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Edmen Shahbazyan is about as exciting a prospect as the UFC has ever had. He’s managed by Ronda Rousey’s One Fight Management and has established his name at the age of just 23. He boasts nine knockouts, collected four victories in his first four walks to the Octagon, and he’s already main evented a UFC card.
Being chosen to headline a Fight Night showed how highly regarded Shahbazyan is. He main-evented UFC Vegas 5 last August against Derek Brunson in what was a challenging step-up in competition. The part-Armenian middleweight fell to Brunson in the third round. Nevertheless, the Glendale-born fighter was tipped to be a future champion before the loss, and he remained tipped as one after the loss.
However, his first appearance in 2021 has provided another setback to his middleweight rise.
UFC Vegas 27: Shahbazyan vs. Hermansson
At UFC Vegas 27, Edmen Shahbazyan fell to a second consecutive defeat. It was the kind of matchup we'd have expected Shahbazyan to move onto should he have beaten Derek Brunson in 2020. To be matched up against someone of Jack Hermansson's quality after his last fight had the potential to be a blessing or a curse. It proved to be the latter.
The fight started well for the part-Armenian middleweight. We've always known his striking is more than impressive and incredibly powerful. Highlight reel KO’s have come naturally to him so far in the UFC. It was clear after the opening round Shahbazyan was having a better time of it on the feet.
But like Brunson did, Hermansson utilized his wrestling to neutralize any threat Shahbazyan had for the final two rounds. It's the same story for the 23 year old and it's clear work needs to be done if he is to hang with the elite at 185-pounds.
Having lost consecutive fights, what's next for Edmen Shahbazyan? After slipping down the middleweight pecking order, he'll be keen to rebound soon and start climbing up the rankings again.
With that said, here are three logical next opponents for Shahbazyan after his UFC Vegas 27 loss.
#3 Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Krzysztof Jotko
One man lower down the division who has fought some of the best and accumulated an impressive record is Krzysztof Jotko.
Jotko is criminally underrated. Going into 2017, the Pole was 19-1 and on a five-fight winning streak. Defeats to David Branch, Uriah Hall and Brad Tavares stalled Jotko's rise. But the 31 year old bounced back with three wins across 2019 and 2020.
Jotko's hopes of securing a ranking in 2021 were stalled at UFC Vegas 25. He faced Sean Strickland, a man in red-hot form. Strickland secured a relatively comfortable decision win to extend his record to 23-3 and his winning streak to four.
Like Edmen Shahbazyan, Jotko will be looking to bounce back from defeat and resurrect his year. A matchup later this year between the pair would make sense.
#2 Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Ian Heinisch
Given his past two results against top-10 opposition, it seems clear Shahbazyan must venture to opponents lower in the rankings or even outside of them next time out. One name that makes sense is Ian Heinisch.
Heinisch looked like a dark horse in the division for a while and found himself in the octagon with Kelvin Gastelum in February. His quality proved to be too much for Heinisch, who fell to a unanimous decision loss.
Before that, the Denver-born middleweight had beaten Gerald Meerschaert to rebound from back-to-back losses against Derek Brunson and Omari Akhmedov. He needs to do the same again after his latest setback.
Heinisch remains highly regarded in the UFC and given the way he secured his contract during series 15 of Dana White's Contender Series, it's easy to see why.
In a matchup between Edmen Shahbazyan and 'The Hurricane', both men are coming off defeats versus two top contenders at 185-pounds and both men need to rebound in style in order to revitalize their careers.
#1 Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Kevin Holland
One possible opponent for Edmen Shahbazyan is Kevin Holland. 'Trailblazer' has had a similar slide down the rankings and he's in need of a win to improve what's been a disappointing 2021 so far.
Holland is an entertainer and he’s a top striker in the middleweight division. Part of his entertaining style is his talking; perhaps against Derek Brunson he did too much of it. His last two fights have been largely the same. Headlining UFC Vegas 22 and 23, Holland was taken down and picked apart by Brunson and Marvin Vettori. His five-fight winning streak in 2020 seems a long while ago now...
But despite his recent results, Kevin Holland is just 28-years-old. He has more than enough time to make the necessary adjustments to his skillset and make another run at becoming a middleweight contender. Perhaps a spell under the tutelage of Khabib Nurmagomedov will set him up nicely moving forward...
With both Edmen Shahbazyan and Kevin Holland needing to bounce back from losing skids, this matchup would pair up two entertaining and powerful strikers who are both likely to leave everything in the cage in order to have their arms raised again.
