This past Saturday night in the main event of UFC Vegas 77, we saw a bantamweight fight with potential title implications. Former champion Holly Holm (15-7) was trying to halt the momentum of surging top contender Mayra Bueno Silva (11-2-1).
Bueno Silva earned herself a spot in the promotion with a win on Dana White’s Contender Series. She started her career inside the octagon at 125 pounds with mixed results. After a loss to Manon Fiorot at the tail end of 2021, she decided to move up to bantamweight.
Starting last year, she’s gone 3-0 with two finishes at 135 pounds. Those three wins earned her a shot against Miesha Tate in a bout scheduled last month, but Tate had to pull out with an injury. Instead, she was given another former UFC champion in Holly Holm.
In the first round of the fight, Holm was landing with more volume, but Bueno Silva was landing bigger shots. Still, the bigger shots were little and too far between so I thought Holm won the first round. To start the second, Bueno Silva landed a huge right hand that forced Holm to initiate a clinch.
Upon entering the clinch, Bueno Silva locked in a nasty modified guillotine. She was cranking it and Holm tried desperately to escape. However, there was no escape and she was forced to tap giving Bueno Silva the biggest win of her UFC career.
Is a UFC title shot next?
Bueno Silva made it clear that she wants a title shot on the heels of her win this past Saturday. Honestly, I cannot blame her for wanting a title shot. She’s won four fights in a row and submitted a former champion to get to this spot. She’ll likely be in the top two or three in the rankings tomorrow when they come out.
As of now, it appears the clubhouse favorites for the vacant UFC title fight are former champion Julianna Pena and former title contender Raquel Pennington. Pena was originally supposed to fight Nunes before breaking her ribs and Pennington has won five fights in a row.
I think Pena is guaranteed a spot in the title fight. However, Bueno Silva has really given the match makers something to think about. I’d still lean towards Pennington getting the shot, but it wouldn’t shock me to see Bueno Silva get thrown in there against the former UFC champion in Pena. She immediately started calling Pena out after the fight which was the smart thing to do.
If the promotion doesn’t give her a title fight next, she needs to fight someone at the very top of the division. Irene Aldana or potentially the returning Germaine De Randamie come to mind as potential matchups for Bueno Silva if she’s not given the next title fight.