LAS VEGAS — UFC 269 was filled with shocking moments, but none bigger than Julianna Peña’s submission victory over Amanda Nunes in the women’s bantamweight title fight. Pena was thoroughly dominated in the first round, but found a jab that landed on Nunes over and over again. Those punches rocked the woman widely known as the GOAT and after a takedown, one submission attempt from Pena got the job done. So what’s ahead for the new champ?
Charles Oliveira held onto his gold on Saturday night with a third-round victory over Dustin Poirier. Oliveira entered the fight looking for the respect and the validation that comes with the title of being UFC champion, and with his performance over Poirier, he most definitely earned it. A logical contender for Oliveira is waiting in the wings, but Poirier’s future is far less clear.
Earlier in the night Sean O’Malley proved that he deserves a ranking, Tai Tuivasa showed great patience in his knockout win and Dominick Cruz reminded everyone that he’s far from done.
What’s ahead for each of these fighters? Let’s take a look.
Charles Oliveira, lightweight (defeated Dustin Poirier by submission)
Who should be next: Justin Gaethje
Gaethje said it last month, before he beat Michael Chandler at UFC 268. If he didn’t get a title shot, he’d riot. And I said after that fight, there’s no way he doesn’t get it and I still believe that. I can’t see how the UFC could even justify giving it to anyone else. Gaethje had unfortunate timing in that he happened to be the last man to lose to Khabib Nurmagomedov before the undefeated champ retired. He was forced to go out and win another fight, and he did that. Impressively.
There are a lot of good 155ers to challenge Oliveira, but none of them have the resume of Gaethje. He’s next.
Wild card: Max Holloway
I guess? If Holloway decided he wanted to move up to lightweight instead of fighting Alexander Volkanovski for the third time at featherweight, he’d be an instant title shot candidate. And he holds a…
Source : espn
