Five For Fighting – Fights To Make After UFC 144: Henderson vs. Edgar

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With UFC 144 in the books, and a new lightweight champion being crowned in Benson Henderson, it’s time to look to the future to see what tomorrow will yield. It’s time to take a look at the most intriguing winners and losers from this card, five of each, and try to predict where each of the five most intriguing fighters who won and lost on this card will go like I’m Joe Silva and Sean Shelby. As always you can read our play by play commentary right here as well as listen to Shawn M Smith and myself discuss the debate immediately after by clicking here.

Winners:

Benson Henderson vs. Anthony Pettis – Everyone remembers the “Showtime Kick” that essentially cost Henderson the fight. What people forget is that the four rounds before were part of one of the best fights of the year and perhaps the best fighter in WEC history. While I don’t think they’ll duplicate that sort of fight again, it makes sense. With Diaz/Miller 3 months away, you can schedule this near it while giving the winner of that fight enough time to have a proper training camp before it. You could also have Henderson wait for the winner of Diaz/Miller, as well, but Henderson came out of that fight relatively uninjured and a title defense in early summer makes more sense than waiting until the end of the summer.

Ryan Bader vs. Stephan Bonnar – Bader had a dominant decision victory over Quinton Jackson but the top of the division is fairly lined up right now. Bonnar makes sense in the fact that both are on that cusp of being 2-3 fights away from a title fight against Jon Jones. Forrest Griffin could be another matchup depending on whether or not he’s matched up with Tito Ortiz; that’s been rumored for the next UFC on Fox card but if it falls through Bader/Griffin could be a fun fight.

Chris Cariaso vs. John Dodson – Cariaso is an undersized bantamweight who’ll be a part of the new flyweight division. Dodson doesn’t have a matchup lined up, as the division only kicks off next week with the beginning of the initial championship tournament, and this could be a good matchup to designate a #1 contender considering Dodson ranked fifth in the division and ought to be on the short list for a title fight.

Tim Boetsch vs. Mark Munoz – Boetsch just knocked out the last man to challenge Anderson Silva and Munoz is one fight away from a potential title fight with the winner of Silva/Chael Sonnen in Brazil. I’m not sure if Boetsch is ready for a fighter like Munoz but a win over Okami gives him the right to fight someone like the Oklahoma State wrestler. Another reasonable matchup could be the winner of Wanderlai Silva/Vitor Belfort as well using the same criteria.

Jake Shields vs. Cung Le – Shields had a solid win this weekend but finds himself at the back of the line to get a title shot. I’d like to see Shields move back up to middleweight, where he’s looked a lot better than he has at welterweight. The weight cut has taken away a lot of what he showed as a middleweight in Strikeforce; taking down and grinding Dan Henderson is a difficult task. Shields as a middleweight is a much tougher proposition and at welterweight … not so much. If he stays at welterweight I could see him being Matt Hughes final fight. Hughes needs one final fight to go out on and has apparently turned down Dan Hardy as well, which leads me to think he wants to stay away from someone with real knockout power. Jake Shields isn’t known for that and would be a safer matchup in that regard. Hughes is looking for an interesting matchup, most likely, and Shields is just that. He’s an average striker but a world class grappler and whether or not he could get Hughes to the ground becomes an interesting proposition.

Losers:

Quinton Jackson vs. Shogun Rua – Quinton just lost a tough fight to Ryan Bader when everything seemed to be lining up for him to get another shot at Jon Jones in short order. For all the talk of retirement it seems like Jackson is entering the “interesting fight” phase of his career as opposed to being in title contention. This is a fight he wants and could be a great main event over five rounds, as well. Rich Franklin represents another interesting challenge and is in a similar spot; a rematch with Forrest Griffin after he’s done with Tito (if that fight happens) or a fight against Griffin’s “Ultimate Fighter 1″ finale cast mate Stephan Bonnar would be interesting too.

Yoshihiro Akiyama vs. Diego Sanchez – Akiyama looked terrific as a welterweight and might’ve found his home in the division. If Dan Hardy gets a fifth fight after four losses then I think Akiyama deserves something similar too; Sanchez brings it every single time and a fight between the two would be an absolute dog fight. Other solid matchups for Akiyama could be Dong Hyun Kim, Josh Neer and the loser of Pascal Krauss and John Hathaway. Four straight losses won’t get him anyone near the top but another fight with an established veteran is most likely. If Nick Diaz doesn’t get a length suspension that Akiyama/Diaz would be a wildly intriguing fight, too.

Frankie Edgar vs. Clay Guida – I can see Edgar going down to featherweight and getting someone like Diego Nunes, with a win getting him a title shot ala Kenny Florian, but if he stays at lightweight Guida makes sense. Give the two five rounds and a UFC on FX main event; that could make for an epic fight between the two and perhaps make a bigger star out of one or the both. The loser Diaz/Miller could be someone lined up for Frankie as could Melvin Gullard or Joe Lauzon.

Joe Lauzon vs. Sean Sherk – Lauzon just lost in devastating fashion but will probably get another tough fight. It’s too soon for Lauzon/Guillard 2 but Lauzon/Sherk kind of makes sense at this point. Sherk probably only has a couple fights left in his career but still has the pedigree of being a former champion to make this a good main card fight. Clay Guida could be another matchup for Lauzon as well as Efrain Escudero.

Steve Cantwell vs. Aaron Simpson – Both guys are right on that cusp of not being in the UFC for much longer if they continue on their current path. Cantwell needs to find that gear that seemed to put him on that cusp and Simpson’s age makes you think that an extended run towards the top is off the table. Cantwell vs. Okami, another loser on this card, could make sense as could Demien Maia.