What’s next for the stars of UFC 295?

The UFC returned to Madison Square Garden on Saturday for their annual November event which was UFC 295.

In the main event of UFC 295, Alex Pereira took on Jiri Prochazka for the vacant light heavyweight title. The co-main event saw Tom Aspinall face Sergei Pavlovich fight for the interim heavyweight title.

Ultimately, Pereira became the light heavyweight champion after scoring a second-round knockout over Jiri Prochazka. The co-main event saw Tom Aspinall knockout Sergei Pavlovich in the first round to become the interim heavyweight champion. Now, here is what I think should be next for the four fighters involved in the title fights at UFC 295.

Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira has now won UFC titles in two weight classes despite this being only his seventh appearance in the Octagon.

Pereira had a string outing against Prochazka as he used leg kicks to slow down the former champ. He then cracked him with a big shot in the second round and finished him with ground-and-pound shots, although some people thought it was a bit early.

Following the win, Pereira called out Israel Adesanya for their trilogy in MMA. However, Adesanya doesn’t deserve an immediate title fight at light heavyweight, and if he wants that fight, he should win a bout at 205lbs first. With that, Pereira’s first title defense should be against Jamahal Hill sometime in the spring of 2024.

Jiri Prochakza

Jiri Prochazka returned after a devastating shoulder injury to face Alex Pereira at UFC 295 but suffered a second-round knockout loss.

Although Prochazka lost, he will still be a top contender at light heavyweight and likely will be a win or two way from another crack at the belt. With that, a logical next opponent is to face Nikita Krylov who’s ranked sixth and is the top available contender without an opponent. It’s a winnable fight for Prochazka and should he win, he likely would be in a title eliminator.

Tom Aspinall

Tom Aspinall is now the UFC’s interim heavyweight champion after he scored a first-round knockout over Sergei Pavlovich.

Although Aspinall is the interim champ, he won’t get the next crack at Jon Jones and the undisputed heavyweight title. Instead, Jones will face Stipe Miocic sometime in 2024 and it’s likely both retire after that fight, which means Aspinall would be promoted to the undisputed champion.

With that, it’s hard to predict who Aspinall will fight next, as there’s no timeframe for Jones-Miocic and he will wait until that happens. But, a logical first title fight will likely be against Ciryl Gane who is ranked one at heavyweight.

Sergei Pavlovich

Sergei Pavlovich is back to the drawing board after his loss at UFC 295 to Tom Aspinall.

Although Pavlovich lost, he still remains a top-five heavyweight and will likely only need two wins to get another crack at the belt. The Russian will need some time off after the loss, but a logical next opponent is Alexander Volkov who’s on a three-fight win streak.