What’s next for the stars of UFC 320?

The UFC was in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday for a solid UFC 320 card. The main event saw Magomed Ankalaev defending his light heavyweight title against Alex Pereira. The co-main event saw Merab Dvalishvili defending his bantamweight belt against Cory Sandhagen.

In the end, it was Pereira who reclaimed his belt with a first-round knockout win over Ankalaev. In the co-main event, Dvalishvili dominated Sandhagen en route to a clear-cut decision win to defend his belt. Following UFC 320, here is what I think should be next for the stars of the event.

Alex Pereira

Alex Pereira is once again the light heavyweight champion as he proved a lot of doubters wrong at UFC 320. Pereira lost the first fight, and it appeared Ankalaev had his number. Yet, Periera swarmed Ankalaev early and got a TKO win just over a minute into the fight to reclaim his belt.

With the win, Pereira said he’s interested in moving up to heavyweight. But the logical matchup is to face Carlos Ulberg next time out. With Jiri Prochazka beating Khalil Rountree at UFC 320, there is no need for the trilogy, so Ulberg should face Pereira sometime in early 2026.

Magomed Ankalaev

Magomed Ankalaev beat Alex Pereira earlier this year and entered UFC 320 as the betting favorite. However, he got caught early and couldn’t recover, and lost his belt in his first crack at defending it.

With the loss, Ankalaev is back to the drawing board and will likely need a couple of wins to get another title shot. A logical next fight is for Ankalaev to face Jiri Prochazka. Prochazka and Ankalaev both need another win to get a title shot, so the winner of this fight could face the winner of Pereira-Ulberg.

Merab Dvalishvili

(via Zuffa LLC)

Merab Dvalishvili remains the bantamweight champion as he dominated Cory Sandhagen at UFC 320. Dvalishvili landed 20 takedowns as he controlled Sandhagen for over 10 minutes of the fight, and outstruck the American 243-to-149.

Following another dominant performance from Dvalishvili, his next fight is rather clear. The bantamweight champ should face the winner of Umar Nurmagomedov vs. Mario Bautista, which takes place at UFC 321. The title fight could happen in the first quarter of 2026.

Cory Sandhagen

Cory Sandhagen finally got his crack at winning the undisputed UFC bantamweight title, but he fell short against Merab Dvalishvili at UFC 320. Sandhagen had a hard time stuffing Dvalishvili’s takedowns and getting back up, as he was dominated in the loss.

With the loss, Sandhagen is back to the drawing board and will need multiple wins to get another title shot. But the obvious fight to make is against Sean O’Malley. Neither is close to getting a title shot against Dvalishvili, so the timing makes sense for a fun fight for both of them.