Lightweight’s Most Underrated? Discussing What’s Next for Mateusz Gamrot
For years now, the UFC Lightweight Division has been regarded as the premier division in the UFC. From top to bottom, the Lightweight Division is full of exciting fighters. If you look at the Lightweight rankings right now, you would see a who’s who of UFC stars in the top 10. Charles Oliveira, Justin Gaethje, Max Holloway, Dustin Poirier, and Paddy Pimblett all hold claim to being a top-10 Lightweight. However, there is a fighter in the top 10 who does not receive as much attention as his division mates but might be a dark horse in the Lightweight Division.
The seventh-ranked Lightweight Mateusz Gamrot made his return to the octagon at UFC Vegas 107 following a nearly year-long layoff. Gramrot was matched against rising contender Ludovit Klein. Klein, who was coming off a three-fight win streak, was a slight underdog heading into the fight. Throughout the fight, the Slovakian kickboxer Ludovit Klein would struggle under Gamrot’s smothering grappling. Even though some would have expected Mateusz Gamrot to miss a beat coming off of a close loss in a brutal fight against Dan Hooker, that was surely not the case. Gamrot was extremely effective in minimizing Klein’s offense in the standup department, shooting takedowns to disrupt Klein’s rhythm and timing. After three rounds, the fight would go to a decision, where Mateusz Gamrot would be declared the winner.
Mateusz Gamrot has been in the UFC for around five years now. In those five years, ‘Gamer’ has a record of 8-3. Even though Gamrot may not be a name many fans talk about, the wins on his resume are worthy of respect. With wins over Jalin Turner, Rafael Fiziev, Rafael Dos Anjos, and current number-one ranked Lightweight contender Arman Tsarukyan, Gamrot should not be fighting down in the rankings for his next fight, especially after just fighting unranked Ludovit Klein.
The Lightweight Division is in an interesting state. Longtime Lightweight contenders and legends Dustin Poirier and Justin Gaethje are either retiring or nearing the end of their careers. Lightweight Champion Islam Makhachev is vacating his title and will move up to Welterweight. To put it simply, the Lightweight Division is changing. Mateusz Gamrot needs to capitalize on this change. With fighters retiring and careers coming to an end, this leaves holes for Gamrot to fill in. Gamrot’s best move would be to politic for a rematch against Arman Tsarukyan. Tsarukyan needs a fight after being told he would need to work his way back to a title shot by UFC President Dana White, and what’s better than avenging a loss in the process? For Gamrot, a second win over Tsarukyan would almost certainly ensure a title shot.
