Rich Hansen's Take
HANSEN: Moving on From Japan - Top Fights to Make After UFC 144 "Edgar vs. Henderson"
Feb 26, 2012 - 11:15:14 PM HANSEN: Moving on From Japan - Top Fights to Make After UFC 144 "Edgar vs. Henderson"

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist

Last night, the UFC returned to Japan for the first time since December, 2000 for UFC 29, and they gave The Land of the Rising Sun the best UFC event of all time. Five days from now the UFC will be putting on yet another show in the eastern hemisphere, this time in Sydney Australis for UFC on FX: Alves vs. Kampmann. That means that we don't have much time left to reflect on the epic UFC 144 card before we have to look forward to Friday night's FX show.

Fortunately for those of us who want to bask in the afterglow of the greatness that was UFC 144, there will be an amazing forty-three day gap between the FX show and UFC on Fuel TV: Nogueira vs. Gustafsson event on April 14. As a result of the quirky schedule, we'll have plenty of down time to reflect yet again. But while UFC 144 is fresh in our mind, and before we shift our focus to Alves and Kampmann, let's speculate on what's next for some of the players from UFC 144, shall we?

Benson Henderson: Henderson did it. He took home the UFC title, making him the first WEC Champion to become an undisputed UFC Champion in one of the UFC's previously established weight classes. His next fight is going to e a rematch; either an immediate rematch with Frankie Edgar, or a delayed rematch with Anthony Pettis.

The case for Edgar is this: Edgar beat a hall-of-famer in B.J. Penn to win the title, and then had to "prove it" if you will by rematching him. Edgar went out and dominated Penn the second time around. He then fought the undefeated Gray Maynard to a draw, and then had to rematch Maynard. And then after dropping the title to Henderson in a very close decision and a very good fight, how can he rightfully not be granted an immediate rematch? Edgar successfully defended his title three times, something that only Penn had ever done. Admittedly, one of those defenses was a draw, but the fact remains that Frank Edgar's reign was the stuff of legends.

The case for Pettis is a little more complex, or maybe a little more simple. Complex in that he's on only a two fight win streak, with one of those wins being an ugly split decision over Jeremy Stephens. And it was less than nine months ago that Clay Guida defeated Pettis in Pettis' UFC debut. But you cannot in good conscience make a case for Guida ahead of Pettis, because Guida's last fight was in fact a loss to... Ben Henderson. One could also make the case that Nate Diaz, Jim Miller, Gray Maynard, and Frankie Edgar, Gilbert Melendez, and potential free agent Eddie Alvarez have more deserving resume's than does Pettis.

Or you could make it really simple. Pettis beat Henderson in a five round title fight a mere fourteen months ago. If that doesn't motivate both men, I don't know what would. My choice for Henderson's next fight is in fact Anthony Pettis.

Frankie Edgar: So where does that leave Frankie Edgar? Up sh** creek without a paddle, frankly. Uncle Dana has made it pretty clear, in his own muddy fashion of course, that he thinks Pettis is getting the shot at Henderson (it's like he knows what I'm thinking before I write it, and then claims my ideas as his own. BASTARD), and that Edgar should leave the lightweight division after coming off the longest title reign in UFC lightweight history. Edgar likely wants to stay at 155 (wouldn't you?), so let's leave Aldo out of the mix here. Oh God, now Dana has me saying, "In the mix," too. Keeping in mind that Melendez and Alvarez are in other organizations (for now), Pettis and Henderson are likely to face each other, Diaz and Miller are fighting on Fox in May, and Edgar deserves a high ranked opponent, there are only two candidates.

Gray Maynard. Clay Guida. That's it. And since I don't think anyone is hankering to see Edgar vs. Maynard 4 just yet (hankering? Who says hankering?), and since Edgar vs. Guida could be the most active fight of all time, Clay Guida is the fight I want next. It's kind of amazing that these guys have never faced off, considering how long they've been in the same division of the same promotion, and have always been at about the same level.

