Mackenzie Dern, UFC Vegas 101 weigh-in Credit score: Eddie Legislation/Cageside Press
The primary UFC card of 2025 was the a hundred and first Struggle Night time card to happen on the Apex, UFC Vegas 101. It delivered a very good mixture of finishes, motion fights and upsets. In our predominant occasion, we had a rematch between two prime 10 strawweights in Mackenzie Dern and Amanda Ribas that noticed Dern take residence the win with a third-round submission. For the primary time in 2025, let’s do some matchmaking for our predominant card winners from Saturday.
Mackenzie Dern
This was such an enormous win for Dern. It was her first time successful consecutive fights in over 4 years and her first end since April of 2021. She might solely handle a 1-1 document yearly since 2021. Not solely that, however this win additionally noticed her avenge her first ever skilled loss in opposition to Ribas, who was 6-1 within the UFC at 115 lbs.
With Tatiana Suarez set to get the following shot and Virna Jandiroba seemingly subsequent in line, Dern might want to add to her win streak as a way to cement herself as the following title contender. Suarez has had hassle staying wholesome for some time, so you’ll assume that the promotion has informed Jandiroba to remain prepared in case they want a backup. That frees up Yan Xiaonan who’s ranked #2 and can be in want of one other win to remain within the title image.
The 2 have fought earlier than and Yan acquired the nod, nevertheless it was a contested majority determination that lots of people thought ought to have been a draw. A rematch at this level is a really strong possibility.
Dern’s subsequent struggle: Yan Xiaonan
Santiago Ponzinibbio
Ponzinibbio was as soon as a extremely ranked contender with loads of promise, however he sadly misplaced over two full years of his prime attributable to well being issues. Now that he’s 38, it’s been evident for a while that his finest is behind him. This win over Carlston Harris within the UFC Vegas 101 co-main occasion retains him lively and stops what might have been a three-fight skid, however the matchmaking ought to be performed together with his reducing stage in thoughts.
Fellow 38-year-old Daniel Rodriguez was as soon as ranked as properly and although he stopped his shedding streak this previous October, it has additionally been clear that he has misplaced a step. A matchup between the 2 of them is age and stage applicable.
Ponzinibbio’s subsequent struggle: Daniel Rodriguez
Cesar Almeida
When Armen Petrosyan misplaced to Shara Magomedov at UFC 308, I had him struggle the winner of this struggle between Almeida and Abdul Razak Alhassan in our matchmaking article. Nevertheless, he’s since been booked in opposition to Brunno Ferreira on March 8.
At 36 years of age, Almeida has made it a degree to be lively, realizing the clock is ticking. He fought thrice in 2024, going 2-1 with the one hiccup being a aggressive cut up determination in opposition to Roman Kopylov, an excellent middleweight who will we speak about shortly. Rodolfo Vieira and Andre Petroski will struggle one another in a month. The winner can be on a three-fight win streak and a matchup with Almeida would make sense. However I’m keen to offer Almeida an even bigger push than that. At 36, let’s see what he’s actually acquired. Let’s see him struggle the winner of Kevin Holland and Reinier de Ridder, who’re set to face one another subsequent week. If Almeida can cross that sort of take a look at, then he’ll be prepared for the rankings.
Almeida’s subsequent struggle: Winner of Holland/de Ridder
Roman Kopylov
Kopylov is a 33-year-old contender who is admittedly coming into his personal. Since dropping back-to-back fights in opposition to Karl Roberson and Albert Duraev, he’s 6-1 with the one loss coming in opposition to Anthony “Fluffy” Hernandez who’s a severe risk at 185 lbs. Despite the fact that they weren’t flawless victories, Cesar Almeida and Chris Curtis are high quality wins. He additionally has a knockout over Punahele Soriano, who fought and received on this card.
In my view, these are legitimate causes to offer Kopylov a ranked opponent in his subsequent struggle. The Russian isn’t an inactive fighter by any means, however he’s additionally no stranger to layoffs of 6 months or extra. One of these timeline ought to align with Michel Pereira’s return, who took a beating again in October.
Kopylov’s subsequent struggle: Michel Pereira
Christian Rodriguez
Rodriguez’s final 4 wins all got here in opposition to undefeated fighters. The burden misses and the submission loss to Julian Erosa have slowed down his momentum, however at nonetheless simply 27 years of age, the UFC clearly has one thing in C-Rod. Typically occasions, going 4-1 with all 4 wins being 0’s taken and the lone loss coming in opposition to a veteran like Erosa would imply that Rodriguez could be getting an enormous push by the promotion. Nevertheless, as talked about, he’s nonetheless in his mid-20s, so there actually is not any rush.
That’s why a struggle with a veteran like Ricardo Ramos, who was as soon as the up-and-coming fighter, however has since been used because the measuring stick himself, makes loads of sense. He and Rodriguez are nonetheless each underneath 30 and are at an analogous stage of their careers. They’re each coming off victories, so let’s see who takes that subsequent step.
Rodriguez’s subsequent struggle: Ricardo Ramos
Punahele Soriano
Soriano upset the betting line for the second time in a row at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 101, knocking out Uros Medic in simply 31 seconds. With that spectacular KO, he moved to 2-0 since dropping right down to welterweight.
One other former middleweight who’s 2-0 since making the minimize to 170lbs is Chidi Njokuani. Njokuani was once fairly the motion fighter earlier than his final two fights occurred principally within the clinch, however possibly Soriano can deliver again a few of his outdated fashion out of him. Let’s see which former middleweight wants a push at welterweight.
Soriano’s subsequent struggle: Chidi Njokuani
