On Saturday night, the UFC returned to Austin, Texas, with UFC Fight Night 233-arguably the best Fight Night card of the year to date.
Headlining honours for the event went to a lightweight clash between No. 4-ranked contender Beneil Dariush and the eighth-ranked Arman Tsarukyan. The latter shook up the rankings with a huge first-round knockout that should set him up for a fight with one of the division's top dogs.
While Tsarukyan and Turner were clearly the stars of the night, there were some other big winners on the card, most notably former flyweight champ Deiveson Figueiredo, who debuted at bantamweight with an impressive decision win over No. 8 contender Rob Font.
Welterweight contender Sean Brady also rebounded from the first loss of his career on the card, picking up a decision win over Kelvin Gastelum to defend his No. 9 spot in the rankings, while No. 12 women's bantamweight Miesha Tate bounced back from two straight losses with a submission defeat of Julia Avila.
Here's what we'd like to see next for Tsarukyan, Turner, Figueiredo, Brady and Tate.
Arman Tsarukyan vs. Charles Oliveira
Arman Tsarukyan's vicious first-round knockout of Beneil Dariush was far and away the biggest victory of his career to date. In fact, were there not already a long queue of contenders awaiting a crack at champion Islam Makhachev, the Armenian might even be looking at a title shot right now.
Unfortunately for Tsarukyan, he is still a step or two behind the likes of Justin Gaethje, Charles Oliveira and Mateusz Gamrot in the race to a title shot, meaning he will likely have to fight one of them in the meantime.
Our choice would be to see Gaethje, who just knocked out Dustin Poirier, get the next crack at Makhachev, which leaves Oliveira and Gamrot for Tsarukyan. Given that Gamrot beat Tsarukyan last year, a fight with Oliveira seems like the obvious choice.
A fight with Tsarukyan, who will land in the lightweight top five when the rankings are updated, looks like the perfect matchup for the former champ when he's ready to return.
Jalin Turner vs. Benoit Saint-Denis
After knocking Green senseless in the card's co-main event, Turner suddenly has a very different outlook heading into 2024. Instead of starting the year eager to rebound from one of the toughest skids of his career, he'll be looking to build on the momentum of arguably the best performance of his career.
We'd like to see him keep the momentum going against No. 11 contender Benoit Saint-Denis. The Frenchman is ranked one spot ahead of Turner and is also riding a vicious, first-round knockout, having recently shut the lights off on Matt Frevola.
The two lightweights are neck-and-neck in the rankings, are riding similar wins, and are both incredibly dangerous on the feet and on the mat. Much like a potential Tsarukyan vs. Oliveira fight, this one has all the makings of a thriller.
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Merab Dvalishvili
Former flyweight champion Deiveson Figueiredo made quite a splash in his bantamweight debut, battling the always dangerous Rob Font to a clear-cut unanimous decision victory on Saturday's main card.
The win over the No. 8-ranked Font should set Figueiredo up for another big opportunity at bantamweight, and we're going to suggest a really big one: a fight with Merab Dvalishvili.
Dvalishvili, who is riding six straight wins, including a lopsided decision defeat of former champ Petr Yan, has at this point more than earned a title shot. However, he was passed up for the opportunity so that reigning champ Sean O'Malley can run it back with Marlon "Chito" Vera at UFC 299 in March, and even beyond that, there's no real guarantee he'll be next in line.
Unless he plans on sitting out for the next seven or eight months, he'll need to take another fight. A fight with Figueiredo seems like the perfect way for him to stay busy.
Sean Brady vs. Gilbert Burns
Late last year, Sean Brady suffered the first loss of his pro career at the hands of Belal Muhammad. After a planned fight with Jack Della Maddalena fell through this summer, he finally got back on track with a third-round submission of former middleweight contender Kelvin Gastelum.
Miesha Tate vs. Holly Holm II
Had Miesha Tate come up short against Julia Avila in Austin, she might well have retired. The former bantamweight champ was already riding back-to-back losses to Ketlen Vieira and Lauren Murphy, and at 37, a third setback might have been all the impetus she needed to hang 'em up.
In the end, however, Tate put forth a vintage performance, using her trademark chain wrestling to take Avila down at will and keep her pinned to that mat. For a while, it looked like she was cruising toward a lopsided decision win, but in the end, she put an end to things with a rear-naked choke in the third round.