Matches to Make After UFC 317

The Ultimate Fighting Championship’s return to Las Vegas featured two belts on the line. The UFC 317 main event featured a title fight for the vacant lightweight championship between Ilia Topuria and Charles Oliveira. The pay-per-view card also featured a flyweight title fight, so there will be plenty of fallout in the months to come.

Here are matches to make for the winners of the UFC 317 main card.

Ilia Topuria vs. Justin Gaethje

Topuria (17-0) stayed undefeated and claimed his second UFC championship by viciously knocking out former lightweight champion Oliveira inside the first round. While Arman Tsarukyan, who served as the back-up fighter, is the clear-cut No. 1 contender, Dana White has already said he won’t be next. With that in mind, a fight against Gaethje would be a ton of fun for as long as it lasts even if it doesn’t make complete sense. "The Highlight" is coming off a win over Rafael Fiziev and won three of his last four, so it's far from a travesty. Let’s see two of the most dangerous strikers at 155 go toe-to-toe while Tsarukyan wins another fight to get his deserved shot.

Alexandre Pantoja vs. Joshua Van

Flyweight champion Pantoja made easy work of challenger Kai Kara-France, submitting him with a rear-naked choke in the third round. Pantoja (30-5) holds multiple wins over contenders Brandon Moreno and Brandon Royval, which means fresh blood is desperately needed. Thankfully, Van beat Royval earlier on tonight's card in an instant fight of the year contender, giving us an exciting new contender at 125 pounds. Van (15-2) has lived up to his "Fearless" nickname with a five-fight winning streak that also includes Bruno “Bulldog” Silva, Rei Tsuruya, Cody Durden and Edgar Chairez. This is the fight to make at flyweight and the UFC even had the two face off inside the cage, so it looks like it’s happening.

Beneil Dariush vs. Benoit St. Denis

Dariush got back into the win column for the first time since 2022 against Renato Carneiro. While not immediately in the title picture due to losses to Oliveira and Arman Tsarukyan, the 36-year-old is still a contender at lightweight. A fight against St. Denis would make sense as Dariush should be used to give talented younger fighters an intriguing test. St. Denis (14-3) is coming off a submission win over Kyle Prepolec and holds key victories over Matt Frevola and Thiago Moises. Losses to Dustin Poirier and Carneiro showed that he wasn't quite ready for primetime just yet, but the "God of War" remains one to keep an eye on at just 29. Let's see if St. Denis can get past Dariush next as it would be a great Fight Night main event.

Payton Talbott vs. Adrian Yanez

Talbott bounced back from his first career defeat by winning a unanimous decision over Felipe Lima. The grappling improvements and damaging strikes of Talbott (10-6) helped him prevail in a battle of exciting prospects. The 26-year-old called out Yanez, which is a fight that makes plenty of sense. A UFC mainstay since 2020, Yanez (17-6) has key wins over Randy Costa, Davey Grant and Vinicius Salvador. However, his ascent has stalled out as recent defeats to Rob Font and Jonathan Martinez has shown his ceiling. Yanez, who is coming off a split decision loss to Daniel Marcos, would provide a veteran test against Talbott, who shouldn’t be in a huge rush to move up the rankings at this current time.