Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC Israel Adesanya was dazzling in his title defense and Jan Blachowicz cemented himself as the new light heavyweight champion as the UFC 253 main and co-main events both ended in dramatic fashion. While Adesanya and Blachowicz will undoubtedly enjoy their victories with a well-deserved post-fight celebration, it didn’t take long for the subject of their next fight to be raised on Saturday night. In fact, it was Adesanya himself who made the call about the top contender in the middleweight division. He immediately turned his attention to Jared Cannonier, who’s been on his radar for the past year. Cannonier is currently preparing for a showdown with former champion Robert Whittaker at UFC 254 in October. If he’s victorious, Cannonier should expect his next fight to come against Adesanya with the middleweight title up for grabs. “That’s the fight if Cannonier wins,” UFC president Dana White confirmed at the UFC 253 post fight press conference. “And I love that about Israel. He’s ready for who’s next, who else thinks they can beat me. The kid is an absolute stud.” Adesanya will undoubtedly be keeping a close eye on Cannonier’s fight in just a few weeks to see if his next opponent is secured or not. Things aren’t quite as clear cut at light heavyweight, but there are only a few options that make sense for Blachowicz after he dispatched Dominick Reyes in impressive fashion to claim the vacant title. The Polish veteran made it clear just after the belt was wrapped around his waist that he would like to cement his championship status by facing Jon Jones, who vacated the belt just recently with the intention of moving up to the heavyweight division. Jones even went as far as hinting on Twitter that perhaps he could return to 205 pounds now that a challenger like Blachowicz exists for him but obviously nothing is set in stone at this point. The other fight that could determine the next contender for the light heavyweight title will take place on Nov. 7 when Thiago Santos goes to battle with Glover Teixeira. White confirmed the winner of that fight would earn the next crack at the new 205-pound champion unless Jones really did decide he wanted to return to his old stomping grounds. “Those are the guys that are fighting for the next shot,” White said about Santos vs. Teixeira. “But obviously if Jon Jones wanted that fight, we wouldn’t deny Jon Jones the opportunity.”

Nate Diaz | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Nate Diaz could make his official plans known soon. The UFC star shared a video to social media on Saturday, which contains clips of his past career highlights and other memorable moments from recent years: View this post on Instagram @nickdiazarmy #NDA #Nickdiazarmy Edited by: @elijahgutierrez @nickmcd209 A post shared by Nate Diaz (@natediaz209) on Sep 26, 2020 at 3:19pm PDT Captioned “Round 4” and accompanied by the song Outro by M83, the clip features footage from Diaz’s fights with Anthony Pettis and Jorge Masvidal, but otherwise offers no other commentary on the purpose of its release. The short video concludes with the year “2021” on screen, suggesting that Diaz has big plans in the near future. Diaz most recently fought last November at UFC 244, losing by third-round TKO (doctor stoppage due to a cut) to Masvidal in a battle for the “BMF” title. UFC President Dana White said that they are working on a rematch between Diaz and Masvidal for January.

Renato Moicano | Esther Lin, MMA Fighting Two of the lightweight division’s most intriguing fighters will fight this November. Former top-10 featherweight Renato Moicano will face Rafael Fiziev in a 155-pound bout at a UFC Fight Night on Nov. 28 at a location still to be announced. This will be Moicano’s second lightweight fight in the UFC. MMA Fighting confirmed the matchup with sources with knowledge of the booking following an initial report by Combate. Moicano (14-3-1) made a successful UFC lightweight debut in March, submitting Damir Hadzovic in just 44 seconds. Prior to that, the 31-year-old was making waves at 145 pounds with wins over Cub Swanson, Calvin Kattar, and Jeremy Stephens. However, he lost his previous two fights against “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung and Jose Aldo before making the decision to change divisions. Fiziev (8-1), 27, has dazzled fans with his striking prowess in his past two outings. He is coming off of back-to-back unanimous decisions over Marc Diakiese and Alex White. A heavyweight bout between Curtis Blaydes and Derrick Lewis is expected to serve as the Nov. 28 headliner.

Photo by Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC Dominick Reyes doesn’t have to think too hard to figure out what went wrong on Saturday. The light heavyweight contender fell short in his second consecutive crack at a world title at UFC 253, losing by second-round TKO to Jan Blachowicz in the evening’s co-main event. From the start, it was Blachowicz who controlled the action and up until the fight’s finishing blows, Reyes never seemed to get out of first gear. Reyes admitted as much in a tweet that he sent out shortly after his loss. Well fuck! Gotta pull the trigger!!! Nothing left to do but get back up. Congrats to Jan, hell of a performance. #UFC253 #justgettingstarted— Dominick Reyes (@DomReyes) September 27, 2020 “Well f*ck!” Reyes wrote. “Gotta pull the trigger!!! Nothing left to do but get back up. Congrats to Jan, hell of a performance.” According to UFC Stats, Reyes landed 21 strikes on 51 attempts in just under 10 minutes of in-cage action. He was nearly doubled up by Blachowicz (41 of 89) and his output was a far cry from the fiery effort he put forth when he challenged Jon Jones for the light heavyweight title at UFC 247 in February. Reyes lost that fight by unanimous decision, though a significant contingent of media and fans believed Reyes deserved the win. On Saturday, there was no doubt that Blachowicz was the better fighter. Reyes has now lost two consecutive fights after beginning his career 12-0. He also wrote a post on Instagram, adding “Not all God’s lessons feel good.” View this post on Instagram Not all gods lessons feel good. Thank you to @danawhite @ufc for the opportunity. Thank you to my team and all my supporters I'll come back stronger and better @mcec_wellness @zignummezcalusa @toyotires @manscaped . I love this game and will continue to grow. Much love and huge congrats to Jan hell of a performance! #ufc253 #rebuild A post shared by Dominick Reyes (@domreyes24) on Sep 26, 2020 at 10:05pm PDT

Bobby Green won three decisions in a row since June 2020, including a decision over Clay Guida | Zuffa LLC Bobby Green is yet again set for a fight in the UFC in 2020. “King” has agreed to take on Brazilian lightweight Thiago Moises at the upcoming UFC Fight Night card in Las Vegas, scheduled for Oct. 31 at UFC APEX, multiple sources with knowledge of the booking told MMA Fighting. Green (27-10-1) is on a roll after consecutive decision wins over Clay Guida, Lando Vannata and Alan Patrick between June and September of 2020. This is his longest winning streak since 2014 when he beat Jacob Volkmann, James Krause, Pat Healy and Josh Thomson. Moises (13-4) returns to action after withdrawing from a UFC fight with Jalin Turner due to a positive COVID-19 test result earlier this month. The Brazilian lightweight is coming off of a second-round submission victory over Michael Johnson in May. The Fight Night card will be headlined by former middleweight champion Anderson Silva against Uriah Hall.