With ten of its twelve fights going to the judges’ scorecards, Saturday’s UFC event in Baku, Azerbaijan, may go down in promotional history as one of the most drawn-out in recent memory. That said, there will certainly be some shakeups in the UFC rankings this week following the weekend’s results.
Let’s take a look at what could be next for the biggest names from UFC on ABC 8.
Khalil Rountree Jr.
Rountree Jr.’s stock has never been higher. After pushing then-champion Alex Pereira deep into the championship rounds at UFC 307 last October, “The War Horse” (14-6 MMA, 10-6 UFC) picked up the biggest win of his career in Saturday’s main event, outclassing former titleholder Jamahal Hill over five rounds.
With five wins in his last six outings, Rountree’s latest performance should propel him into the top five at 205 pounds, replacing “Sweet Dreams.” If Alex Pereira ends up signing on for a heavyweight superfight against Tom Aspinall later this year, the door could open for Rountree to challenge Magomed Ankalaev for the title.
In the more likely scenario that he needs one more victory over a top-level opponent to cement his contender status, a matchup against Dominick Reyes (15-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) makes perfect sense. “The Devastator” appears to have turned his career around and would be a compelling dance partner for his fellow light heavyweight veteran.
Jamahal Hill
While Rountree Jr. may feel on top of the world after Baku, Jamahal Hill (12-4 MMA, 6-4 UFC) is likely feeling the opposite. “Sweet Dreams” has now lost three straight since returning from a torn Achilles injury at UFC 300 just over a year ago.
Losing by knockout to former champions Alex Pereira and Jiri Prochazka is one thing, but being outstruck so decisively by Rountree Jr. on Saturday will have been a tough pill to swallow.
At just 34 years old, Hill still has time to turn things around and work his way back toward title contention. For now, a step back in competition might be wise. A matchup with Volkan Oezdemir (20-8 MMA, 8-7 UFC) could be the right next step.
Rafael Fiziev
It wasn’t the most electrifying performance of Rafael Fiziev’s (13-4 MMA, 7-4 UFC) career, but after three consecutive losses, the result mattered more than the spectacle in his decision win over Ignacio Bahamondes in Saturday’s co-main event.
Now back in the win column, “Ataman” called for a fight against sixth-ranked Dan Hooker at the post-fight press conference. While he may not have done quite enough to jump that far up the rankings just yet, a rematch with Mateusz Gamrot (25-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) makes more sense. It was against “Gamer” that Fiziev suffered one of his three recent defeats after an unfortunate knee injury drew a premature close to what was shaping up to be an excellent fight. Run it back.
