5 Fights to make after UFC 284

Comparing the Perth crowd from this past weekend to the Rio crowd in January is like comparing hot and cold. Total opposites, with the Aussies literally blowing the roof off the RAC Arena and for good reason too. Each Australian fighter came out and performed with a chip on their shoulder and it produced an excellent event. With that, now it is time to look towards the future.

5. Jack Della Maddalena vs Vicente Luque

JDM notched his fourth first-round finish in a row against Randy Brown. The last man to finish Brown was Vicente Luque in 2020 who would eventually enter the top five of the division. It appears as though Della Maddalena is on a similar path in a shorter amount of time as he is now in the welterweight rankings at 14. This makes the four first round finishes since entering the UFC all the more impressive considering the three-round war JDM and Ange Loosa put forth in 2021 on Dana Whites Contender Series that gave Della Maddalena his UFC contract. As a massive fan of Luque and Della Maddalena it is certainly an intriguing fight given both the stylistic matchup. It just seems wrong to match Luque up against a guy lower than him in the rankings for the third time in a row when he is already on a two-fight losing streak with his most recent loss being the first knockout loss of his career. This seems like the route the UFC will take although there are certainly various other options for Della Maddalena.

4. Jimmy Crute vs Alonzo Menifield 2

This fight would have easily been given Fight of the Night honors had it not been for the incredibly high-level display provided by the main event. Menifield was landing heavy on the feet, but Crute was scoring takedowns and racking up control time along with landing shots of his own on the feet. It was clear that Menifield was finding the mark on Crute with more power and frequency as he had Crute hurt multiple times throughout. So much happened in this fight including a point deduction for Menifield who was repeatedly grabbing the fence tp stop a takedown which easily could have been what cost him a win on the scorecards. When the result was announced a draw, it made sense that these two would have to run it back. After a war like that these two deserve their win bonus and a co main event slot for a fight night card that is not in the UFC Apex for this rematch.

3. Jamie Mullarkey vs Paddy Pimblett

In my opinion, this was the best post-fight call out in quite some time. Mullarkey swept an undefeated opponent in Francisco Prado with a unanimous decision victory putting forth a virtuoso performance. Mullarkey's experience was existential before the UFC. The first loss of his career was to the number one pound for pound fighter in the world, Alexander Volkanovski years before either man entered the UFC. Not to mention, the level of competition Mullarkey has faced since entering the UFC far exceeds that of Paddy Pimblett's. If Pimblett has a chip on his shoulder like he should following his last fight, he would take this matchup into consideration.

2. Alexander Volkanovski vs Yair Rodriguez

It's hard to choose whose performance impressed me more between Volk and Yair. Josh Emmett is a very dangerous opponent for anyone and even momentarily stunned Yair during their interim UFC featherweight title fight, but Yair was just razor sharp on the feet. Yair was repeatedly driving his left shin into Emmett's liver gradually taking the wind out of his sail from the perfect distance and fighting close to a flawless fight. The icing on the cake was the excellent triangle choke he pulled off to win the fight. Yair has one of the best UFC resumes up to this point in his career. He has fought nothing but killers and has come out with a 9-2 record with a no contest in which he won the rematch for. This matchup between Yair and Volkanovski for undisputed gold is more than warranted.

1. Alexander Volkanovski vs Islam Makhachev 2

This was EASILY the most competitive and difficult to score UFC title fight I have ever watched. The facts are that Volk overestimated Islam which made for a tougher challenge because Islam seemingly underestimated Volkanovski's natural strength and ability. For the longest time, the reputation of Dagestani fighters who train with Khabib and/or at AKA are completely invincible, a theory seemingly debunked by an Australian tank. Despite Islam winning the decision, the fact that it was a unanimous decision with one score card being 49-46 in his favor is baffling. The scorecards do not tell the story of the fight whatsoever. A rematch is fascinating Volkanovski is a work horse and pushes himself to level up his game in preparation for every fight. With him losing a very close decision to a guy most people perceived as invincible, it could easily become a source of motivation for Volkanovski. The same could also be said about Islam who despite having a lifetime worth of training and experience, had never been to a 5th round and it showed ever so slightly against Volk. Very seldom does a UFC card present fights that fans want to see again, and UFC 284 gave us two.