After a first rate event on Spike that mainly got overlooked for a variety of reasons, mainly with UFC on Fox 1 plus UFC 139 (Shogun vs. Henderson) on the horizon, it’s time to figure out who should be matched up next amongst the five most compelling fighters from UFC 138. As always, you can read our play by play coverage right here..
Mark Munoz vs. Anderson Silva – Will Cooling made the case here and you could argue that Munoz with his recent win can legitimately fight the champ before Chael Sonnen. My thoughts are that Sonnen-Silva 2 should happen before Munoz gets a shot but you can make the case that Munoz, and is the only fight that could potentially follow JDS-Cain on free TV as big as that fight, but Munoz is a compelling case as well. He has a similar pedigree to Sonnen in terms of wrestling and has vicious ground and pound; the problem I see is that Munoz is still the same guy I remember Matt Hamill destroying with a head kick. Last time I checked, Anderson kicks a bit harder.
Renan Barao vs. Dominick Cruz – Barao looked spectacular and if Nick Diaz leap-frogging Carlos Condit for a title fight sets a precedent for striking while the iron is hot, then perhaps pushing Barao to the front of the line isn’t a bad idea.
Thiago Alves vs. Carlos Condit – Condit needs a fight for Super Bowl weekend now that he’s been pulled from the title fight. Alves is really an elite-level gate-keeper at this point in his career. Condit really can’t be ranked all that far from him, either, thus it would make a nice fight and give Condit some seasoning he needs. You could throw in Jake Ellenberger or the winner of Rory McDonald/Brian Ebersole in this spot as well.
Chris Leben vs. Alan Belcher – Belcher wants a title fight and needs a couple more names on his resume to really prove it. Leben is a great test and it wouldn’t be a boring fight, that’s for sure.
Papy Abedi vs. the winner of Claude Patrick/Rich Attonito – Abedi got a bad lot when dropped in against a Top 10 fighter in Thiago Alves. Let’s see how he looks against someone on the other end of the spectrum.
