This past Saturday on the main card of UFC 289 we saw a featherweight battle with a ranking on the line. Nate “The Train” Landwehr (17-5) was taking on 13th ranked Dan Ige (17-6). Landwehr was trying to take away Ige’s ranking while Ige was looking to win his second fight in a row.
In the opening round, it was very evident that these two were very evenly matched. Landwehr was pushing forward quite a bit and throwing nice shots, but it kept seeming like Ige was landing the clean and more powerful strikes. That said, there wasn’t any massive moments until the final seconds.
That’s when Ige uncorked a massive shot that sat Landwehr down just before the round ended. In the second round, Ige really started to pick up the pace and was getting the better of things. Once again, he dropped and hurt Landwehr bad near the end of the second round.
In the third round, Landwehr started to pick things up as Ige started to get a little tired. Ige admitted this in his post-fight interview. That said, Landwehr couldn’t do enough and when the scorecards were read, Ige won a unanimous decision at UFC 289.
What’s next after UFC 289?
This was a big win for Dan Ige as he’s now won two in a row after dropping three straight. Ige rose to the top of featherweight contention when he won six fights in a row. However, then he started to face the elite guys of the division and went 1-4 in his next five fights.
He needed a reset against lesser competition and that’s what he got. Now, he’s won back-to-back fights and he’s ready to take on the UFC’s top ten. When asked about what he was wanting next, Ige had mentioned that a bout with Bryce Mitchell could be his quickest way up to the top.
While that would be a great matchup, I actually like the idea of him taking on Sodiq Yusuff next. Stylistically, it would be a lot of fun and both men are on the fringe of the top ten. Whoever were to win that one would be ready to jump right into a fun fight in the top ten.