The great violence era of the UFC Lightweight division is coming to a close.
Dustin Poirier’s retirement is merely the latest example. Those golden years where any match up of Poirier, Justin Gaethje, Michael Chandler, Dan Hooker, Eddie Alvarez, Charles Oliveira would produce elite fireworks are still recent history, but it turns out rapidly putting together “Fight of the Year” candidates ages you quickly. Plain and simple, those names are gone or on their way out. A couple are still holding on for one last run at gold, but the odds are very long.
Who will replace them as the next generation of Lightweight action heroes?
Last night (Sat., Aug. 2, 2025) at UFC Vegas 108, a handful of 155-pound up-and-comers put their name forward. Mateusz Rebecki, Chris Duncan, Esteban Ribovicz, and Elves Brenner all have an aptitude for violence and bloodshed to go alongside technical skill. Each of those unranked sluggers dream of a championship, but I’m sure they also hope to attain the fortune and fame that comes with being a well-known and proven action fighter. Athletes above like Hooker and Chandler never captured gold, but they became fan favorites and made a pretty penny in the process.
There are plenty of worse fates in combat sports.
Both Rebecki vs. Duncan and Ribovicz vs. Brenner were incredible fights. The former was the more high-level collision of the two, a bloody back-and-forth contest that saw Duncan’s accurate counter punching and heavy body kicks slightly edge Rebecki’s relentless pressure and wide swinging power shots. The latter was more of a showcase for Ribovicz, whose speed and power kept him in the driver’s seat until the final couple minutes, when Brenner’s counter punches began to land with some real stank. All told, it was 30 minutes of spectacular fighting.
The problem is very few people watched UFC Vegas 108, a card headlined by a Flyweight mismatch cobbled together at the last-second. Duncan just scored the best win of his UFC career, his third-straight upset victory. He should be looking at a Top 15 ranking or at least ranked match up, but who knows if he’ll actually gain any ground for an unseen win.
Ribovics, meanwhile, won the 2024 “Fight of the Year.” His reward? A trip to the empty warehouse that is the UFC Apex, where he put on another bloody and bonus-winning scrap versus Nasrat Haqparast that most people thought he won. The UFC put him in the Apex again last night. He styles on Brenner, picks up another bonus, and nobody sees it.
Neither his star nor Duncan’s grew last night despite objectively awesome performances and serious damage sustained. The hardcore fans appreciate their efforts and will tune in for their match ups, but that was already the case prior to UFC Vegas 108!
Lastly, like Ribovics, Mateusz Rebecki put on one of the very best bouts of 2024 in his previous appearance, an instant classic versus Myktybek Orolbai. It stands to reason that the athletes responsible for the best fights of the year in 2024 will continue to entertain in 2025. Why is the UFC rewarding incredible, must-watch performances with their soulless warehouse that only exists to fulfill contracts and extract ESPN money?
That venue will not create the next Dustin Poirier or Justin Gaethje.
For complete UFC Vegas 108 results and play-by-play, click here.
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
