UFC’s third trip to Macau since November 2024 produced a good night (or morning) of fights for the ones who watched. Name-wise, UFC Macau was nothing to write home about, but there was a healthy mix of action and finishes throughout the event, capped off with four consecutive ones at the top of the card. Song Yadong, Alonzo Menifield, Sergei Pavlovich and Kai Asakura will get the headlines, but Angela Hill deserves a shout out for still getting her hand raised against former champions at 41 years old. With UFC Macau now in the books, let’s look at what’s next for the winner.
Song Yadong
Song Yadong needed this win, perhaps more badly than most realize. He’s still just 28 years old, but he was given ample opportunities to break through against names like Cory Sandhagen, Petr Yan and most recently, Sean O’Malley, and he has fallen short every time. This was another main event, this time in his home country against an older veteran who was 1-3 in his last 4 outings coming into this bout. It was an important win, but it shouldn’t propel Song back into title contention; he needs to do more to earn yet another kick at the can. I think beating a younger, streaking up-and-comer like David Martinez would be much more restorative to his stock.
Song’s next fight: David Martinez
Alonzo Menifield
With this win, “Atomic” Menifield’s last three victories have come against then 25-year-old Julius Walker, then 29-year-old Oumar Sy and now 27-year-old Zhang Mingyang. While most people will look at this as an indictment on the light-heavyweight division, there is something to be said for Menifield being an undying litmus test for these guys. He’s proven to be the Neil Magny, Dan Ige, Angela Hill-type gatekeeper for the 205ers and that’s a very respectable role to have. There are some upcoming fights featuring light-heavyweight prospects, Iwo Baraniewski, Navajo Stirling, and Abdul-Rahman Yakhyaev. With a win, I think by far the most deserving of ranked opposition would be Navajo Stirling.
Menifield’s next fight: Stirling/Cutelaba winner
Sergei Pavlovich
My main takeaway from this fight is that it was fun to see the Pavlovich of old. Not since April of 2023 had we seen Pavlovich as his bulldozing self. After back-to-back losses to Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov, his confidence took a massive hit and he was fighting tentatively. However, not one person actually believed Tallison Teixeira was worthy of an opportunity like this one, so the fight had squash match written all over it and the result speaks for itself. This doesn’t really move Pavlovich forward; it more or less keeps him posted in the division’s top5. A highlight-reel like this may at least get him a shot against the loser of the White House co-main event.
Pavlovich’s next fight: Pereira/Gane loser
Kai Asakura
It took two losses, a division change and a significant drop in opposition level, but alas, there it is: Kai Asakura’s first UFC win. Cam Smotherman is a respectable, but far from elite opponent, so who’s to say what this win ultimately will do for the Japanese fighter. What I believe the UFC was aiming for, here, was to get Asakura a win to get his confidence back. When he’s fighting with his usual swagger, Asakura can be an incredibly exciting fighter. I think Charles Jourdain is the perfect name to throw at him. He’s still unranked, but it’s a clear step up in competition from Smotherman and would immediately become of the coolest, most acrobatic fights on the UFC calendar.
Asakura’s next fight: Charles Jourdain
Jake Matthews
This was Matthews’ first fight since his collapse against Neil Magny last September. While he successfully rebounded, I am not convinced that this performance against Carlston Harris was enough to take away the bitter taste from that last loss. Facing and defeating someone like Nicolas Dalby might provide the redemption Matthews is looking for since the Danish fighter has a similar grinding style to Magny.
Matthews’s next fight: Nicolas Dalby