Penick's Take
PENICK: Booking the next potential opponent for winners at UFC on Versus 6
Oct 3, 2011 - 11:00:19 PM PENICK: Booking the next potential opponent for winners at UFC on Versus 6

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

With another UFC event in the books it means several fighters have made a step forward in their respective UFC careers. For Saturday's winners, they'll be looking at either a lateral move in competition or another step up the ladder for their next fight in the UFC; so lets play Joes Silva for a bit and take a look at some of the possibilities opened by the results from the UFC's debut in Washington, D.C.

Main Card Winners

Dominick Cruz: The bantamweight division hasn't really been built up, and with a fairly lax group of top ranked fighters to date, UFC Bantamweight Champion Cruz is looking at a rematch for his next fight. The winner of Brian Bowles vs. Urijah Faber at UFC 139 next month is most likely to get the next shot at the Champ, meaning a third fight for Cruz against the only fighter to ever defeat him in Faber, or a second fight with the man whom he took the belt from in the WEC in Bowles. Until some new blood starts moving up the 135 lb. ranks, anything beyond that fight is murky at the moment.

Stefan Struve: Struve's losses to Junior dos Santos and Roy Nelson didn't severely affect his standing in the heavyweight division, but his knockout loss to Travis Browne took him out of a potential move to the thin ranks of the heavyweight division's upper tier. With the win over Barry, he defeated another fighter in the middle of the pack, and he's likely to stay in those ranks for his next fight. One potential matchup could be between the winner of UFC 136's Joey Beltran vs. UFC newcomer Stipe Miocic, though neither of them have much of a profile in the organization. The UFC doesn't often like to pit a fighter off a win against a fighter off a loss, but a fight with the loser of that event's Cheick Kongo vs. Matt Mitrione fight would work as well. In that vein, an outside possibility could be the returning Jon Olav Einemo, or even Mike Russow, who lost his fight at UFC 136 due to the removal of Dave Herman. Being in the middle of the pack leaves plenty of options for Struve and for the UFC.

Anthony "Rumble" Johnson: There's one opponent who makes perfect sense for Johnson after yet another impressive win, and that's Jake Ellenberger. Both fighters have just recently brought themselves into the ranks of the top ten in the UFC's welterweight division, and after impressive first round knockout wins for both of them, it's a fight that can propel the winner to a potential title-eliminator-type of fight. Outside of that, Johnson would probably like a rematch against Josh Koscheck, but that would be dependent on Koscheck accepting a second fight with "Rumble."

Matt Wiman: There's no shortage of potential opponents in the lightweight division for Wiman, but a couple of fighters that picked up wins recently would certainly make for interesting fights. The names at the top of the list would be Edson Barboza, Evan Dunham, and TUF 13 winner Tony Ferguson, who have each won fights over the last month and a half. Additionally, Nate Diaz would be another option after his impressive showing against Takanori Gomi.

Preliminary Card Winners

Yves Edwards and Paul Sass: I'd actually like to see these two face off against one another after their wins on Saturday. Edwards is a longtime veteran with a fairly well rounded skill set, while Sass continues to find ways to pick up submissions even when his opponents know that's all he's looking to do. This would be a good test for both fighters.

Mike Easton and Walel Watson: Here's another one where two fighters picking up wins on the same card could match up against one another. Easton has just a couple more fights under his belt than Watson, but Saturday's win over Byron Bloodworth was his first fight in almost two full years. Watson's a tough fighter with a good ground game and a nice height advantage over most at 135 lbs., and the two of them would make for a great challenge for the other.

T.J. Grant: Grant looked very good against Roller in his lightweight debut, and with a number of UFC fights already under his belt, he's likely to get a decent step up in his next fight. A couple of the opponents mentioned for Wiman could also be good fights for Grant, especially in someone like Dunham or Diaz. Additionally, Thiago Tavares is another solid fighter who has had an up and down career in the UFC to this point himself, and picked up a win over Spencer Fisher in his last fight.

Josh Neer: Neer looked good at welterweight against Keith Wisniewski on Saturday night after flaming out as a lightweight in his last UFC stint. A fight that could be really fun would be Neer against Lance Benoist, who made a successful debut on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 25 over Matt Riddle last month. Neer isn't going to be pushed up the ladder with any haste because of his record in the UFC thus far, but he's a longtime vet that could provide a stiff test for a potential up and comer in the division in Benoist. That's a fight I'd make next for both when both heal up from the damage they took in two very tough fights over the last couple of weeks.