What will happen to Peñaz and what is behind his loss? He’s 2 to 3 wins away from UFC, says fighter’s manager

Matej Peňáz missed his chance to get into the UFC on Tuesday night when he lost to Sedriques Dumas after 47 seconds. However, there’s no need to get down about it. It certainly wasn’t his last chance. That’s exactly how his manager Ondrej Majercik sees it.

An excellent stand-up fighter becomes an excellent fighter with great talent. Six wins in the Octagon were enough to earn him a spot on Dana White’s Contender Series show. It gave him a chance to fight for the UFC.

However, 47 seconds and it was over. Sedriques Dumas applied a guillotine and Matej Peñaz tapped out. According to coach André Reinders, Peñaz would win nine of his ten fights with Dumas. And now, unfortunately, it was the rare case.

“Matej overcame a coronavirus just before the match. It was in play that the fight would be postponed. It was a few days before the match. The first negative test was only the evening before the departure. The agreement was that he would fly there to train and if he didn’t feel well, we would ask to postpone the fight for a week or two,” said Peñaz’s manager Ondrej Majercik to MMA Shorties.

The postponement was not needed after all. However, as mentioned, the fight didn’t quite work out and the dream of the UFC vanished, but not for good. Majercik says that fighters who make it to Contender are subjected to detailed analysis by scouts and matchmakers.

It is from matchmakers that Majercik has confirmation that they liked Peñaz. “Matej is a strong personality, has charisma, good looks, good English, attractive fighting style and definitely stays under the radar of UFC matchmakers,” he let it be known.

What’s next?

Just hours after the fight, Peñaz received two offers. First of all from the UAE Warriors for a fight in Abu Dhabi in the second half of September, besides that he was approached by the PFL organization, who would like to see him in a superfight later this year, possibly for the new season.

But according to Majercik, those offers are off the table. Peñáz has a valid contract with Octagon, with whom he intends to link his future. He’s still some time away from developing in the Czechoslovakian organization, and Majercik says he’s 2-3 wins away from a UFC contract.

Source: UFC, Oktagon MMA, MMA Shorties