Sean Shelby’s Shoes: What’s next for Kamaru Usman and UFC 251’s key winning fighters?

See who champs Kamaru Usman, Alexander Volkanovski and Petr Yan should fight next after their title-fight victories at UFC 251.

Alexander Volkanovski

Should fight: Winner of [autotag]Chan Sung Jung[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Brian Ortega[/autotag]
Why they should fight: Volkanovski’s title defense against Max Holloway was somewhat controversial, but the fact remain he’s up 2-0 in their series and at this point that fight can’t be run back a third time.

It was a closely contested fight over five rounds, but it seemed the majority of the public felt Holloway won. The majority of the judges had it for Volkanovski, though, and that’s why he got the split decision.

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For now, Volkanovski can move on to a new chapter of his title reign at 145 pounds. There’s a bevy of fresh opponents on the table for him, and it seems like two key fights coming up are Jung (16-5 MMA, 6-2 UFC) vs. Ortega (14-1 MMA, 6-1 UFC) and Zabit Magomedsharipov vs. Yair Rodriguez, although neither have been made official.

It would be in Volkanovski’s best interest to see how those matchups play out of if they get booked, but it would seem the “Korean Zombie” vs. Ortega matchup has the higher stakes at this point. Ideally, that matchup would produce Volkanovski’s next foe.

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