6 Fights We Need to See After UFC 271

UFC 271 was a great card—so great that we'll probably still be talking about when we're handing out year-end awards in December. 

Saturday's card was topped by a middleweight title fight between once-beaten champion Israel Adesanya and challenger Robert Whittaker. It was the second time the pair had met, after Adesanya knocked Whittaker out to win the title in the 2019. This time around, the result was the same, but not the method, as Adesanya scraped by Whittaker with a hard-fought unanimous decision. 

UFC 271 was co-headlined by a fan-friendly showdown between heavyweight knockout artists Tai Tuivasa and Derrick Lewis. The fight lived up to the hype, and ultimately ended with a slight upset, as Tuivasa put Lewis down with a second-round elbow. 

Elsewhere on the UFC 271 main card, Jared Cannonier burst into middleweight title contention with a second-round knockout win over Derek Brunson. There were also a pair of impressive wins from lightweight veterans Bobby Green and Renato Moicano.

The UFC 271 undercard featured big wins from the likes of Andrei Arlovski, Casey O'Neill and Douglas de Silva de Andrade. 

It remains to be seen what the future holds for the big winners and losers from UFC 271, but the event certainly opened the door to some interesting matchup possibilities.

Here are the fights we're hoping to see when the dust has settled. 

UFC middleweight champion Israel Adesanya picked up his fourth title defense in the UFC 271 main event, using his world-class striking and takedown defense to defeat Australia's Robert Whittaker with a hard-fought unanimous decision.

While nothing is certain just yet, it's pretty evident who he'll fight next.

Earlier on the UFC 271 main card, hulking middleweight Jared Cannonier moved onto a two-fight streak with a devastating second-round knockout win over Derek Brunson, who many viewed as the division's top contender.

That victory, when coupled with a recent decision over former interim champ Kelvin Gastelum, should be enough to earn him a shot at Adesanya. He certainly seems to think so, as he demanded the opportunity in his post-fight interview with Daniel Cormier.

Adesanya also seems up for the challenge. He's repeatedly named Cannonier as a potential future opponent and, after defeating Whittaker, has targeted June for his next fight.

The stars are aligning. The matchmakers shouldn't have much difficulty with this one.

Former middleweight champ Robert Whittaker put forth a valiant effort in his UFC 271 title fight with the once-beaten Israel Adesanya but ultimately came up short via unanimous decision. 

In defeat, the Australian now finds himself in a difficult position. He's lost to Adesanya twice, having been knocked out by the Nigerian-born New Zealander in 2019 in the fight that ended his reign as the middleweight champion. That unfortunately means he'll need to move mountains if he intends to fight for the title again so long as Adesanya sits on the throne.

The good news is that Whittaker still has plenty of exciting options. Despite being perched near the top of the middleweight division for years, he's yet to fight several of his fellow middleweight contenders, including Italian bruiser Marvin Vettori. That's the fight we're hoping to see for him next.

Vettori is riding a decision win over Paulo Costa, which reaffirmed him as a top-tier middleweight. However, like Whittaker, he's also lost twice to Adesanya. Book these two middleweight stars for an upcoming pay-per-view to see if either man can wedge themselves back into the title conversation with a big win. 

Under normal circumstances, Tai Tuivasa's second-round knockout victory over No. 3 heavyweight contender Derrick Lewis—who happens to be the UFC's all-time knockout leader—would probably warrant a title shot.

Unfortunately for the fan-favorite Australian, who has now won five in a row, things are anything but normal at heavyweight. The division's reigning champion, Francis Ngannou, is currently embroiled in a heated contract dispute with the UFC and seemingly has no intention of fighting anytime soon, meaning the title is effectively out of play at the moment. So Tuivasa is likely to have to take another fight before he contends for gold.

Luckily, he has some interesting options. We're hoping to see him matched up with No. 5 contender Alexander Volkov or No. 10 contender Tom Aspinall. The pair are set to meet in the main event of the UFC's return to London on March 19, and like Tuivasa, the winner of that fight will be on the precipice of title contention with no champion to fight.

