The UFC was in Salt Lake City, Utah on Saturday for a solid UFC 307 card that saw two titles on the line.
In the main event, Alex Pereira was looking to defend his light heavyweight title for the third time in 2024 as he took on Khalil Rountree. In the co-main event, Raquel Pennington looked to defend her women’s bantamweight title for the first time against Julianna Pena.
Ultimately, it was Pereira who scored a fourth-round TKO win a highly-entertaining striking fight to defend his belt. In the co-main event, it was Pena who edged out a split decision to defeat Pennington. Following UFC 307, here is what I think should be next for the four fighters involved in the title fights.
Alex Pereira
Alex Pereira has become the face of the UFC as he fought three times since April. Early on, Pereira had some struggles as Khalil Rountree was landing some good shots. However, ‘Poatan’ said the game plan was to extend the fight and he ended up taking over and got the stoppage win.
With the win, Pereira should take some time off after a very active six months. However, his next fight should be against the winner of Magomed Ankalaev vs. Aleksandar Rakic which takes place later this month at UFC 308.
Khalil Rountree
Many people were surprised that Khalil Rountree got the title shot at UFC 307 against Alex Periera. However, Rountree did have success early on before gassing out and getting finished.
Rountree should take plenty of time off to heal up and return sometime around six or seven months from now. One logical fight is to face the loser of Volkan Oezdemir vs. Carlos Ulberg which takes place at UFC Macau at the end of November.
Julianna Pena
Julianna Pena became the new UFC women’s bantamweight champion with a split decision win over Raquel Pennington at UFC 307. Pena fought well early on but did struggle in the championship rounds which made the fight close.
Although Pena called out Amanda Nunes, it seems highly unlikely Nunes will fight again. With that, Pena’s first title defense should come against Kayla Harrison who picked up a win at UFC 307.
Raquel Pennington
Raquel Pennington had a lot of success as the fight went on, but it was too little too late on two judges scorecards. Although Pennington lost, many felt like she should have won, so she remained right in the title picture.
A fight that makes sense is to face Norma Dumont in a potential No. 1 contender fight. Dumont is coming off a win over Irene Aldana and it is a fresh matchup as the two have never fought.
