FACEBOOK TWITTER RSS APP PODCAST Opinion & Analysis : Rich Hansen's Take HANSEN: Moving On From Rio - Top Fights to Make After UFC 142 "Aldo vs. Mendes"

Jan 15, 2012 - 8:45:05 PM

By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist

If you don't own a percentage of the UFC, if you don't earn money based on the number of buys UFC 142 did on PPV, then it is readily apparent that UFC 142 was an unqualified smash.* UFC 142 displayed almost everything that fans of the sport love: technical brilliance, athleticism at its highest form, dramatic storylines, fantastic finishes, rabid fans, no Frank Shamrock on the microphone, and not one fight was hyped by a fighter making cheap knock off South Park parody videos.

* - Do you like how I qualified it immediately before calling it an unqualified success?  Time to buy a thesaurus, no?

We could spend all day looking back, and believe me, I'll be rewatching the hell out of this one, but that's not what we do in this space. In this space, we look forward. We all know what went down at UFC 142, or at least the 150,000 or so of us who saw it live, but we don't have any idea what's next for the participants in last night's PPV extraordinaire. So let's take a look at the key names from last night and see what the future may hold.

Jose Aldo: His next fight will be to defend his UFC Featherweight Title against the next #1 contender. See, that was simple. There's nothing to this gig.

Chad Mendes: Had Mark Hominick not just been booked (nonsensically) to fight someone named Eddie Yagin, I'd love to see Mendes take on Hominick (and yes, I know who Yagin is, thankyouverymuch). With Hominick out of the mix, it's difficult to find a perfect match for Mendes. The UFC prefers to match fighters coming off of losses against one another, but they might not be able to do so with Mendes. But if you take a look at the list of featherweights coming off of losses, there isn't a good match. However, Dennis Siver is making the drop to featherweight from lightweight soon, and that would be an intriguing clash of styles.

Vitor Belfort: Last night's submission victory over Anthony Johnson was the most impressive performance of his career at middleweight. While he may have wrecked Yoshihiro Akiyama, Akiyama is no Anthony Johnson. Belfort's still at or near the top of his game, and he is beloved by UFC fans worldwide. He won't be looking at a title shot yet, because the next title shot will be going to Chael Sonnen or Mark Munoz. 

Belfort needs to be put into a number one contender match on the same card that features Silva's next title shot. If Belfort is one half of that fight, the other half of that fight should be the winner of the January 28 fight between Michael Bisping and Demian Maia. Unfortunately, the fight will be against Wanderlei Silva, as the two will meet on that card after coaching The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil.

Anthony Johnson: Johnson has been cut by the UFC. It would seem his future is with Bellator, but at which weight class? I think he has enough ego to try 185 again. I would assume he will wind up in Bellator's season 7 middleweight tournament, angling for a title shot with Hector Lombard. Yummy.

Rousimar Palhares: I understand that Dan Miller is the best name on Palhares' list of victims. And I also understand that the two elite fighters he's fought have beaten him (Dan Henderson, Nate Marquardt). But since his loss to Marquardt, Palhares has ripped off three straight victories over mediocre competition. It's time to give him a bump up in competition. Two big talents come to mind for Toquinho; Yushin Okami (if he beats Tim Boetsch in February), and Alan Belcher, who hasn't fought since mid-September. Tell me Belcher versus Palhares wouldn't be fun, I dare you. Someone's either going to sleep, or screaming in agony at the end of that one.

Mike Massenzio: Who's the fifth best middleweight in the MFC? Whoever that is, that's your guy.

Erick Silva: Despite his smashing of Carlos Prater which resulted in a DQ loss, I see no need to see a rematch. Well, that little sadist streak that sits in the dark place of my soul wants to see it again, but that's the part of me that tries to get me arrested when I have too much to drink the night before UFC on Fox in Chicago. Keeping the sadist in me repressed, Silva's "loss" to Prater is going ot be treated much the same as Jon Jones' "loss" to Matt Hamill, as a victory. It's time for a step up, how about Mike Pyle in Sao Paulo this June? Pyle, having defeated a Brazilian in Rio will get more than the typical heat if he fights again in Brazil against another Brazilian. Makes all the sense in the world to me.

Edson Barboza: Here's a guy with whom you can't go wrong. He can face the winner of Joe Lauzon versus Anthony Pettis. Imagine Barboza's spinning wheel kick versus Pettis' Showtime kick. Stop drooling. You could book Barboza versus Nathan Diaz. You could do Barboza versus the winner of Friday night's main event fight between Melvin Guillard and Jim Miller. Any of those fights could even realistically be number one contender fights. Barboza is in that territory, the famed 'mix.' He's that good, he's that hot, and he finally has a KO to put on his highlight reel.

Here's how I would book, and predict, the entire division. I think Jim Miller is going to defeat Melvin Guillard. I think Pettis is going to beat Lauzon. I think Henderson is going to win the title from Edgar. I think the UFC is going to make Pettis versus Henderson; not necessarily because Pettis deserves it, but because they would be wise to strike while the iron is hot, and Henderson versus Pettis 2 is a very sellable fight. I also don't think the UFC wants Miller to get anywhere near a title shot.

So if all of that plays out in that manner, then Nate Diaz versus Edson Barboza has to happen, with the winner getting a title shot versus Pettis or Henderson in the fall of 2012.


Follow me on Twitter @MMATorchRich. 

Don't ask so many questions, just do it already.

I don't have to explain myself, just do it.

Because I said so, that's why.

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