The final UFC pay-per-view of 2021 went down on Saturday as the promotion returned to the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas for a stacked UFC 269 card. The event saw two titles on the line as Charles Oliveira was defending his lightweight title against Dustin Poirier. The co-main event saw Amanda Nunes return to bantamweight to battle Julianna Pena.
UFC 269 ended up being a phenomenal card as in the main event it was Oliveira winning by third-round submission after being dropped early. In the co-main event, Pena pulled off a massive upset as she submitted Nunes to dethrone the long-reigning champ. Now, after UFC 269 here is what I think should be next for the four fighters involved in the title fights.
Charles Oliveira
Entering UFC 269 many viewed Dustin Poirier as the real lightweight champ but Charles Oliveira silenced all those doubters. With his win over Poirier, he proved he is the best lightweight in the world and hopefully gets the respect he deserves.
With the win over Poirier, Oliveira successfully defended his title for the first time and now has a clear next challenger in Justin Gaethje. Gaethje was the number one contender entering the fight and now Oliveira vs. Gaethje will likely happen sometime in the spring or summer of 2022.
Dustin Poirier
Dustin Poirier came up short in his bid for undisputed UFC gold. Poirier looked good early on as he dropped Oliveira and nearly knocked him out in the first round. Yet, the Brazilian rallied and eventually sunk in the choke in the third round.
After the loss to Oliveira, the fighting future of Poirier is uncertain. Perhaps he decides to hang up his gloves or moves up to welterweight. However, I think the best move for “The Diamond” is to chase money fights and that fight is against Nate Diaz. Diaz has one fight left on his UFC contract and he and Poirier have taken shots at one another. The two were also booked to face one another at UFC 230 so the time is now to make the fight happen.
Julianna Pena and Amanda Nunes
Julianna Pena shocked the world but she will have to do it twice to remain the bantamweight champion.
Although Pena pulled off the massive upset by submitting Nunes to become the new champ, there’s no question an immediate rematch is next. The fight will likely happen sometime in the spring or summer of 2022 and will be a massive fight given the result of their first fight.
What do you think should be next for the stars of UFC 269?