Matchmaking after UFC noche.
How would you matchmake the fighters of the whole main fights after this event?
I'm giving Alexander Hernandez: Nacho Bahamondes or Ruffy (provided they don't fight each other, since this is a FAR better match, but this is a topic for another time). If not I'm giving him Daniel Zellhuber. I'm giving Ferreira Bobby Green.
Kelvin Gastelum is complicated because his weight problems are really fucking things up and his future is uncertain. But this win was good. I'd give him Shara Bullet or Marvin Vettori. Not sure about Dustin though.
Not sure about Rafa Garcia vs. Flash Gordon either.
For Rob Font I'd reprogram his Raul Rosas fight. While Dr Stoppage rightfully defeated him, I also find that he was put in a disadvantageous position by Raul withdrawing so his original opponent should be reassigned to him. He had no reason to take his fight and could very well have withdrawn and waited out for Raul Rosas, yet he still decided to save face for the event despite it could have been to his detriment. This shouldn't affect his current matchmaking.
As good as getting into top 10 by your 2nd fight is, David Martinez just got himself into a very awkward position because he's N9 right now and everybody above him is really a downhill battle for someone with so little experience despite he looked good vs. Font. N7 Marlon Vera may be the only accessible and winnable fight for him above his rank. I just don't think he's beating Mario or Deiveson in any reliable way. I don't even need to explain why he shouldn't fight any of the other fighters RN. If he can't get the Chito Vera fight then his best course of action is fight down some top 15. Marcus McGhee could be a good option given he just fought Petr Yan.
For Jean Silva... at the risk of getting downvoted since people are still fired up from this recent bout, but he'll have to face Dan Ige, David Onama, a bit down the rankings. If Kevin Vallejos KOs someone mildly important (like Patricio Pitbull, whom he is negotiating to fight soon) brutally while Silva recovers then he'll have to rematch him. I feel like the Kevin Vallejos fight is his best course of action since he already has his intel on him and he has much to lose if somehow Onama or Ige defeat him. People use "fraud check" too lightly lately, but if he gets a loss by any of them (even if competitive) he'd truly be fraud checked. Another one that may be interesting would be Silva vs. the loser of Emmett/Zalal. I feel like Emmett is the best test to improve his patience, pace, strategy and battle IQ. While he got destroyed by Diego, a win over Emmett would solidify he still belongs in his current rank.
Diego clearly should fight Evloev. I'm not opposed to an Aljamain fight but a Movsar rematch just feels better. One could argue a Yair fight would be fireworks and I'd be inclined to agree but I don't think this can be made due to Yair being picky. I think Aljamain vs. Diego is more likely though. Unless Movsar's manager plays his cards really right, which he often does not. Evloev and Yair are likely going to be forced against each other in a 2026 bout where the loser gets finally cut. They both are unreliable, low activity elements in the company sitting far too high in the rankings for the directives to be ok with them.
Feel free to comment and give your suggestions, specially with Stoltzfus, Rafa Garcia and Jared Gordon, to whom I can't muster the thoughts to properly match them due to lack of info.