On the main card of UFC 316 this past weekend, we saw the debut of former Bellator champion Patchy Mix (20-2) as he took on top ten bantamweight contender Mario Bautista (16-2). While Bautista came into the fight on a seven-fight win streak inside the octagon, all the attention was on the debut of Patchy Mix.
With that, Mario Bautista felt disrespected. He’s the one that’s been proving himself inside the octagon and while Patchy Mix has incredible talent, he had never fought on this stage and was taking this fight on short notice. Bautista wanted to prove a point on Saturday night and that’s exactly what he did.
From the opening bell, Bautista was lighting up the former Bellator champion. His combinations looked crisp and his movement looked incredible. His right hand was cracking Mix throughout the night and at the end of three rounds, there was no doubt in terms of the winner. This was a beating and Mario Bautista got his hand raised at UFC 316.
What’s next after UFC 316?
Mario Bautista is not a bad guy and he doesn’t have a villain-like personality. However, he’s seemingly become a promotional villain. After his controversial win against Jose Aldo, the fanbase turned on him in a big way. He was booed non-stop and even when he was announced as the winner on Saturday night, there were boos.
Bautista fought great and his style was far from boring. He did exactly what he needed to do coming off that Aldo performance and it didn’t matter to the UFC fans in attendance. To add to the villainous nature, Bautista didn’t even get a post-fight interview which I thought was pretty crazy.
I think Bautista should go full heel and that would just add more heat to him as he continues to climb the UFC rankings. Bautista is now ranked ninth in the bantamweight division. After that performance, the man deserves a big fight and a big test.
In looking at the division, I think there are two fights that I’d like to see for Bautista. Bautista has been teammates with Sean O’Malley so I don’t see that fight happening, but I think him and O’Malley are going to be tied to the same two contenders. Those two contenders being Umar Nurmagomedov and Song Yadong.
I think that O’Malley will fight one while Bautista will fight the other. If I’m match making, I’d let O’Malley fight the fellow striker in Song Yadong while I’d give Bautista to Nurmagomedov. I’ll be very curious to see what the UFC does next at 135.