5 Fights We Need to See After UFC Fight Night 199

UFC Fight Night 199, the promotion's last event of the year, went down Saturday night in Las Vegas. The card was packed with memorable finishes, many of which opened to the door to exciting new matchup possibilities.

In the main event, fan favorite heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis picked up a record-setting 13th knockout in the UFC, smashing Chris Daukaus in a first-round win. And in the co-main event, rising welterweight Belal Muhammad burst into title contention with a lopsided unanimous decision win over former title challenger Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson. 

Other big winners on the night included Ricky Simon, Mateusz Gamrot, Cub Swanson and Charles Jourdain, who beat Raphael Assuncao, Diego Ferreira, Darren Elkins and Andrew Ewell, respectively. 

Most of the fighters who competed on the card will now hunker down for the holidays, but come the new year, they'll all start looking at the options for their next fights. 

Keep scrolling for the matchups we're hoping will be made for the stars of UFC Fight Night 199 in 2022.

Lewis is back in title contention after knocking out Chris Daukaus in the UFC Fight Night 199 main event. He could conceivably be the next man in line for a heavyweight title shot—particularly if reigning champion Francis Ngannou, who he defeated by decision in 2018, defeats Ciryl Gane at UFC 270 on January 22. 

That being said, Lewis said after beating Daukaus he's not interested in five-round fights at the moment. That rules out a title fight, but thankfully, Lewis has plenty of other options. 

We're hoping to see him take on New Zealand's Tai Tuivasa next. Tuivasa, the UFC's No. 11-ranked heavyweight, is on a four-fight streak, having recently beaten Augusto Sakai, Greg Hardy, Harry Hunsucker and Stefan Struve—all by knockout—so the fight makes plenty of sense.

The real appeal of the matchup, however, is that Lewis and Tuivasa have two of the most endearing personalities in MMA. The fight itself would be great. The build-up and fallout might be better.

Belal Muhammad scored the biggest win of his career in the UFC Fight Night 199 co-main event, using takedowns and pressure to defeat former welterweight title challenger Stephen "Wonderboy" Thompson by unanimous decision.

After the win, which was his sixth in a row, Muhammad called for a title shot against welterweight champion Kamaru Usman. While it's possible he'll get that opportunity, it seems more likely that he has to take at least one more fight in the meantime. 

In that event, we're hoping he'll be matched up with Brazilian striking specialist Vicente Luque, who has won his last four in the welterweight division. Luque beat Muhammad by TKO back in 2016, but today, when both fighters are nearing the top of the welterweight division, the rematch makes tons of sense.

Throw it on a pay-per-view main card and give the winner a title shot.

Ricky Simon's second-round knockout win over Raphael Assuncao at UFC Fight Night 199 will most likely earn him a spot in the bantamweight top 15. From there, he can look forward to fights with the division's top fighters. 

We're hoping he'll be offered a fight with former lightweight champion Frankie Edgar next. Edgar is coming off back-to-back knockout losses to Cory Sandhagen and Marlon "Chito" Vera, but he remains a tough test for any bantamweight. The former champ, one of the most esteemed veterans in the game, would make a great test for Simon, who is now riding wins over Ray Borg, Gaetano Pirrello, Brian Kelleher and Assuncao.

Former KSW champion Mateusz Gamrot was the picture of excellence on the UFC Fight Night 199 main card, defeating No. 12 lightweight contender Diego Ferreira by second-round TKO.

After his impressive victory over Ferreira, Gamrot called for a fight with former Bellator lightweight champion Michael Chandler, the UFC's No. 5 lightweight contender. That's a great fight—and Gamrot would have a real shot at victory—but it seems too big of a step up considering Gamrot was unranked ahead of UFC Fight Night 199. 

Instead, we'd like to see him matched up with Kyrgyzstan's Rafael Fiziev, who is riding wins over Alex White, Marc Diakiese, Renato Moicano, Bobby Green and, most recently, Brad Riddell. 

It looks an excellent fight on paper, and the winner would most likely rocket into the welterweight top 10, where fights with some of the biggest stars in MMA could await.

Featherweight stars Charles Jourdain and Cub Swanson both picked up big wins at UFC Fight Night 199. Jourdain, one of the division's brightest young contenders, was up first, battering Andre Ewell to a unanimous decision win on the undercard. Swanson fought shortly thereafter, bashing the durable Darren Elkins to a first-round knockout in the opening bout of the main card.

After his impressive win over Ewell, Jourdain called for a fight with Swanson—and we're all for it. The Canadian looks like he has the skills to give Swanson a great fight, and Swanson has historically performed very well against young prospects who call him out. Just ask Doo Ho Choi, who the veteran defeated by decision in one of the best fights ever in 2016. 

The fight has all the indicators of a bonus-winner, and it'd give us a great sense of where the two men stand in the crowded featherweight division.