Entering into the Octagon for the primary time in 2024, Serghei Spivac submitted the veteran Marcin Tybura with a spotlight reel armbar to place himself again on the board in dazzling trend. It had been almost a 12 months because the Moldovan had final competed, dropping to former two-time title challenger Ciryl Gane final September by third-round knockout. With the win, Spivac additionally avenged his earlier loss to Tybura after they fought over 4 years in the past, the place the Pole got here out on prime by unanimous determination.
Elsewhere on the cardboard, two scrappy featherweights, Damon Jackson and Chepe Mariscal produced an exciting co-main occasion, the undefeated Danny Barlow crossed paths with Nikolay Vertennikov, and 135-lb. standout Chris Gutierrez duked it out with Minnesota’s Quang Le.
Now, let’s check out who this previous present’s foremost card winners ought to struggle subsequent.
Toshiomi Kazama
After incomes a contract on the Street to UFC, Toshiomi Kazama (11-4 MMA, 1-2 UFC) got here into the promotion as a highly-touted Japanese MMA prospect. Nonetheless, following two back-to-back knockout losses to Rinya Nakamura and Garrett Armfield, the “Silent Finisher” discovered himself teetering on the sting of eviction from the corporate. That was till Kazama delivered a sensational end towards Charalampos Grigoriou final weekend, submitting him within the second spherical after surviving a heavy storm of blows from the Cypriot.
Battle to Make: Ricky Turcios
Whereas Kazama emphatically retained his place throughout the UFC with an thrilling (and worthwhile) stoppage win, he nonetheless has extra to do if he needs to show himself amongst the most effective bantamweights on the planet. For his subsequent outing to the cage, a victory over a veteran scrapper equivalent to Ricky Turcios ought to present him with the proper probability to climb the extremely stacked 135-lb. ladder.
Cash within the financial institution 💵
Serghei Spivac, Youssef Zalal, and Toshiomi Kazama take residence POTN honors!
[ B2YB @BlckRifleCoffee ] pic.twitter.com/1JSl1bZlZ3
— UFC (@ufc) August 11, 2024
Yana Santos
Though her opponent, Chelsea Chandler, missed weight by an exorbitant 5 kilos, Yana Santos (15-8 MMA, 5-5 UFC) nonetheless accepted the bout and managed to come back out along with her hand raised. Using her superior kickboxing, the previous Invicta Strawweight Champion pummeled her bigger foe with a sequence of punishing kicks to seize the unanimous determination whereas additionally snapping a three-fight dropping streak she had been on.
Battle to Make: Holly Holm
Lastly again within the win column, Santos shall be trying to claw her means again to title rivalry since difficult for UFC gold again in 2018 when she confronted then-UFC Ladies’s Featherweight Champion Cris Cyborg. To that finish, a bout versus a former titleholder in Holly Holm could be the proper alternative to see if Santos can proceed to push for an additional shot on the prime of the ladies’s 135-lb. heap.
Chris Gutierrez
Logging a strong outing in his newest journey to the UFC Octagon, Chris Gutierrez (21-5-2 MMA, 9-3-1 UFC) out-struck late-notice alternative Quang Le with a staggering 78% to 36% of complete strikes landed. Making himself a particularly elusive goal, “El Guapo” demonstrated his masterful footwork to make Le chase him for almost all of the match, ultimately incomes the unanimous determination win.
Battle to Make: Javid Basharat
Initially, Gutierrez was meant to face off with Xtreme Couture’s Javid Basharat. Sadly, the struggle wound up falling by as a consequence of Basharat pulling out due to an damage. For each males, this struggle nonetheless is sensible to place collectively as soon as extra. Basharat wants a win over a longtime title to offer himself some momentum after struggling his first loss towards Aiemann Zahabi again in March. Gutierrez must rack up one other dominant efficiency over one other younger killer to propel himself again into the bantamweight rankings.
Danny Barlow
It could not have been probably the most entertaining struggle on the cardboard, and he additionally missed weight for it, however welterweight prospect Danny Barlow (9-0 MMA, 2-0 UFC) acquired the job finished reverse Nikolay Vertennikov to retain his undefeated report by way of unanimous determination. The victory moved him to 2-0 contained in the UFC cage, it was additionally his first determination win since 2022 after profitable his previous 4 fights by knockout.
Battle to Make: Trey Waters
To place it bluntly, Barlow’s newest struggle wasn’t probably the most memorable, with him showing to be surprisingly gun shy compared to the previous couple of occasions we’ve seen him compete. Whether or not this was as a consequence of nerves or the primary weight miss of his profession, nobody can actually say, however it’s clear that “LeftHand2God” is a burgeoning power within the 170-lb. class. For his subsequent dance associate, why not pair him up towards one other equally expert future contender in Trey Waters? Each males have 9 professional wins apiece, are each 29 years outdated, and are recognized for being electrifying finishers.
Chepe Mariscal
Selecting up the largest win of his MMA profession, Chepe Mariscal (17-6-1NC MMA, 4-0 UFC) defeated Damon Jackson within the co-main occasion of UFC on ESPN 61, completely bloodying the gritty featherweight standout. Touchdown over 200 strikes, “Machine Gun” introduced himself as a bona-fide contender at 145 lbs. Sadly, his efficiency was additionally marred by the truth that he missed weight by three and half kilos, one thing that Mariscal lamented closely in his post-fight interview.
Battle to Make: Dan Ige
Though he did fumble on the scales for his struggle with Jackson, Mariscal nonetheless proved that he’s a power to be reckoned with within the division, and with an ideal 4-0 UFC report, the time has come for “Machine Gun” to contend together with his first ranked opponent. Whereas Mariscal famous in his post-fight interview that he has “no particular opponent” in thoughts for his subsequent bout, ought to the UFC decide to offer him a ranked title, there may be no higher struggle to make then having him tackle Dan Ige. The pair was beforehand scheduled to struggle final month, however Ige was pulled from the competition to fill in on 4 hours’ discover towards Diego Lopes at UFC 303. With each males seemingly eager to get in a single final outing to the Octagon earlier than the 12 months is over, a rebooking between these two gutsy fighters would solely produce fireworks that would mild up your complete Featherweight division.
Serghei Spivac
Exacting his revenge from their first encounter 4 years in the past, Serghei Spivac (17-4 MMA, 8-4 UFC) took out Marcin Tybura handedly with an extremely slick armbar within the very first spherical of their foremost occasion conflict final weekend. The win was his first since additionally submitting the hard-hitting Derrick Lewis again in 2023.
Battle to Make: Jailton Almeida
Not lengthy after his conquer Tybura, Spivac acquired a name out from one other distinguished heavyweight finisher in Jailton Almeida. Residing proper subsequent to one another within the 265-lb. rankings, a bout between these two could make for an attention-grabbing stylistic matchup. All through his whole profession, Spivac has by no means been submitted, which makes a possible assembly with unquestionably the most effective Brazilian jiu-jitsu practitioner within the division that rather more interesting.
