After falling short at UFC Vegas 114, what’s next for Josh Emmett?

This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC Vegas 114, we saw a big time matchup between two powerful featherweights. Former interim title challenger Josh Emmett (19-7) was taking on rising star Kevin Vallejos (18-1).

Emmett just turned 41 a couple of weeks ago, but he said that he felt better than ever as he entered the octagon on Saturday night. That said, he had a ton to prove because he was on a really brutal stretch inside the octagon.

Emmett was 1-4 in five fights after starting his career 18-2 which led him to an interim title fight. That said, his losses came against top guys like Ilia Topuria, Yair Rodriguez, Lerone Murphy, and Youssef Zalal. This fight on Saturday was a real test to see if he’s still up there with the best guys in the world.

Vallejos is just 24-years-old, but he looks like a superstar that the UFC wants to build up. They gave him the old lion in Emmett likely hoping that he would show out and that’s what he did. Unfortunately for Emmett, he only landed two strikes total and was stopped in the first round by Vallejos.

What’s next after UFC Vegas 114?

The fight game is brutal and the falls from grace can be extremely steep and very fast. As mentioned above, Josh Emmett was 18-2 fighting for the interim UFC featherweight title just three years ago. Starting with that fight, he’s now 1-5 in his last six fights and he’s now been stopped in the first round in back-to-back fights.

Realistically, I think his next fight is his last chance inside the octagon and if really wants to keep fighting, he desperately needs to show that he can still do this. I could see Emmett being paired with a guy like David Onama next.

Onama is coming off a main event loss to Steve Garcia back in November which halted a four-fight win streak that got him into the UFC rankings.

I could see the promotion pairing up these two and if Emmett wins, he stays ranked and can try to make something happen. However, if he loses, it gets Onama back on track and keeps him legitimized in the top fifteen.

By Daniel Cunningham

My name is Daniel, and I love MMA. My goal is provide the best possible coverage of the MMA ... More about Daniel Cunningham