In a perfect world UFC Fight Night 37 would’ve been a terrific Fox Sports 1 card, something to serve as the antithesis of the decision heavy cards of 2014 so far. With only nine fights, and four decisions, the five finishes were the most on a UFC card in 2014 so far. For those who watched it on Fightpass it might’ve been one of the better events for the medium so far.
Now it’s time to play Joe Silva and figure out who goes where after the event at the O2 Arena in London for the most intriguing fighters off this card.
Winners
Alexander Gustafsson vs. Jon Jones – Gustafsson arguably won the first fight and a thrashing of a fighter not quite ready for prime time was the perfect rebound fight. It got Gustafsson into the win column, nabbed him an extra $100,000 and gives the UFC an event to air on a UFC Reloaded between now and the rematch. No one else makes sense at this point for Gustafsson; he nearly won the first fight and got the sort of dominant rebound win to put him in prime position for the big money rematch.
Ilir Latifi vs. the winner of Nikita Krylov vs. Ovince St. Preux – What a difference an actual fight camp makes, no? Latifi looked superb with a D’arce neck crank choke that will be in the running for submission of the year when all is said and done. Latifi might’ve given Mousasi a run for his money, at least for a round, if he’d been able to do more than just make an insane weight cut to 205. Diabate was on his way out, though, but this was a domination by Latifi nonetheless. The winner of Krylov/OSP will be a fighter in a similar spot, young in their UFC career and needing to fight someone in a similar spot. The winner of Gian Villante/Fabio Maldonado could be here as could the winner of Francimar Barrasso/Hans Stringer. Latifi is in a nice spot in that the loss to Mousasi isn’t going to be held against him for a while because it was on insanely short notice and he didn’t get blown out of the water. Thus it’s really like he’s 1-0 and not 1-1; he’s going to get a nice prospect’s development after reversing course.
Michael Johnson vs. the winner of Bobby Green/Jim Miller – Johnson is going to get a Top 10 ranking after notching a decision over Melvin Guillard. Inside the cage he looks like a Top 10 caliber fighter and will get someone in the Top 10 next. Green/Miller is going to be soon and either against Johnson will be interesting. The winner of Edson Barbosa vs. Donald Cerrone will be in the same spot as Johnson, as well. The division is in a bit of stasis right now because Melendez/Pettis effectively keeps the division on hold for the next nine months or so with TUF and then their title fight. Thus Johnson needs to wait for some fights between top guys to happen so he can get someone appropriate next. He’s effectively two fights or so from a title shot and unfortunately most of the top of the division are in camp. His best bet is to have an injury to someone of note happen and jump in on short notice again or wait until a couple fights in the division have happened to get him a next opponent.
Gunnar Nelson vs. the winner of Rick Story/Kelvin Gastelum – Nelson looked ready to take on someone near the fringes of the Top 10 on Saturday. Renzo Gracie has been hyping Nelson as this wunderkid for years and for the first time in a long time the hype is warranted. Nelson looked ready to make that next leap to a Top 10 caliber opponent and the winner of Gastelum/Story will be there. I could see someone like Pascal Krauss or the winner of Kyle Noke/Patrick Cote being here as well. Nelson is such an interesting matchup and fighter for a lot of guys on that tier of fighters a win away from breaking into the bottom tier of the Top 10-15 of the division.
Luke Barnatt vs. the winner of CB Dollaway/Cezar Mutante – If you’d have said to me that Barnatt would be the first guy from that stacked cast of TUF 17 to get three wins, and three finishes, I’d have been doubtful. He looked like a good talent on the show but not a great one. He’s steadfastly improved since those six weeks in the TUF house and now looks like he should get someone more relevant. The winner of Mutante/Dollaway will be in that same spot and would make for a fun and perhaps wild fight. The winner of Trevor Smith/Thales Leites could make sense for the “Big Slow” as well. Barnatt needs someone who has a name and is tough but beatable; he’s gotten three wins so far and his ceiling is coming into focus. He may not be a great athlete, and probably won’t be a Top 5 opponent, but he reminds me a lot of Matt Brown. He’s a vicious finisher who’ll never be accused of not maximizing his ability. I could see him getting to that six win in a row mark and getting someone like Michael Bisping or Tim Kennedy for a title shot.
Brad Pickett vs. Ian McCall – Pickett has history with Demetrious Johnson, as he holds a victory over him, but a pedestrian victory over someone like Neil Seery doesn’t earn you a title shot. Ali Bagautinov is the next logical candidate but Pickett shouldn’t be more than one more win away from a title shot of his own. McCall was his scheduled opponent in Britain and another stab at the apple makes sense. John Lineker would make for a nice spot in here, as well, and I wouldn’t be shocked if Louis Gaudinot wasn’t slotted in here as a “Pickett wins and he’s in against Mighty Mouse” type of fight on the undercard of the next flyweight title defense. Pickett has a fan friendly style but this version of Demetrious Johnson is going to run roughshod over him. Seery is a good fighter but for someone favored on such profound terms as Pickett was this was … a much closer fight than it was supposed to be.
Losers
Jimi Manuwa vs. the loser of Phil Davis vs. Anthony “Rumble” Johnson – The winner of Johnson/Davis has a date with Daniel Cormier in a title eliminator. The loser should get the other man in the losers’ bracket. Ryan Bader could be in this slot, as well. Manuwa is on the wrong side of 30 but he’s a good enough fighter in the division to still matter for another fight or two.
Melvin Guillard vs. Erik Koch – Guillard went from being a win away from a title shot a couple years ago to being on the fringes of the Top 15, trying to get back in. He has such precocious talent that it looks like he’s going to wind up being one of those great talents who never put it together completely. Koch was an elite level fighter a weight class below and Guillard would bring out a great fight out of him. Guillard is right on the cusp of being a gatekeeper to the Top 10 with how he’s fought in his last four fights or so. He’ll look elite one minute and then … not. I think this is going to be his pattern, like what happened to Miguel Torres at the end. Unless something changes I think we may have seen the best of the “Young Assassin” and he’s now going to start his decline.
Phil Harris vs. the loser of Chris Cariaso vs. Louis Smolka – Harris is 1-3 in the UFC and there’s a very strong chance this was his last fight in the UFC. With the lack of flyweights I could see him sticking around for one more fight, if only to see if he can rebound. Flyweight is so shallow that he could stick around longer because there isn’t anyone out there coming in to grab his spot anytime soon.
Neil Seery vs. the loser of Scott Jorgensen/Jussier Formiga – Seery had insane odds stacked against him and gave Brad Pickett the fight of his life. With a full camp you could make the argument that he might’ve won that fight. I’d like to see if he can replicate what Latifi did and show up a completely different fighter for a second go around in the UFC, mainly being able to train for a full camp leading up to a fight. The loser of Formiga/Jorgensen will be in dire straits, looking to keep a job, and Seery is out with another loss as well.
