UFC 155 may not have brought us action early on in the card, but what a way to close out the year 2012 for the UFC! Forty minutes worth of fighting brought fans to their feet and ushered the promotion into the New Year with a new champion and a large amount of momentum. While everyone on the roster was not able to get victories, the UFC matchmakers still have a number of ways to go with future matchups.
Junior dos Santos vs. the loser of Alistair Overeem vs. Antonio Silva
The aura around JDS was stripped away by one powerful right hand, and for 25 minutes we watched the champion the UFC sold as indestructible get picked apart by Cain Velasquez. Dos Santos made a pledge to be back in the hunt for his belt, and in the talent-deprived heavyweight division, that could happen soon. To start down that path he should face the loser of the fight between Alistair Overeem and Antonio Silva, set for February at UFC 156.
Velasquez put a beating on dos Santos that gave strikers throughout the heavyweight division a look at what may be the way to defeat the Brazilian. While getting to dos Santos’s chin is a difficult task, it opens up a strategy that may help Overeem come up with a way to defeat what would be his toughest challenge in a long time. Silva isn’t a big striker, but he could use his size and strength to take down his countryman, as Velasquez did multiple times throughout the contest. However, Junior is always going to be dangerous on the feet, so there will always be the possibility that any fighter he faces will get knocked unconscious.
These heavyweights could get paired together as a main card bout for an upcoming Pay per View or Fox card.
Joe Lauzon vs. Nate Diaz
Lauzon and Diaz have been on a path towards facing each other for a long time. We at MMA Ratings have called for them to face each other in the past, and now that they have both been defeated in marquee lightweight matchups, placing them in a marquee matchup against each other would create an exciting bout that would get fight fans talking the minute it is announced.
Lauzon and Diaz both use a swarming style of fighting and keep a blistering pace from start to finish. While Diaz would seem to hold the advantage both on the feet and on the mat, Lauzon has been the underdog before, and has been able to pull out a victory. Viewers would expect to see a lot of back and forth action right from the start, in a contest that has “Fight of the Year” written all over it. Lauzon-Diaz could be a strong featured fight on any of the UFC’s televised platforms.
The middleweight division was in a precarious position going into UFC 155. A number of competitors were emerging to contend for Anderson Silva’s title, but the champion was looking for a super fight, which would jam up the 185-pound division for an extended period of time. Tim Boetsch and Alan Belcher were two contenders that were pushing their way towards the top of that ladder — either through talking or through fighting — but after their performances in Las Vegas, they will both be removed from that list. Their next competition should come against each other at some point in 2013.
When Boetsch emerged as a potential contender after defeating Yushin Okami at UFC 144, Belcher began to target the “Barbarian” as an individual he would be willing to fight. While they were never matched against each other, Belcher’s barking did cause some people to look his way as a potential candidate for a title eliminator at some point in 2013. The winner of Belcher-Boetsch would still have an outside shot of earning a title opportunity in 2013 if additional circumstances fell their way. This would be a good bout to place into the main event of a Fuel card, or onto an FX PPV preliminary or Fox main card.
Chris Leben vs. Rousimar Palhares
Coming back from a year away from the sport, Chris Leben looked like most fighters do after such a long layoff. He wasn’t able to use his patented left hand to stop Derek Brunson, nor was he able to thwart his takedowns, so the fan favorite was hit with another setback to his career. While Leben is a perennial gatekeeper for the middleweight division, he should be placed in a matchup against Rousimar Palhares to create the closest thing to a “freak show” style fight that we’ll see in the current UFC.
Palhares and Leben are fan favorites because of the styles that they bring to the cage. Pitting Leben’s aggressive striking against Palhares’s dangerous submissions would capture fight fans’ attention simply because everyone would want to see the resulting carnage. Leben vs. Palhares should be booked for one of the UFC’s Fuel or FX platforms.
Bantamweight is becoming an interesting division, as a number of fighters are emerging as potential challengers for Renan Barao, and eventually, Dominick Cruz upon his return. Brad Pickett was unable to move up the rankings, so he should fight next against another man who has high expectations on his shoulders: Mike Easton.
Pickett is regarded as a versatile fighter who can mix up the way he wins bouts between knockouts and submissions. However, he didn’t look like he could do much against Eddie Wineland’s movement, and that will pose a problem against the top-ranked bantamweights on the UFC roster. Easton could be a problem for Pickett as well, as he has shown in his bouts to have great movement when needed. He pushes the pace from start to finish, and while he struggles with sticking to a game plan; he would be a tough test to pass for any fighter.
Pickett vs. Easton should be booked for a Fuel or FX card in 2013.
As January approaches, the mixed martial arts community seems excited with the direction the sport is headed. A number of big fights await fighters throughout the UFC roster, and the contests formulated here would be a great start.
