What’s next for the stars of UFC 270?

The first pay-per-view of 2022 went down on Saturday as the promotion returned to the Honda Center in Anaheim, California for UFC 270.

The event saw two titles on the line as Francis Ngannou was defending his heavyweight fight against Ciryl Gane, while Brandon Moreno was defending his flyweight strap against Deiveson Figueiredo.

UFC 270 ended up being a great card as in the main event, it was Ngannou surprising many as he used his wrestling to grind out a decision win over Gane. Figueiredo, meanwhile, reclaimed his flyweight title with a decision victory over Moreno to even their series at 1-1-1.

Now, after UFC 270 here is what I think should be next for the four fighters involved in the title fights.

Francis Ngannou

Francis Ngannou had to overcome a ton of adversity to even make the walk on Saturday night. He revealed after the fight he suffered a major knee injury a few weeks ago and it was known this was the last fight of his UFC deal unless he won.

Ultimately, after losing the first two rounds, Ngannou used his wrestling to control Gane to win the decision. With him winning, he will have to fight one more time and the hope for many is he fights Jon Jones next. However, it doesn’t seem that Jones will actually move up to heavyweight, which makes the heavyweight division intriguing.

There is a chance Ngannou holds out and the UFC creates an interim heavyweight title fight between the winner of Lewis-Tuivasa and Miocic. Yet, the next time Ngannou fights, I expect him to face the winner of Lewis-Tuivasa.

Ciryl Gane

Ciryl Gane looked good early on but seemed to gas out and couldn’t get Ngannou off of him when he was taken down.

The loss at UFC 270 is no doubt a good learning experience for Gane who is just 11 fights in his career. Now, after the setback, I expect Gane to return in the summer in the main event of a Fight Night card against Curtis Blaydes. The winner would get right back in the title picture while the loser would become a gatekeeper of sorts for at least a fight.

Deiveson Figueiredo

(via Chris Unger/Zuffa LLC)

Deiveson Figueiredo reclaimed the flyweight title at UFC 270 but it made the division murky as they are 1-1-1. With the trilogy being tied, there is a chance the fourth fight is next, however, I expect the UFC to do a different fight and look to do the fourth should both men win.

The flyweight division has a clear number one contender bout between Askar Askarov and Kai Kara-France in March. The winner will face Figueiredo in late summer or early fall for the flyweight belt.

Brandon Moreno

Brandon Moreno came up short in a very close fight at UFC 270 against Deiveson Figueiredo and it’s likely he will need to pick up a win before getting another title shot.

Moreno has a ton of options but the fight that makes the most sense is to face the winner of Alex Perez vs. Matt Schnell at UFC 271. Should Moreno win, he would get a title shot, which would hopefully be the fourth fight against Figueiredo.

What do you think should be next for the stars of UFC 270?