Mateusz Gamrot suffered a devastating setback in his long-shot pursuit of a lightweight title in Saturday's UFC Fight Night 284 main event.
Gamrot (26-5 MMA, 9-5 UFC) was swept up in the whirlwind rise of Quillan Salkilld (13-1 MMA, 6-0 UFC) in their headliner at Meta APEX in Las Vegas, finding little success before he was submitted inside the first round.
It's only the second time Gamrot has been finished in his career, and it comes at a difficult time for the 35-year-old. He was just starting to rebuild momentum after short-notice main event loss to Charles Oliveira in October, and his extremely willingness to take on any of the rising names at 155-pound reared its ugly head here.
Time will tell if this loss for Gamrot will ultimately be part
of some sort of championship journey for Salkilld, who is being rightfully praised for the performance because everyone holds the Polish fighter in that high of regard. Gamrot doesn't have time given his age, though, at least according to the history of elite-tier divisional competition.
The upside for him, however, is that he is extremely dedicated to the sport and seemingly lives a pure life. He will work hard to bounce back from this, and will surely accept whatever name UFC gives to him.
It could be the right time for Gamrot to run a rematch with Rafael Fiziev, whom he was awarded an injury TKO win against at UFC Fight Night 228 in September 2023. It was an important fight then, which is why it was a main event, and it was marred by an unfortunate end. A rematch would be an important fight now.
Both men have had their ups and downs in recent years, but with Fiziev (14-5 MMA, 8-5 UFC) coming off a second-round knockout of Manuel Torres in June's UFC Fight Night 280 headliner, he would likely jump at the chance to avenge a loss where he blew out his knee and was forced to the sidelined for 18 months.
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Sean Shelby's Shoes: What's next for Mateusz Gamrot after UFC Vegas 120 loss?
