Matchmaker Monday following UFC Vegas 38
UFC Vegas 38 was a nice night of fights, but it ended in a strange way.
The main event between Thiago Santos and Johnny Walker was predicted to bring fireworks, but the close fight didn’t live up to the high expectations that the fans had for it.
In the co-main event, Kyle Daukaus was celebrating a big submission win over Kevin Holland, but the fight was overturned to a no contest after a replay showed that Holland was hurt and nearly knocked out after an accident headbutt.
Now that the fights are over, let’s look and the next move for these fighters on this Matchmaker Monday.
Thiago Santos
Result: defeated Johnny Walker by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 38
Next: Anthony Smith
The light heavyweight division has some moving parts, but there are some things that are guaranteed.
The guaranteed parts are Jan Blachowicz and Glover Teixeira fighting for Blachowicz’s title and Jiri Prochazka getting the winner.
Then there sits Aleksandar Rakic, which is where the moving parts come in. He should fight the loser of Blachowicz and Teixeira, but Anthony Smith called him out and he is open to that.
Depending on the way he goes will determine what’s next for Santos. If he goes with the loser the of the upcoming title fight, then that opens the door for a rematch between Smith and Santos.
A Santos and Smith fight also makes sense given there backgrounds of being former middleweights, who eventually lost to Jon Jones and then worked their way back into the top of the division.
Johnny Walker
Result: lost to Thiago Santos by unanimous decision at UFC Vegas 38
Next: Jim Crute
Every time Walker gets the chance to get into position for a huge fight in the division he has stumbled. A win over Santos would have gotten him right into the mix of things at 205 pounds, but now he’s going to have to work back.
Given the fact that he’s lost three of his last four fights, he’s going to have to fight someone ranked below him in the official UFC light heavyweight rankings. That’s where Crute steps in as Crute is ranked at No. 14 and Walker is No. 10.
Kevin Holland and Kyle Daukaus
Result: No contest due to an accident headbutt at UFC Vegas 38
Next: rematch
This fight was rare. The replay showed an accidental headbutt and Daukaus had his win overturned to a no contest.
As soon as the heabutt happened, referee Dan Miragliotta was going to jump in and stop the fight because Holland looked to be knocked out, but then Holland quickly started fighting back. As soon as Holland started fighting back, Miragliotta gave a signal to get the replay ready.
Moments later Daukaus was able to get a submission, but it didn’t count.
After a crazy ending, both fighters said in the octagon that they should run it back and that makes sense. Except the rematch to happen sooner than later.
