Following the UFC’s historic White House card, with each fight ending in a knockout, fans want to know what is next for their favorite fighters. If I had the matchmaking power to decide these fighters’ next fights, here’s how I would do it:
Gaethje is 37 years old and has finally achieved his goal of reaching undisputed gold. He is one of the best to ever do it in the sport, and has nothing left to prove. He took Topuria’s “0” on the White House lawn and scored a massive payday, earning both the performance of the night and fight of the night bonuses. Gaethje deserves to ride off into the sunset with one of, if not the greatest, wins in UFC history.
Now, if Conor McGregor beats Max Holloway and calls for a title shot, Gaethje deserves to get that fight. I just don’t think that will happen.
After getting the Interim belt in his win over Alex Pereira, his next fight will be to unify the belt against Tom Aspinall. Not much to say here other than hopefully Aspinall can fight again following the eye pokes from Gane that have kept him out.
Whether Yan fights Merab Dvalishvili first or not, O’Malley’s next opponent should be Yan. If Yan does fight Merab first, even if he loses, I think that should be O’Malley’s next opponent. This will be a rematch of their 2022 fight, where O’Malley won a close split decision. These two are some of the highest-level fighters in the world,
If Merab beats Yan in their potential rematch, O’Malley shouldn’t be fighting for the belt. He’s already lost to Merab twice already, and nothing he has done since then suggests that a third time around would be any different.
With Aspinall and Gane locked in to fight for the title, it only seems logical to book the promotion’s surging heavyweight against the number two contender to see who deserves the next title shot. Volkov arguably beat Gane in their last matchup, with even Dana White admitting that he was robbed. Volkov’s last win over the fourth-ranked Waldo Cortes-Acosta was rather lackluster, so I’d like to see him win another fight before getting a title shot.
Volkov is one of the tallest fighters in UFC history at 6’7, and he will have a massive size advantage over Hokit. However, especially in his Cortes-Acosta fight, Volkov looked slow, and this is where Hokit can take advantage of him. Hokit is one of the fastest fighters in the heavyweight division, allowing him to make up for his smaller size.
This would be a classic size vs. speed matchup, and I hope it gets made.
When I saw the winner here, I really mean Max Holloway, because Conor would almost certainly get a title shot if he wins. Not because he deserves it, but because he is Conor McGregor and the rules don’t really apply to him. I do think seeing Ruffy vs McGregor would be a very interesting fight, with both sharing similar styles and drawing lots of comparisons.
If Max Holloway can get through the old version of Conor McGregor, I’d like to see him against his “second coming” in Ruffy. Both are elite strikers and would be an exciting firefight. The winner of this matchup would land themselves squarely in title contention.
The UFC wants to build Nickal as a star, that is for sure. What better way to do it than against one of the promotion’s biggest stars, Adesanya? Adesanya has lost his last four fights and been finished in his last three. Despite not being the fighter he once was, this is still a large jump in competition for Nickal, who was finished in his only fight against a ranked opponent, Reiner de Ridder. This fight gives Nickal the chance to jump into megastardom while also giving Adesanya a chance to prove to fans that he still has it.
Lopes is in a weird spot right now after losing back-to-back fights to Alexander Volkanovski before knocking out Steve Garcia in this one. It’s just too early for Lopes to be back in the title picture, so matching him with former Bantamweight champion Aljamain Sterling allows him to earn his spot back. It also allows Lopes to show off his new wrestling ability that he has acquired since training in Stillwater with David Taylor. That is, of course, if he doesn’t knock him out first.
I think Ilia has earned the right to fight for the belt, even after this loss. If Gaethje were to vacate the title, I would have the top two ranked lightweights fight for the undisputed title, and that would be Topuria and Tsarukyan. I don’t think that is what the UFC would do, but it is what they should do if Gaethje were to retire.
Now, if they don’t give Topuria a shot at the belt immediately, it would give him the chance to fight Paddy Pimblett. This is a beef that has been brewing for years and would draw massive crowds in Europe. If the UFC were willing to do its first stadium event, this would be the perfect fight to headline the card. Have it take place in Spain, and Ilia might be willing to not fight for the belt under these circumstances.
Pimblett has a very tough chin. I would be interested in seeing if Topuria can crack it. Especially after a fight, he seemed to be in his own head in vs. Gaethje, where the stakes would be higher vs Pimblett. I think he wins comfortably in his hypothetical fight, for the record.
Pereira will need some time off following this defeat. Maybe he can use this time to shed the weight he put on to move up to heavyweight. Now, Pereira hasn’t ruled out staying at Heavyweight, but given that Gane and Aspinall aren’t going anywhere, it is probably in his best interest to move back down. With no clear contenders at light heavyweight at the moment, and Pereira’s stardom, I am sure he would be afforded an immediate title shot, especially since he was the champion before he left the division.
The UFC loves Pereira, and he deserves whatever opportunity he gets next.
Aiemann Zahabi is now a decently sized name after fighting on his card, and being on the older side, he is perfect to feed to a young Talbott to build him up as a star. Talbott is a rangy athletic striker, like Zahabi’s last opponent, Sean O’Malley. The UFC wants to see fighters like Talbott rise to the top because their exciting fighting style simply garners more fans.
This also gives Zahabi a chance to correct the mistakes he made against O’Malley and prove himself a worthy fighter. I just don’t see that happening, though.
Chandler is 40 years old. As I was watching this card with my dad, he said, “I don’t think I’ve ever seen this guy win”. That is pretty much all you need to know about 2026 Michael Chandler. He is still a showman and has a good physique, but the sport of MMA is just not for him anymore. That makes him a great fit for the WWE.
Much of what I said for Chandler rings true here. Lewis is 41 years old and is known to quit in the cage at this point in his career. He’s just not the fighter he once was, which usually means it is time to hang it up.
My reasoning for this matchup is essentially the same as the Zahabi vs. Talbott matchup. Daukaus is now a bigger name as a result of this card, and Gautier is a fighter the UFC wants to promote. This fight likely ends similarly to the Nickal fight for Daukaus.
Garcia is 34, and Choi is 35. This tends to be when lighter fighters tend to start declining, and when matchmakers should start to look for fun fights rather than fights to advance the fighters toward UFC gold. I just think this would be a fun fight, so that’s why I made it.
This card was absolutely stacked, so it only makes sense that these fighters’ next fights would also be bangers. I think these would all be fun fights or needed retirements.
Do you agree with these matchups?
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