Matches to Make After UFC 261

UFC 261 was a night full of shocking finishes, of the wonderful as well as the terrible variety.

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to unrestricted “full house” live events, however you may feel about the advisability of that measure, absolutely delivered the goods in terms of entertainment. There were at least three knockouts that will earn consideration on year-end lists, and of the 13 fights on the card, only one might remotely be described as boring. The three title fights at the top of the card all featured emphatic finishes. Two of them were expected maulings by heavily favored champs — though even they managed to be surprising in the details — and one stunning upset.

That’s the good news. On the down side, at least one fight was marred by poor judging, though that’s hardly a surprise in combat sports. But the truly bad news is that two main card bouts ended in freakish injuries: one merely robbed us of a fantastic scrap, while the other saw a proud ex-champion carried out of a hushed arena on a stretcher, his future in considerable doubt.

Whether joyous or tragic, each fight had a winner and a loser, and those winners need a next opponent. Here are some matches that should be made for the main card victors from UFC 261.

Kamaru Usman vs. Colby Covington: Usman, to put it simply, shut Jorge Masvidal up in Saturday’s main event. With that savage second-round knockout, “The Nigerian Nightmare” dispelled months of talk about six days’ notice, about foot stomps and about being afraid to stand and trade with the striker. The recommendation of Covington is based on the belief that Leon Edwards vs. Nate Diaz is more or less a done deal. Otherwise, Edwards deserves this spot, as by far the most accomplished UFC welterweight not to have faced Usman during his title reign of terror. That they met early in their UFC careers in a competitive scrap only adds interest. If the UFC is in fact going to make Edwards jump through yet another hoop before getting his shot at gold, the next best choice is “Chaos,” who was grinning, mugging and jawing cageside on Saturday night, resplendent in a camouflage blazer. While Covington’s claims that he beat Usman, or “was beating him…until” are a bit of a stretch, he did give the champ more of a fight than anyone else in recent memory. Whether that will remain the case in a rematch is anyone’s guess, considering the shocking improvements to Usman’s striking over the past 18 months, but Covington has earned the right to try.

Rose Namajunas vs. Xiaonan Yan/Carla Esparza winner: “Thug Rose” shocked the world, lancing Weili Zhang with a left head kick and brutal follow-up ground strikes to become the UFC’s first two-time strawweight champ. This recommendation assumes the UFC does not book an immediate rematch between Namajunas and Zhang, which I hope they do not, as I’m not a fan of immediate title rematches unless there was significant controversy around the result. However, that does mean the UFC may need to look a little further afield for her next challenger, as Joanna Jedrzejczyk is 0-2 against Namajunas and Jessica Andrade is plying her trade at 125 pounds. Yan and Esparza are scheduled to meet at UFC Fight Night 188 in four weeks. Whoever wins will have a solid case for a title shot; it would be Esparza’s fifth straight win, while Yan would be a perfect 7-0 in the UFC. There’s also a little bit of additional narrative hook in either case, as Yan is of course Zhang’s countrywoman, while Esparza beat Namajunas six years ago to become the UFC’s first strawweight champion.

Valentina Shevchenko vs. Lauren Murphy/Joanne Calderwood winner: Shevchenko entered the cage as a 4-to-1 favorite against Jessica Andrade at UFC 261, and still managed to impress, going straight at the supposed strengths of “Bate Estaca” and proving herself by far the stronger woman and better wrestler. In the wake of another dominant win for one of the most dominant champs in the sport, the cry went up from fans and media for a third matchup with Amanda Nunes. I’m writing that off as unrealistic. One, while both fights were competitive, the second one was dreadful, which hurts the sellability of a third. Two, Nunes clearly has a limited time left in the fight game before motherhood pulls her fully into the next phase of her life. A relatively high-risk matchup with a woman she’s already beaten twice is unlikely to interest the “Lioness” enough to spend one of her remaining fights on. It’s unfortunate that the UFC booked Murphy and Calderwood, the two highest-ranked flyweights Shevchenko hasn’t beaten yet, to meet in June. Otherwise, both women have done enough already to merit a title shot, as evidenced by the fact that Calderwood had actually been slated to get one before deciding to take a stay-busy fight against Jennifer Maia. Whoever emerges victorious in their scrap will have an even better résumé.

Uriah Hall vs. Darren Till: Hall won in a way nobody wants to on Saturday, as a checked Chris Weidman leg kick destroyed Weidman’s shin bones in a way eerily reminiscent of the injury Weidman himself inflicted on Anderson Silva in their second fight. The gruesome broken leg, just 17 seconds into the fight, left a sober and subdued Hall in no mood to celebrate. If the UFC has moved past the Till vs. Marvin Vettori matchup that fell apart a few weeks ago, Till would be a fantastic next opponent for the surging Jamaican-American. “The Gorilla” remains a Top 10 middleweight despite being just 1-3 in his last four, based on some solid performances at welterweight and at least a little bit on the eyeball test. He could use a decisive win over a real, live 185-pound contender to justify his own place in the division. Hall, who is now on a career-best four-fight winning streak that nonetheless has some question marks hanging over it, could use the same thing.

Anthony Smith vs. Magomed Ankalaev: The only real loser in the Smith vs. Jimmy Crute main card opener was us. A wild first round in which Crute could not get out of the way of Smith’s piston-like jab, while Crute repeatedly punished Smith’s lead leg with unchecked kicks, came to a bizarre and disappointing end when Smith deadened Crute’s left leg with a kick. Crute made it to the end of the round, and appeared to be recovering use of his foot, but not quickly enough for the cageside doctor, who waved the fight off between rounds. The result is a mixed look for former light heavyweight title challenger Smith. On one hand, he looked sharp, and that jab in particular was more effective than ever before, an indication that the 50-fight veteran continues to round out his game. On the other hand, Crute secured a couple of takedowns with ease despite being literally unable to stand.

“Lionheart” now finds himself in a difficult place, in terms of matchmaking. He has fought most of the fighters ranked above him, and has fallen definitively short against the Top 5, but he’s still too much for the Devin Clarks and — freak result or not — Jim Crutes of the world. The 15-1 Ankalaev defeated Nikita Krylov at UFC Fight Night 186 on Feb. 27, completing his transition from uber-prospect to ranked contender. Many observers seem to believe he is a future title contender; if he is, the wily, tough-as-nails and still improving Smith is a hurdle he should be able to clear. If not, Smith continues to certify his run to that title shot as more than just lightning in a bottle.