Five fights to make following UFC 332 including newly crowned champion and undefeated star

A few fighters are walking out of UFC 332 with their stocks having risen.

This past weekend, the premier MMA promotion returned to Salt Lake City, Utah, for UFC 332, headlined by a women’s flyweight title clash between Natalia Silva and Wang Cong.

Silva went on to win by unanimous decision, becoming the latest fighter from Brazil to pick up a UFC title, joining legends like Anderson Silva, Jose Aldo and Charles Oliveira.

She wasn’t the only one to come out of Salt Lake City relatively unscathed, though, as a few fighters maintained their undefeated records without any worry. With that, here are five fights that should be made off the back of the event in ‘The Crossroads of the West’.

Natalia Silva vs. Alexa Grasso 2

Although the 29-year-old Brazilian may not be regarded as the true 125lb champion to some fans, because of Valentina Shevchenko vacating the title, Silva has been a champion in waiting for a while, in my opinion.

A lot of fans won’t class her as the champion until she beats ‘Bullet’, but she could be waiting a while to do that. Shevchenko shared her reaction to Silva’s win, telling the Brazilian to keep her belt ‘warm’ for when she returns.

Fortunately, though, Silva plans to be an active champion and following her win, she claimed she won’t wait for Shevchenko to return before defending her belt. There aren’t many options, though, which is an issue.

The one that stands out more than most is Alexa Grasso, who since they fought last May, has gone on to beat both Maycee Barber and Manon Fiorot. The former champion is currently one of the only options, and with their first fight having been relatively competitive, a rematch could make sense.

Payton Talbott vs. Cory Sandhagen

Payton Talbott scored his second win in a row against a former UFC champion, once again proving that he is a problem in the bantamweight division.

Talbott knocked out Figueiredo in just 129 seconds, before then going on to call out another former champion, Sean O’Malley.

Despite that callout, though, I don’t think that should be the fight that comes next for the 28-year-old. There is no doubt that would be an incredibly fun fight, however, ‘Suga’ is seemingly in line for another title shot, depending on who wins between Petr Yan and Merab Dvalishvili.

I’d like to see Talbott test himself against one of the most well rounded fighters in the division, Cory Sandhagen, next.

Roberto Soldic vs. Leon Edwards

The former KSW double champion finally made his UFC debut after several years of calls for him to be signed by the promotion. He went on to dominate Khaos Williams to win the unanimous decision, immediately putting him on the edge of the rankings.

There really isn’t any need to waste time with Soldic, though, as it is already very clear what skill the 31-year-old possesses, and there is no need to build him up slowly.

For his next outing, I would match him up with former UFC welterweight champion, Leon Edwards, who hasn’t fought since last November. Edwards still occupies a top 10 spot in both versions of the rankings, and it would give Soldic chance to cause an immediate shake up.

Damian Pinas vs. Kelvin Gastelum

Damian Pinas is going to be a big problem in the middleweight division. ‘The Baba Yaga’ once again showcased his terrifying power, knocking out Andrey Pulyaev in just over a minute, to score his third UFC win in a row.

It’s fair to say the 24-year-old is going to struggle to get opponents to say yes to fighting him next, which will potentially lead to him being fast-tracked to the rankings, or a fight against a big name opponent.

Kelvin Gastelum is seemingly nearing the end of his UFC run, and after withdrawing from his scheduled fight against Yousri Belgaroui, he may once again be matched up with a soaring contender who no one else wants to fight.

Jacobe Smith vs. Kevin Holland

Someone else who has really been struggling to find fights is 13-0 welterweight prospect, Jacobe Smith. ‘Cobe’ ended up fighting UFC newcomer Bruce Whitehead, as no one else would agree to fight him at UFC 332.

The 30-year-old went on to score another first round knockout, despite it involving some controversy as Smith landed a low blow which Joe Rogan thought would end the fight. And now, after scoring another dominant win, it is unlikely that Smith will have fighters jumping to fight him.

He was previously scheduled to fight Kevin Holland, though, and that is a fight that should be re-booked by the promotion.