Five For Fighting (UFC Fight Night 36 Edition) – Matchups To Make After Machida Led Decision Happy Event

Columns, Top Story

It was the officially the longest card in UFC history in terms of fight time and continued a trend of a decision filled card that has plagued the beginning of 2014. Ultimate Fight Night 36 did give us the next middleweight title challenger as Lyoto Machida took a dominant, technical decision from Gegard Mousasi. Now it’s time to play Joe Silva & Sean Shelby, figuring out what’s next for the most intriguing winners (and losers) from Saturday’s card from Brazil.

Winners

Lyoto Machida vs. the winner of Chris Weidman/Vitor Belfort – Machida earned a title shot with a terrific decision win over a tough out, managing to shake the “boring” label for most of the fight. He’s earned a shot at the winner of Weidman/Belfort, an interesting matchup for either Weidman or Belfort. At this point Machida just has to wait and see who wins, then get his chance to avenge both of Anderson Silva’s losses to the Americna wrestler.

Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza vs. the winner of Michael Bisping/Tim Kennedy – In my ideal world Souza would be getting a title shot, especially with an emphatic thrashing of Carmont, but Machida has earned it and Souza didn’t win impressively enough to get it. He’d have had to win in a decidedly more dominant way, crazy enough, to get the UFC to give him a title shot. But he’s probably only another win away from one and the winner of Bisping/Kennedy will be in the same spot. Kennedy makes for an interesting rematch, of course, from their Strikeforce days. Bisping is a nightmare matchup for anyone and five rounds with Souza could be fun.  The winner of Rockhold/Boetsch could be in this slot, as well, depending on timing.

Erick Silva vs. the winner of Ryan LaFlare/John Howard – Silva is a guy the UFC is counting on for the future and has looked equal parts champion and non-entity in his fledgling UFC career so far. We need to find out what his ceiling is because I’m not sure we know it yet. He’s starting to resemble a Brazilian version of Melvin Guillaird, a great talent but never quite putting it all together against elite competition consistently. LaFlare/Howard is a nice step up, a tough but winnable fight against better competition than he just faced.

Charles Oliveira vs. the winner of Dennis Bermudez/Jimmy Hettes – The winner of Clay Guida/Tatsuya Kawijiri could make sense, as well, but Oliveira has shown in his last two fights that he should be considered in the fringes of the Top 10 in the featherweight division. He just needs a fight to get him a proper ranking, of course, and the winner of Bermudez/Hettes is in the same spot. Guida/Kawijiri makes sense from the same perspective as well. Oliveira wants Cub Swanson and Frankie Edgar, to avenge a loss to both men, but he won’t get them without a qualifying win in the division. He needs a win against another guy on the outskirts, looking in to the divisional elite from his same vantage point, to really justify a rematch with someone ranked as high as either Swanson or Edgar. Either of these fights gets him there.

Iuri Alcantara vs. Alex Caceres – Alcantara nearly defeated Urijah Faber in the first round of their fight, the only fighter in 2013 to go the distance with the former WEC champion. Odds are he’ll be in the title picture sooner than later; he just doesn’t have an established track record in the division so far. Caceres is a good test and both guys are on the rise in the division. This marks a great “touted prospect vs. touted prospect, winner moves on to a Top 10 guy” kind of fight the UFC is known for.

Losers

Wilson Reis vs. Urijah Faber – Reis isn’t going to be a title contender anytime in the near future. Faber had his shot and lost it. It was an early stoppage, perhaps, but it wasn’t like Faber was winning the fight (or showing he could’ve, either). But he’s still a talent … but you can’t give him someone elite next. If the UFC is willing to go down the Faber road to the title again it has to start with a tough but winnable fight. Reis is that bill.

Gegard Mousasi vs. the loser of Bisping/Kennedy or Rockhold/Boetsch – Mousasi looked slow and sluggish in his middleweight debut, coming off a prolonged layoff due to a knee injury. A lot of his slowness I believe should be accorded to ring rust, of course, but a second fight at middleweight will tell us everything we need to know about Mousasi. He’s going to get someone around that same level of “good, but not quite elite” level of contender. A matchup against Francis Carmont would work, too, if they opted that route.

Francis Carmont vs. the loser of Bisping/Kennedy or Rockhold/Boetsch – Carmont’s in the same spot as Mousasi at this point. He gets someone in that same “recent loser” vintage of middleweight contenders. Mousasi wouldn’t be out of the picture, either, as a fresh matchup.

Andy Ogle vs. Diego Brandao – Ogle’s always going to be just a guy, nothing more. He’s a fun fight, and gives you a good indication of where elite talent can get to, but he’ll never be elite. He’s Stephan Bonner with a perpetually split lip. Brandao is the most maddening talent in MMA. Sometimes he looks like he’s one step from Jose Aldo territory. Other times … not so much. Ogle is a nice rebound fight after his disastrous outing against Dustin Poirier.