Monday, June 16, 2014

#UFC174 winners, what's next?

Although UFC 174 wasn't the most memorable of events, there are a lot of questions to be asked coming out of it, primarily of who to fight next. The first fighter to come to mind is:

Rory MacDonald. With Lawler/Brown already booked for July and Dana White already announcing that the winner of that gets a title fight against Johny Hendricks, what should he do next? If he decides to wait for that whole scenario of JH vs Lawler/Brown to play out, that could mean waiting until 2015 to fight again. If he decides to fight someone in the meantime, he risks his potential title shot that arguably he deserves. At this point, I believe 10-11 months is too long to wait for a title shot. Hector Lombard vs Dong Hyun Kim takes place @ UFC Fight Night 48 in August and he should demand the winner of that matchup. Winning that fight would absolutely solidify a title shot end of 2014/early 2015 against whomever the WW champion is Hendricks/Lawler/Brown.

Andrei Arlovski. Won a very controversial split decision, but nonethless still a huge win for a seasoned veteran of the sport. At 35 years old and a HW division with some absolute killers, I think the best matchup for him right now is Josh Barnett. Two HOF MMA fighters could square off as a co-main event for a championship PPV card and make every UFC fan (including myself) very excited.

Demetrious Johnson (c) . When someone tears through a weight class the way DJ has, you start to look at what other options there are, and it's hard not to look at the Bantamweight division, where DJ formerly fought. To make things even more interesting, the guy that BW champ T.J. Dillashaw lost to in TUF finale? John Dodson, who DJ handled with ease. It may be a tad bit early for a "superfight" considering TJ just got the belt, but it would be an awesome matchup. If Barao doesn't get rematch, this fight would be the best available for both fighers.

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