It only makes sense to have them fight each other while we wait for Ngannou's situation to clear up.

Two talented lightweight veterans picked up impressive victories on the UFC 271 main card.

35-year-old American Bobby Green was up first, using his slick boxing to defeat the 26-year-old Nasrat Haqparast by unanimous decision, then capping the win off a sizzling post-fight promo. In the next fight, 32-year-old Brazilian Renato Moicano weathered some early adversity to submit the 29-year-old Alexander Hernandez with a rear-naked choke in Round 2. Like Green, he also punctuated his performance with a rousing post-fight interview. 

After their star-making wins at UFC 271, Green and Moicano should fight each other. 

It makes all the sense in the world. They're both on two-fight win streaks and closing in on the lightweight Top 15. They both have a track record of exciting fights. And now they're both on the same competitive schedule.

It's a no-brainer.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski turned back the clock once again in the final bout of the UFC 271 undercard, defeating Jared Vanderaa by split decision after three close rounds. It was the 43-year-old's 37th fight in a UFC Octagon, and his third consecutive win.

It would have seemed unfathomable at several previous points in his career, but he's suddenly on the cusp of the heavyweight Top 15 once again. His making it anywhere near a title shot seems like a long shot, but who are we to stop him from trying?

From here, we'd like to see him matched up with the winner of a UFC 274 fight between Marcos Rogerio de Lima and Blagoy Ivanov, the latter of whom is currently ranked No. 13 at heavyweight. The pair are two of the few heavyweights in the UFC that Arlovski has not already fought, and it would make plenty of sense from a rankings standpoint.

Rising Scottish-Australian contender Casey O'Neill picked up a career-changing win on the UFC 271 undercard, defeating retiring veteran Roxanne Modafferi with a split decision that definitely should have been unanimous. She then capped it off with a full heel turn, lobbing an F-word at the crowd for booing her.

It was the kind of win that should set O'Neill up for a big fight at flyweight. She was already ranked No. 15 in the division, and with her win over Modafferi, who was ranked No. 12 heading into the fight, she's probably ready for somebody in the Top 10. 

We'd like to see her matched up with Cynthia Calvillo. The No. 10 contender was previously seen as a potential title challenger at both strawweight and flyweight but has since fallen on hard times, losing consecutive fights to Katlyn Chookagian, Jessica Andrade, and Andrea Lee—the latter two by way of stoppage. She's looking to justify her place in the Top 10 when O'Neill is looking to enter it. 

It'd be a lot like the March 5 fight between Manon Fiorot and Jessica Eye: a promising new contender taking on a struggling mainstay. Book it for an upcoming pay-per-view and see who really belongs among the best. 

One of the most memorable performances of the UFC 271 card came courtesy of 36-year-old bantamweight Douglas Silva de Andrade.

De Andrade was in action on the undercard, taking on surging Kazakh prospect Sergey Morozov. In the early going, it looked like the Brazilian was in real trouble. He spent the majority of Round 1 absorbing a heinous beating and was a bloody mess by the time he returned to his stool. It seemed like a matter of time before he was finished off.

But that's not what happened. Instead, De Andrade mounted an absolutely epic comeback in second round, wiping the blood from his face, cranking up the offence on the feet and ultimately choking out his foe unconscious. It was one of the best fights of 2022 so far—and one of the most impressive comebacks in recent memory.

It also reaffirmed that De Andrade is very good. He is now 28-4 with wins over the likes of Morozov, Renan Barao, and Marlon "Chito" Vera. He's ready for another tough test.

We're hoping to see him matched up with Ronnie Lawrence.

The Tennesseean was also in action on the UFC 271 undercard, knocking Leomana Martinez down three times en route to a lopsided unanimous-decision victory. The Dana White's Contender Series product is now 8-1 overall, with two impressive wins in the UFC, and ready for another step up. De Andrade would represent just that. 

It's a great fight on paper, and it would tell us a lot about where these two rising bantamweights stand in the division.