UFC Fight Night 166: Blaydes vs. Dos Santos - What's next for the show's big stars?

#2 Junior Dos Santos

Could Junior Dos Santos face Sergey Pavlovich next?

It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly a decade since Junior Dos Santos won the UFC Heavyweight title by defeating Cain Velasquez, but a lot has happened since then and most notably, ‘Cigano’ has suffered a handful of bad losses that have left him far less able to weather punishment than he once was. Would the Dos Santos of 2011 have gone down against Blaydes in the way he did last night? Most likely not.

With that said, JDS clearly has something to offer to the division; it’s less than a year since he defeated Derrick Lewis by TKO, for instance, and while he might not be able to compete with the elite any more, he’s still more than a handful for any prospects coming up the ladder looking to make a name for themselves.

That’s why I’d look to match him with Sergey Pavlovich next. The Russian debuted in the UFC back in 2018 and lost to Alistair Overeem via TKO, but since then he’s looked excellent, winning his last two fights in violent fashion with a boxing-heavy game. So could he use those heavy hands to take out Dos Santos? Or could JDS turn back his challenge as he did to Tai Tuivasa in 2018? It sounds like an excellent fight to me.

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#3 Michael Chiesa

Michael Chiesa entered into title contention with his win over Rafael Dos Anjos

Michael Chiesa moved to 170lbs in 2018 following a pair of losses at 155lbs and some issues making the weight limit, and while his wins over Carlos Condit and Diego Sanchez suggested that he had some strong potential in his new division, his win last night over Rafael Dos Anjos proved that he’ll be a handful for anyone at Welterweight.

‘Maverick’ called out Colby Covington for his next fight, but would that be something the UFC would consider? It’s hard to say. On one hand, it’d be tempting for the promotion to look to match ‘Chaos’ against a bigger star given his notoriety, but on the other hand, Chiesa will likely end up ranked in the top 5 of the division after his win over Dos Anjos and so it’d be a valid fight to make.

Despite that, I just can’t see it happening. Covington was notoriously tricky for the UFC to deal with prior to his recent loss to Kamaru Usman, and although Chiesa sounds like a good match for him on paper – it’s hard to see Chiesa comfortably out-grappling a wrestler as good as Colby – ‘Chaos’ will probably see himself as being above such a fight.

I’d therefore like to see the UFC match Chiesa with Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson next. Thompson last defeated Vicente Luque in a fantastic fight at UFC 244, and he’d make for an interesting fight for ‘Maverick’; could Chiesa get through his pinpoint striking to impose his grappling game? It’d be a classic style clash and could easily main event a UFC Fight Night card later in 2020.