one of those two would make sense.

Blaydes is still one of the top heavyweight fighters in the world and the loss shouldn’t set him back too far. Since his stock is still high he’s still worthy of a big fight and his next fight will be against Rozenstruik or Gane.

John Eric Poli

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