Carlos Ulberg stirred up the light heavyweight realm with his commendable performance against Volkan Oezdemir at UFC Macau. Needless to say, the ‘Black Jag’ climbed up the rankings in the LHW division. But where exactly does Israel Adesanya’s teammate stand? Let’s find out!

The unanimous decision win at UFC Macau propelled Ulberg 3 spots up. He now sits at the 7th LHW position with a record of 12 victories and 1 loss. No doubt, he has stepped closer to a title shot, thereby putting Alex Pereira on high alert. After all, the New Zealander has already painted a target on ‘Poatan’. 

On the other hand, Oezdemir dropped down one step to the 9th position in the latest update. But the Swiss mixed martial artist wasn’t the only one who fell down. Johnny Walker went down one spot to settle in the 10th position, while Anthony Smith went to the 13th pedestal. Nikita Krylov however, fell 2 spots to finally embrace the 8th position. 

With a new throne in the light heavyweight rankings, ‘Black Jag’ took aim at the light heavyweight champion for a fight. ‘Poatan’s last opponent Khalil Rountree Jr. also managed to catch some strays as Ulberg targeted him for his next bout.

Carlos Ulberg has put Alex Pereira and Khalil Rountree Jr. in his crosshairs

Needless to say, every fighter desires to become the champion. But that’s not the reason why Ulberg wanted to fight Alex Pereira. In a conversation with MMA Fighting, ‘Black Jag’ said, “Super, just superhuman. I feel like the time is endless for this guy. He’s a champion, a true warrior, and nothing but respect for the guy, and this is the true reason why I feel like I want to fight someone like him, because it doesn’t matter if he has the title or not.” He continued, “I definitely want to fight Pereira, for sure, purely because I feel like he’s earned his way into being a great champion.”

But the former light heavyweight title challenger, Khalil Rountree Jr. wasn’t too far from the talks. Fighting ‘Poatan’ while he’s the champion of the division would need time. However, the New Zealander has plans to fight at UFC 312 in Sidney. And ‘The War Horse’ might be the ticket for him to Australia. In a post-fight interview, the #7 light heavyweight contender told the UFC, “Obviously, Khalil had that opportunity last time, so I think for the next step, my next step would be up against a guy like Khalil Rountree.”

Be it the man with the hands of stone, or ‘The War Horse’, with the kind of performance he showed at UFC Fight Night 248, Ulberg can definitely entertain the crowd. But the question that now remains is would he actually get to fight at UFC 312? Well, only time can tell that for sure. 

Do you think Ulberg can climb higher in the UFC athlete rankings? Who do you think would win if Ulberg clashed with Rountree or Pereira? Let us know what you think in the comments down below.