Matches to make for UFC 317 winners: Who should Ilia Topuria fight next?

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) recently tied a ribbon around its UFC 317 pay-per-view (PPV) card, which featured Ilia Topuria’s first-round knockout victory to claim the vacant lightweight title. In addition, Alexandre Pantoja defended his flyweight strap by subbing longtime 125-pound contender, Kai Kara-France in the UFC 317 co-main event.

Elsewhere on the card, Beneil Dariush got back to his winning ways by outlasting lightweight veteran Renato Moicano, not long after 23 year-old flyweight wunderkind Joshua Van scored a decision victory over Brandon Royval. In addition, Payton Talbott blasted his way back into the bantamweight win column at the expense of Felipe Lima.

Now it’s time to play matchmaker for all five winners.

Winner: Ilia Topuria
Next Fight To Make: Paddy Pimblett

Arman Tsarukyan is ranked No. 1 at 155 pounds and Justin Gaethje is sitting two spots below him at No. 3, so it sounds a bit ridiculous to gift the No. 8-ranked Paddy Pimblett next crack at the lightweight crown. But UFC CEO, Dana White, blacklisted Tsarukyan (because of this) and Topuria has no interest in fighting Gaethje, who is already 0-2 in lightweight title fights. In addition, Pimblett has a sanitized history with “El Matador” (literally) that might be more marketable than anything else the promotion has to offer right now in the 155-pound division. Besides, matchmakers already set a precedent by awarding title shots to No. 8-ranked contenders last fall.

Winner: Alexandre Pantoja
Next Fight To Make: Joshua Van

This one is fairly easy and handles two winners from the UFC 317 PPV main card. Pantoja retained his flyweight title by dispatching Kai Kara-France and has pretty much cleaned out the 125-pound division. To wit, “The Cannibal” already holds victories over Manel Kape, Brandon Moreno, Kai Asakura, Brandon Royval, and now Kara-France. Joshua Van is the winner of five straight and just beat Royval, who is currently ranked No. 1 in the world. “Fearless” only has one finish during his recent stretch, but there is not a flyweight in the Top 10 (see it here) who can make a better argument for the next crack at Pantoja, especially with No. 3-ranked Amir Albazi losing to Brandon Moreno last fall.

Winner: Beneil Dariush
Next Fight To Make: Dan Hooker

Having Paddy Pimblett fight for the lightweight title shakes things up a bit in the middle-to-lower half of the division, at least from a matchmaking perspective. By defeating Renato Moicano at UFC 317, Dariush snapped a two-fight losing streak and will likely retain his spot in the Top 10 of the official lightweight rankings. Dan Hooker is ranked a few spots above him but has also been calling for a Dariush showdown, even going so far as to threaten decapitation. Michael Chandler is also an option, but I would much rather see “Iron” back inside the cage against the rebounding Rafael Fiziev, in what would surely be a car crash-style “Fight of the Night” war. That leaves Arman Tsarukyan to battle Justin Gaethje, with the winner moving on to claim the next lightweight title shot.

Winner: Payton Talbott
Next Fight To Make: Chris Gutierrez

Payton Talbott was able to rebound from his first professional loss by outpointing another red-hot bantamweight prospect in the form of Felipe Lima. I think the best way to erase his bad performance against a grizzled, 30-something bantamweight veteran is by defeating a grizzled, 30-something bantamweight veteran. The unranked Chris Gutierrez certainly fits the bill and “El Guapo” is coming off back-to-back wins over Quang Le and John Castaneda. Cody Garbrandt could also prove to be an intriguing opponent, he’s just looked so terrible over the last few years that a victory over “No Love” would likely be viewed through the lens of “Cody is washed” as opposed to “Payton is improving.” In addition, the once-electric Adrian Yanez is coming off a decision loss to Daniel Marcos and has now dropped three of his last four.

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