{"id":303653,"date":"2025-11-24T11:36:18","date_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:36:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/303653\/"},"modified":"2025-11-24T11:36:18","modified_gmt":"2025-11-24T11:36:18","slug":"matches-to-make-after-ufc-qatar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/303653\/","title":{"rendered":"Matches To Make After UFC Qatar"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC Qatar<\/a> went down yesterday (Sat., Nov. 22, 2025) inside ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar which saw Arman Tsarukyan submit Dan Hooker in the main event of the evening (see it again here<\/a>). In the co-main event, Ian Machado Garry defeated Belal Muhammad via unanimous decision, while Volkan Oezdemir knocked out Alonzo Menifield in the very first round (highlights<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Ilia Topuria<\/p>\n

There is no question that Tsarukyan deserves the next crack at the title after running through Hooker <\/a>in two rounds. With four straight wins and owner of the No. 1 spot, there really is no one else who can make a case to get in front of him. We know Ilia Topuria is eager to get his first-ever title defense under his belt, and he will have a very worth challenger in Tsarukyan, who lost out on his title fight<\/a> against Islam Makhachev earlier this year.<\/p>\n

Winner: Ian Machado Garry<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Michael Morales<\/p>\n

Garry won his second straight fight after shutting out Muhammad after 15 minutes of action, which will likely put him in the Top 5 come next week. After UFC 322 we suggested <\/a>that Morales \u2014 who knocked out <\/a>Sean Brady at the event \u2014 face the winner of Garry vs. Belal, and it definitely needs to happen. Morales is currently sitting at No. 3 while Garry is at No. 6. I love this matchup for many reasons, especially because it will give us a better indication of who could make a case for a shot at Islam Makhachev\u2019s title.<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Azamat Murzakanov<\/p>\n

\u201cNo Time\u201d got back in the win column thanks to a stunning knockout win over Alonzo Menifield (see it again here<\/a>). Now, the former 205-pound title contender is eyeing another big fight against a top contender in order to get closer to the Top 5. I think a fight against Murzakanov might be in order. \u201cThe Professional\u201d is coming off a first-round technical knockout (TKO) win over Aleksandar Rakic at UFC 321 (relive it here<\/a>) to improve to 16-0, 6-0 UFC. If Oezdemir can hand him his first-ever defeat then a trip to the Top 5 is in order.<\/p>\n

Winner: Waldo Cortes-Acosta<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Curtis Blaydes<\/p>\n

In the span of 21 days, Cortes-Acosta secured two straight first-round knockout wins<\/a>, and now he is close to occupying a Top 5 ranking. I wouldn\u2019t mind seeing him paired up against Blaydes next since \u201cRazor\u201d is currently sitting in the No. 4 spot. Blaydes was last seen defeating Rizvan Kuniev via split-decision this past summer. That win was not good enough to get him into a matchup against someone close to a title fight, so let\u2019s give him Cortes-Acosta to see what\u2019s what.<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Tatsuro Taira vs. Brandon Moreno winner<\/p>\n

Horiguchi earned his first win inside the Octagon since parting ways with the promotion nine years ago, defeating Tagir Ulanbekov via rear-naked choke (see it again here<\/a>). After his win, Horiguchi called for a shot at the title, but I just don\u2019t think it will happen just yet. I wouldn\u2019t mind seeing a fight between he and the winner of the upcoming bout between Moreno and Taira, which is set to go down next month at UFC 323<\/a>. If he can defeat either of those men then a title fight shouldn\u2019t be too far off.<\/p>\n

For complete UFC Qatar results, coverage, and highlights click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC Qatar went down yesterday (Sat., Nov. 22, 2025) inside ABHA Arena in Doha, Qatar which saw Arman…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":301087,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82,702,7788],"class_list":{"0":"post-303653","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-mma","8":"tag-ca","9":"tag-canada","10":"tag-fighting","11":"tag-mma","12":"tag-sports","13":"tag-ufc-news","14":"tag-ufc-results"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303653","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=303653"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/303653\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/301087"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=303653"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=303653"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=303653"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}