Matches to Make After UFC on ESPN 47

UFC on ESPN 47 featured two intriguing contenders bouts, one at middleweight and the other at lightweight, with precious little else.

In the headliner, recent Ultimate Fighting Championship title challengers Marvin Vettori and Jared Cannonier battled one another. Vettori had lost his bid against Israel Adesanya in 2021, being thoroughly dominated over 5 rounds, but had bounced back well with decisions over Paulo Costa and Roman Dolidze. In-between those, however, he had been dominated by former middleweight champion Robert Whittaker. At 29 years old, the Italian was eager to prove he deserved another crack at the crown.

Cannonier, meanwhile, had lost against Adesanya even more recently, in 2022, which was also a lopsided affair. Before that, he had won two big fights, a close five-round decision over Kelvin Gastelum and a second-round knockout of Derek Brunson. He had fought once since losing his championship opportunity, a split decision verdict over Sean Strickland that inspired plenty of debate even among the official judges, as Derek Cleary and Sal D'Amato gave a different fighter each round. At 39, there was also a question of how much Cannonier had left.

The answer was plenty: Despite predictions that this would feature plenty of grappling, it was mostly a toe-to-toe striking battle with huge blows exchanged by both men. Vettori won the first frame, but was hurt horribly by Cannonier and nearly knocked out in the second stanza. From there, Vettori became tired and Cannonier largely battered him up over the final 15 minutes, including nearly finishing him again in the fifth round. Cannonier took the easy decision by scores of 49-45, 49-45, and 48-46.

In the co-main, No. 8 ranked lightweight Arman Tsarukyan battled Brazilian Joaquim Silva. Tsarukyan had been excellent in the UFC since losing his 2019 debut against current lightweight king Islam Makhachev, going 6-1, with the lone blemish a 2022 decision defeat against Mateusz Gamrot. He was an enormous favorite in the co-main at -1100, a line rarely seen in any UFC fight, let alone the highest-billed matches. Silva, meanwhile, was 5-3 in the UFC heading into the contest, having suffered brutal knockout losses to Nasrat Haqparast and Ricky Glenn in 2019 and 2021 respectively before recovering with a knockout of his own against Jesse Ronson late last year. Tsarukyan stood with Silva, perhaps wanting to show the UFC he can be exciting and go for finishes. However, that meant a greater degree of risk, which almost proved fatal for the Armenian, as Silva blasted him in Round 2, hurting the monster favorite badly. Tsarukyan recovered and then finished Silva in the middle of the final stanza with ground-and-pound.

In other results, Pat Sabatini returned after his first UFC loss, a one minute knockout defeat to Damon Jackson, and made mincemeat of Lucas Almeida, finishing him with an arm triangle in the second stanza.

Here are several worthwhile matchups that the UFC can book in the near future:

Jared Cannonier vs. Israel Adesanya 2

Cannonier is the No. 4 ranked UFC middleweight, but just defeated No. 3 ranked Vettori. Additionally, No. 1 ranked Alex Pereira is moving up to light heavyweight and No. 2 ranked Whittaker is scheduled to face Dricus Du Plessis in a few weeks. As crazy as it sounds, Cannonier is the best available challenger for Adesanya, even if they already fought last year and Adesanya dominated him. Perhaps Cannonier can land a big punch or use grappling more effectively, which he shockingly did in a few spots against Vettori.

Arman Tsarukyan vs. Beneil Dariush

Tsarukyan may have faltered against an excellent opponent in Gamrot last year, but he is still only 26 and deserves another shot at a higher-ranked opponent. Why not Dariush, who is just coming off a loss to Charles Oliveira? Both men have superb grappling, making for a variety of great scrambles and submission attempts. Additionally, each have good striking and are perfectly willing to engage in that arena of the battlefield, too. This could be a terrific fight and would either re-establish Dariush as an elite contender or make a new one of Tsarukyan, while not hurting the loser much.

Pat Sabatini vs. Alex Caceres

Sabatini is 32 years old and has an impressive 5-1 mark in the UFC. Why not finally give him a ranked contender, specifically No. 15 Alex Caceres? Sabatini will have an obvious grappling advantage while Caceres will look to move plenty on his feet and land strikes. Neither man is passive, so this will likely be an exciting affair, with any number of outcomes possible. On an amusing note, Sabatini and Caceres have already faced one another and recently, with the two tangling at a grappling event in December 2022. Unsurprisingly, Sabatini won via RNC in 5:44. Would it be a different story in MMA?