Ryan Bader: Redemption, thy name is Ryan Bader. Career renaissance, they name too is Ryan Bader. While Bader might never fully live down the embarrassment of being the only guy to lose to Tito Ortiz since 1957, Bader's done the best he can to put that loss in his past. He looked great against Jason Brilz, and then fought the smartest fight of his career last night against Quinton Jackson. Believe it or not, he's back in the top ten of the division. While that might say more about the lack of depth at 205, the fact remains, he's there.

There happen to be a lot of top guys at 205 who are looking for opponents. Lyoto Machida, Forrest Griffin, Shogun, Dan Henderson, Rich Franklin, Phil Davis, and Stephan Bonnar come to mind. But I'm going to go off the board and hope to see him face Thiago Silva, assuming Silva returns to action with a victory over Igor Pokrajac on May 15. I realize that's a long time for Bader to sit, but go with me here. 1.)  That fight would be awesome. 2.)  Silva hasn't fought in more than a year, he's going to want a second fight as soon as possible. That could wind up on Fox in LA on the first weekend of August.

Quinton Jackson: I've seen several people, all of whom I respect, propose Shogun vs. Rampage. Excuse me, what exactly has Rampage done to deserve that fight? If you're a Rampage critic (AKA, a realist), you'll realize he's one bad decision against Lyoto Machida from having lost four of his last five fights, so he doesn't deserve to fight a guy as high as Shogun. And if you're a Rampage fan (God help you), you shouldn't want to see him get his ass handed to him by Shogun yet again.

That said, Rampage Jackson is still a draw (except at the box office), so he can't be wasted against some debuting Croatian or Bulgarian dude no one outside of Leland Roling has ever heard of. So, dipping back into the Ryan Bader pool of candidates (that's my lazy way of telling you to scroll north about two paragraphs. Although, this explanation took WAY longer to type than re-typing the list. Oh well. Laziness never pays off, but it's so much fun...), I want him to face off against the biggest name that won't actually affect the title hunt. So we need a big name, but irrelevant as well.

Using that artificial constraint, I have culled the list down to Davis, Franklin, Bonnar, and Griffin. Griffin is likely to face Ortiz this summer, so cast him aside. I say give him Rich Franklin, and let Davis fight Bonnar. And if Franklin isn't ready to return, then go with Jackson vs. Davis.

Jake Shields: Easiest call on the list. B.J. Penn, in Hawaii. Jake Shields had his first career breakthrough in Hawaii, defeating Yushin Okami and Carlos Condit in the same night at Rumble on the Rock 9 in Honolulu. B.J. Penn, you might not know, is from Hawaii. No, really. And he seems to have some bad blood with Cesar Gracie's guys right now. And check this sh** out, man. Jake Shields is, gasp, one of Cesar Gracie's guys. This is fun!

Yoshihiro Akiyama: I doubt he'd take Mark Pavelich's phone call, so he's probably headed for OneFC. A couple wins in Singapore could lead to one last run at 170 in the UFC.

Tim Boetsch: I think Boetsch showed the entire division that you can't take a moment to relax if you're locked in a cage with The Barbarian. His third round was the wonderfullest thing ever. Finally, we saw a guy clearly down two rounds to none come out and unleash hell in the third. There's nothing that enrages me more than a guy being down 20-18 and fighting the third round as if it's a 19 round fight, and he has plenty of time. That said, the point of this exercise is to pair Boetsch with a logical next opponent.

To me, Boetsch is borderline top-10. Right now he's the 185 pound Johny Hendricks. Boetsch just beat Okami, who fought forever to get a title shot, lost the title shot in brutal fashion, was never going to get another title shot, yet sat in the top three of everyone's rankings. Just like Jon Fitch, other than the date of Fitch's title shot relative to Okami. I'm not convinced that Hendricks is better than Fitch exactly, just like I'm not sure Boetsch is better than Okami, exactly. Point being, both Boetsch and Hendricks need a couple more victories to get, wait for it, in the mix.

