{"id":542455,"date":"2026-03-15T18:32:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:32:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/542455\/"},"modified":"2026-03-15T18:32:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-15T18:32:10","slug":"ufc-vegas-114-winner-eyes-dream-matchup-in-attempt-to-avenge-only-mma-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/542455\/","title":{"rendered":"UFC Vegas 114 Winner Eyes ‘Dream’ Matchup in Attempt to Avenge Only MMA Loss"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC featherweight contender Kevin Vallejos made an emphatic statement <\/a>Saturday night, knocking out Josh Emmett in just under four minutes from the Meta APEX in Las Vegas to conclude an entertaining 14-fight card.<\/a><\/p>\n

Vallejos (18-1 MMA) kept his post-fight comments brief, praising Emmett, an Arizona native, for his “legend” status while also reminding the rest of the featherweight division that he is the furthest from a pushover in a crowded division that recently saw Alexander Volkanovski retain his title <\/a>against Diego Lopes at UFC 325 in January.<\/p>\n

Following the stoppage-win over Emmett (19-7 MMA), Vallejos explained his reasoning behind allowing UFC brass to pick his next opponent, rather than trying to set up a fight against the division’s elite.<\/p>\n

Kevin Vallejos Discusses Immediate Future After UFC Vegas 114\"Kevin<\/p>\n

Kevin Vallejos defeated Giga Chikadze at UFC Vegas 112. | (Zuffa LLC)<\/p>\n

\u00a0“I want to get better,” Vallejos told reporters via translation.<\/a> “There are things I want to work in camp. Little by little, I think I can give more than I gave tonight. I think I have much more to give and I want to make sure that I’m prepared for that, so I’ll take on any challenge that’s given to me.”<\/p>\n

Vallejos has a small UFC sample size thus far, having made his promotional debut exactly one year ago Sunday, and has won three in a row since then to bring his overall streak to seven.<\/p>\n

Narrowing it down, though, Vallejos is eying former top contenders and ex-title challengers, including Yair Rodriguez, Brian Ortega, and Jean Silva, to name a few.<\/p>\n

“Obviously, with Volk being the champion, I think a fight against Yair [Rodriguez] or Brian [Ortega] would be great. I think those would be great fights,” Vallejos said. “And everybody knows about the history with Jean Silva. It’ll be a great fight, but I’ll tell you what: I root for the guy. I want him really to get the title so I can have a rematch against him for that belt. That’s what I would like.”<\/p>\n

Could Kevin Vallejos Avenge Only MMA Loss?\"Jean<\/p>\n

Jan 24, 2026; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; Arnold Allen (red gloves) reacts during the fight Jean Silva (blue gloves) during UFC 324 at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images | Stephen R. Sylvanie-Imagn Images<\/p>\n

Vallejos was initially denied a contract at the expense of Silva in Sept. 2023, losing a unanimous decision before eventually working his way back up the ladder on the regional scene. The fight remains Vallejos’ only professional loss.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, though, Vallejos is happy with his career path thus far. In his words, he’s “living the dream” and taking it one fight at a time, regardless of who the opponent may be. The end goal, though, is the same: to become a world champion in the UFC.<\/p>\n

We’ll see if Vallejos can get it done.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC featherweight contender Kevin Vallejos made an emphatic statement Saturday night, knocking out Josh Emmett in just under…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":539915,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[570],"tags":[64,63,786,785,85],"class_list":["post-542455","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542455","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=542455"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/542455\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/539915"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=542455"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=542455"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=542455"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}