Matches To Make After UFC Vegas 72

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UFC Vegas 72 went down last night (Sat., April 29, 2023) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a Bantamweight bout between rising contenders, Song Yadong and Ric…


UFC Fight Night: Borralho v Oleksiejczuk
Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images

UFC Vegas 72 went down last night (Sat., April 29, 2023) inside UFC Apex in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring a Bantamweight bout between rising contenders, Song Yadong and Ricky Simon. After four rounds of back and forth action, Yadong put an and to the fight with a spectacular fifth-round finish (video replay here). In further action, Caio Borralho continued his ascension up the Middleweight mountain with an impressive finish over Micha? Oleksiejczuk (see it again here).

UFC Fight Night: Song v Simon
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Winner: Song Yadong

Who He Should Face Next: Rob Font

Now than both Yadong and Font are back in the win column, this is the fight to make at 135 pounds. Yadong (No. 8), is 4-1 in his last five outings with his loss coming to Cory Sandhagen. As for Font (No. 6), he got back on track with a nasty knockout win over Adrian Yanez a few weeks ago (see it). The two hard-hitting contenders are on the climb toward the Top 5, and the winner of this fight should get there.

UFC Fight Night: Borralho v Oleksiejczuk
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Winner: Caio Borralho

Who He Should Face Next: Jun Yong Park

Borralho improved to 4-0 inside the Octagon with his win over Oleksiejczuk, extending his overall win streak to 14 in a row dating back to 2016. A fight against Park I like very much seeing as how “The Iron Turtle” has been doing work himself over the last few years. Park is 6-1 in his last seven fights and has won three straight, including his most recent victory over Denis Tiuliulin two months ago. Borralho did call for a fight against Derek Brunson (which isn’t a bad matchup), but he is currently ranked No. 8 while Borralho is nowhere to be found in the Top 15…yet, so matchmakers likely won’t book it.

UFC Fight Night: Vieira v Brundage
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Winner: Rodolfo Vieira

Who He Should Face Next: Andre Muniz

Vieira also got back in the win column last night with an impressive submission win over Cody Brundage, putting him at 2-2 in his last four UFC fights. If the jiu-jitsu master wants to make a run at the Top 15 he has to be a bit more consistent with the wins. I’d like to see him face off against Muniz in his next outing. Muniz had his nine-fight win streak snapped by Brendan Allen in Feb. of this year, so he is hungry to get back into the win column. This would be a great tussle between two talented jiu-jitsu black belts.

UFC Fight Night: Erosa v Padilla
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Winner: Fernando Padilla

Who He Should Face Next: Bill Algeo

Padilla made an explosive UFC debut by disposing of Julian Erosa via technical knockout (TO) in the very first round, improving his win streak to three in a row. Up next for the 26-year old Mexican-born fighter, let’s throw him in there against a grizzled veteran like Algeo, who recently got back on track with his own big win over TJ Brown earlier this month. Algeo is 3-1 in his last four fights and would be a nice test for the upcoming prospect.

UFC Fight Night: Rogerio de Lima v Cortes-Acosta
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Winner: Marcos Rogerio de Lima

Who He Should Face Next: Justin Tafa

de Lima picked up his second straight win by edging out Waldo Cortes-Acosta to improve to 4-1 over his last five contests inside the world-famous Octagon. A few more wins could get him closer to the Top 15 for the first time in his career. A victory over someone like Tafa should do the trick. Tafa is currently on a two-fight win streak himself and has won his last three UFC fights via knockout.


For complete UFC Vegas 72: “Yadong vs. Simon” results and play-by-play, click HERE.