UFC Vegas 65 went down last night (Sat., Nov. 19, 2022) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, which featured a light heavyweight showdown between Kennedy Nzechukwu and Ion Cutelaba. In the co-main event, Waldo Cortes-Acosta defeated Chase Sherman via unanimous decision.
Winner: Kennedy Nzechukwu
Who He Should Fight Next: Khalil Rountree
Winner of two straight, Nzechukwu is slowly rising in the light heavyweight division, and his latest knockout win over Cutelaba gives him some a big boost moving forward. A fight against Rountree sounds about right because the war horse has also turned it around following his own two-fight skid to win three in a row, including his most recent win over Dustin Jacoby. During his win streak, he collected two knockout wins so, like Nzechukwu, he can crack hard Both are eying a sot in the Top 15 and a win here gets him a bit closer.
Winner: Waldo Cortes-Acosta
Who He Should Face Next: Marcos Rogerio de Lima
Cortes-Acosta remained undefeated and improved to 9-0, 2-0 UFC after defeating Chase Sherman via unanimous decision. “Salsa Boy” is just two fights deep into his UFC career, so a fight against de Lima seems like a good challenge. de Lima is also coming off a win , defeating Andrei Arlovski a few weeks ago via rear-naked choke to improve to 3-1 in his last four fights under the UFC banner.
Winner: Muslim Salikhov
Who He Should Face Next: Khaos Williams
Salikhov got back on the winning track by knocking out Andre Fialho, improving to 6-1 over his last seven fights. Williams, meanwhile, is coming off a loss to Randy Brown at UFC 274, but he is 4-2 in his last six fights, so he is far from struggling. Williams packs obvious knockout power, but he’d have a willing foe eager to go blow-for-blow in Salikhov, who has three knockouts wins under the UFC banner.
Winner: Jack Della Maddalena
Who He Should Face Next: Daniel Rodriguez
Maddalena picked up his thirteenth straight win after stopping Danny Roberts via strikes in the very first round, improving his UFC record to 3-0. The Contender Series alum now has three straight first-round knockout finishes, and he is quickly become a force to be reckoned with in the stacked Welterweight division. After his win, Maddalena stated that fights against Daniel Rodriguez and Vicente Luque would be good challenges for his next fight, but if I had my choice I’d pit him up against Rodriguez. “D-Rod” is coming off a tough loss to Neil Magny, snapping his four-fight win streak. Despite the setback, he’s be a great test for “JDM.” On the flip side, if he can defeat the young Australian, he will still some of his shine.
Winner: Charles Johnson
Who Should He Face Next: Su Madaerji
Johnson picked up his first win inside the Octagon by defeating Zhalgas Zhumagulov, who decided to retire after the event. As for Madaerji, he is coming off a tough submission loss to Matt Schnell, snapping his three-fight win streak. At 3-2 so far in his young UFC career, Madaerji hasn’t done much to get on anyone’s radar, so he has a lot of work to do to get his share of the spotlight. For Johnson, a win over Madaerji gets him some more momentum after getting his first win inside the Octagon.
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