{"id":493197,"date":"2026-02-23T02:22:08","date_gmt":"2026-02-23T02:22:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/493197\/"},"modified":"2026-02-23T02:22:08","modified_gmt":"2026-02-23T02:22:08","slug":"matches-to-make-after-ufc-houston","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/493197\/","title":{"rendered":"Matches To Make After UFC Houston"},"content":{"rendered":"

UFC Houston<\/a> went down last night (Sat., Feb. 21, 2026) inside Toyota Center in Houston, Texas which saw Sean Strickland defeat Anthony Hernandez via third round technical knockout (TKO) in the headlining act (see it again here<\/a>). In the co-main event of the evening, Uros Medic defeated Geoff Neal via knockout (highlights<\/a>).<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Chimaev vs Imavov winner<\/p>\n

Strickland called for a title shot after his big win, but that simply isn\u2019t in the cards just yet. As it stands Chimaev has no plan to fight anytime soon, at least that we know of. The champion is notorious for taking long breaks as he has only fought once in 2023, 2024 and 2025. If that pattern holds true he will likely return in the summer and his first title defense should come against Nassourdine Imavov. If Strickland wants his title shot he is going to have to wait for the winner of that fight, which means he will have to sit for an extended period.<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Leon Edwards<\/p>\n

After Medic secured his third straight TKO win by blasting Geoff Neal in the very first round, he called for a showdown against Edwards post-fight. And in all actuality it\u2019s a solid callout and possible matchup. That said, I don\u2019t like the fact that Edwards is on a three-fight losing streak while Medic has won three in a row. But it that\u2019s what \u201cThe Doctor\u201d wants then give it to him. After all, Edwards is a former champion and a win over him would look good on Medic\u2019s resume.<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Patricio Pitbull<\/p>\n

After his stunning knockout won over Dan Ige (see it here<\/a>), Costa called for a fight against Diego Lopes. I don\u2019t see that happening just yet since Lopes is coming off a title shot and ranked No. 2 while Costa isn\u2019t in the Top 15 just yet, though that could chance next week. Currently on a six-fight win streak, I wouldn\u2019t mind seeing Costa face Pitbull next. Pitbull was also last seen defeating Ige and is currently ranked No. 12 and without a dance partner.<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Rizvan Kuniev<\/p>\n

Spivac managed to snapped his two-fight skid with a win over Ante Delija, providing him with some much-needed breathing room. Currently ranked No. 7, Spivac\u2019s last two defeats came against Waldo Cortes Acosta (No.. 5) and Jailton Almeida, who is no longer with the promotion but was ranked No. 8 previously. A fight against Kuniev makes sense since he is currently sitting in the No. 6 spot and was last seen defeating the aforementioned Almeida a few weeks ago.<\/p>\n

Who He Should Face Next: Mansur Abdul-Malik<\/p>\n

Pereira secured a much-needed win after defeating Zachary Reese via split-decision, which snapped his three-fight skid. It will be a while before Pereira starts getting the big names because he will have to work his way back up. I am liking a fight between he and Abdul-Malik next. Abdul-Malik was last seen submitting Antonio Trocoli at UFC 323, which improved his record to 10-0-1, 3-0-1 UFC. If it seems as if this is a stepping-stone type fight for Abdul-Malik, then you are correct. On that note, if Pereira can hand the up-and-comer his first-ever defeat it would be a huge boost of confidence.<\/p>\n

For complete UFC Houston results, coverage, and highlights click HERE<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"UFC Houston went down last night (Sat., Feb. 21, 2026) inside Toyota Center in Houston, Texas which saw…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":493198,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[49,48,641,638,82,139445,7788],"class_list":["post-493197","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc-on-paramount","tag-ufc-results"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493197","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=493197"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/493197\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/493198"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=493197"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=493197"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=493197"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}