I've always liked Ed Herman. For some reason, I found his whining about Tito Ortiz not picking him during season three of TUF to be fantastic. Herman's made quite a career for himself, despite having been saddled with Ken Shamrock as a coach for six weeks. Herman's career trajectory is on the rise, and the winner of a hypothetical Herman-Boetsch fight would have a legit claim at top-10 status.

Yushin Okami: The best thing for him would be to shift over to Strikeforce to fight tim Kennedy and Luke Rockhold, but while this is in fact fantasy booking, it ain't that big a fantasy, ya dig? Demian Maia is in a similar spot to Okami, so let them fight it out. One maintains relevance, the other loses any hope at future relevance. It's a dog eat dog world.

Mark Hunt: YES!  There were so many moments that had me out of my chair, but other than Pettis, this was my favorite. If you don't love everything about Mark Hunt, then you and I can never fall in love, gentle reader. I know he's not a title contender, but he's one win away from top-10 HW status. A win over the world's slowest man, UFC debutant Antonio Silva would put him squarely, here we go again, "in the mix." This is a legit 50-50 fight, if you are able to wrap your brain around what Mark Hunt has done since losing to Sean McCorkle in his UFC debut. Silva is slow enough to be hit by a corpse, and Hunt, naturally, has the power to take advantage. But Silva, naturally, has the ability to get the fight down and choke Hunt unconscious.

I also wouldn't mind a fight against Shane Carwin, or a fight against the best chin in the sport, one Roy Nelson.

Cheick Kongo: If Roy Nelson doesn't get Hunt, then he gets Kongo in a loser fights Fedor in Japan on New Year's Eve fight. Tell me that either guy wouldn't be at worst a pick 'em against Fedor.

Hatsu Hioki: Hioki is self-aware enough to say freely that he needs more UFC time before getting a title shot. Wise man. A win over Erik Koch would catapult either man into the slot behind the winner of May's fight between The Diamond and The Korean Zombie. And if you need names as opposed to nicknames, I don't know what to tell ya, dude.

Bart Palaszewski: Massive power is a wonderful thing. But if you're unable to land, you'd better have a solid plan B. If the UFC wants to build Bartimus back up, they put him in against a striker, and may the first to tap a chin win. Ross Pearson is the fight I want to see, but since he's coming off of a win, how about Mark Hominick?. This is fun, wheeeeeeeee.

Joe Lauzon:  Man. Imagine having a full training camp to face Anthony Pettis. You hear the horn to start the fight. You look up, and he's fighting southpaw? Wait a minute, that's not, um, ow, that really hurt. And you're unconscious having lost yet another chance to break through the glass ceiling. Well, that's what happened to Joe Lauzon. His win over Melcin Guillard might have elevated the height of his own glass ceiling a wee bit, but Pettis made it known that the glass ceiling hovering over Lauzon's skull is no easier to break through now than it ever was before.

Once a good auto body shop repairs the dent that Pettis left in the side of Lauzon's cranium, how about a rebound fight against Donald Cerrone? Oh, he's fighting Yves Edwards (?!?!?!) already? Ok, how about George Sotiropoulos? Oh, you don't want to see a rematch?  Then that rules out Melvin Guillard too. Screw it.  Rafael dos Anjos.

QUICK HITTERS

Takanori Gomi – George Sotiropoulos

Vaughan Lee – Alex Caceres

Riki Fukuda – Cung Le (I've been calling for this since Le lost to Wanderlei Silva. If you saw Fukuda fight last night, now you know why I'd like to see Fukuda vs. Le)

Chris Cariaso – Some Flyweight from Thailand that no one but Dave Walsh has ever heard of.

Takeya Mizugaki – Brad Pickett (That rocks)

Follow me on Twitter @MMATorchRich. Insert snarky here.