Rich Hansen's Take
HANSEN: Moving on From Controversy - Fights to Make After UFC 150 (and UFC on Fox 4)
Aug 12, 2012 - 10:05:50 PM HANSEN: Moving on From Controversy - Fights to Make After UFC 150 (and UFC on Fox 4)

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By: Rich Hansen, MMATorch Columnist

I still don't exactly know how I feel about last night's card, what with the juxtaposition of several nice finishes, one bad fight, and one really awful decision in the main event of the evening. With Jon Jones versus Dan Henderson less than three weeks away, I think I'll be perfectly content to pretend UFC 150 never happened, and will just stick with my feelings of ambivalence until they evaporate into a distant memory.

But, and stop me if you know where this is going, before we let UFC 150 fade into memory, there's certainly nothing wrong with looking back at the fighters and their performances to figure out what fights could happen next. Of course, we already know that Benson Henderson is going to be fighting Nathan Diaz for the UFC Lightweight Title, and Donald Cerrone is going to be fighting Anthony Pettis for the WEC Lightweight Title (Clay who? Never heard of him. Don't mess with my narrative!). However, there are plenty of other compelling, logical, and boring as s*** (I'm looking towards San Francisco) fights that we can expect, hope, or dread (San Francisco...) to see moving forward.

Frankie Edgar (Lightweight): If Edgar stays at 155, his options are limited. He deserves an elite opponent, but Diaz, Pettis, and Cerrone are booked. No one is clamoring for a fourth Maynard fight. I don't think one person who follows the UFC is looking for Frankie Edgar to fight in any rematches for at least the next 42 years. Clay Guida makes sense, but I've got different plans for him later in this piece (not to mention that he might be dropping to 145). I say bring on Frankie Edgar vs. Joe Lauzon next. Lauzon is coming off of a legitimate fight of the year contender that was seen my millions of people on Fox. Both Edgar and Lauzon know how to have entertaining scraps. Lauzon is a fresh opponent for Edgar, and Edgar is a real chance for Lauzon to break through the glass ceiling.

Frankie Edgar (Featherweight): Of course, Edgar might start fighting at featherweight, where he might only be one fight away from a shot at Erik Koch's UFC Featherweight Title. If Edgar is going to be in a title eliminator at 145, that severely curtails the pool of opponents who would make sense for him. I don't think the UFC would want Edgar to knock off a young contender in a division lacking of star power, how about Frankie Edgar vs. Dennis Siver, providing Siver defeats Eddie Yagin on September 1. Siver's kickboxing prowess and style could force Edgar to take the fight to the mat.

Melvin Guillard: Well, I think it's safe to say Guillard's as far away from a title shot as he was after his infamous meltdowns against Rich Clementi and Joe Stevenson (tried to attack Clementi after getting choked out; tested positive for coke after the Stevenson fight). That said, Guillard is still in the middle of the pack, has name recognition, and always has exciting fights (sans the Jeremy Stephens fight). Two fights come to mind, Gleison Tibau and Clay Guida. Let's kepe up the Jackson vs. Blackzillians theme and go with Melvin Guillard vs. Clay Guida next.

Jake Shields: So as to keep you from turning on me in the middle of this piece, I won't go too long on Shields. I still consider myself a Shields fan, but in five UFC fights he has had a grand total of zero highlights to put on his highlight reel. So we can either book him against fireworks, or we can be cruel and book him in a fight guaranteed to feature lots of clinching and top control. Even though I think Shields' reputation is beyond salvage (I mean, he's the only guy in the UFC who has turned heel based solely on his fighting style), he's too good at what he does to cast aside. Give me the potential for fireworks next. Assuming Rich Franklin defeats Cung Le in November, let's set up Jake Shields and Rich Franklin sometime in March.

Yushin Okami: Before proving absolutely nothing in defeating Buddy Roberts, in what was the most meaningless fight I've ever seen a top 10 fighter have to take, Yushin Okami was supposed to fight against Rousimar Palhares at UFC 150. So let's pretend the Roberts fight never happened and do Yushin Okami vs. Rousimar Palhares again. In a perfect world, Palhares would be ready to fight in Macau this November.

Max Holloway: He's 20. Twenty damn years young. He can't go to his own afterparty, because Chuck E. Cheese was closed by the time he showered up. He's the youngest fighter in the UFC, and has all the time in the world. He doesn't need to avenge his loss to Dustin Poirier, he isn't in the mix, he shouldn't be fighting anyone at the top of the division. There's nothing wrong with him fighting against someone who is in the middle of the pack, because at this point Holloway can easily rebound from a couple more losses. Of course, it'd be best if any losses are separated by a few consecutive wins.

Dennis Bermudez: Since I rarely watch The Ultimate Fighter (I'm busy that night of the week, whichever night it might be), I don't know as much about Bermudez as a lot of people. I do know the guy has a high ceiling, and should be tested by someone who is at his level (which Tommy Hayden most certainly is not). I say we make a Max Holloway vs. Dennis Bermudez fight and see which guy is ready for a push.

Nik Lentz: The pride of Eden Prairie ex-pats everywhere, Lentz dropped down to 145 and looked great against Eiji Mitsuoka. So yeah, the last two words of that sentence brought me back down to earth a little. Lentz has been a consistent winner in the UFC's lightweight division, but hasn't been able to douse himself in enough tomato juice to cover up the stench from his exceedingly dull fight with Andre Winner at UFC 118. Guess what? It's time to get the hell over it. To give you an idea of how long ago that was, B.J. Penn fought Frankie Edgar for the second time later on the UFC 118 card. Lentz is 6-2-1 (1 NC) in the UFC, and has had highly entertaining fights against Waylon Lowe, Charles Oliveira, Evan Dunham, and Eiji Mitsuoka. He's way too good of a fighter to be buried on the freaking Facebook prelims. There's no way to explain him being buried underneath Camus-Pague, Perez-Stone, and Kuiper-Hamman. Since Lentz is new in the division, and a lot of guys at his level are available, it's next to impossible to screw up his next fight. Fights with the winner of Jason Young-Robert Peralta, Manvel Gamburyan, Hacran Dias, Mike Brown, the winner of Eddie Yagin-Mark Hominick, Rani Yahya, or Nam Phan all would be quality fights. Let's go Nik Lentz vs. Mike Brown and see how he handles a real veteran. If for no other reason than while I like Lentz, I can't decide, and I don't want to do 2,000 words on Nik Lentz. And no, Jason Amadi, I'm not opening the door for you to challenge me to do so.

Other fights to make

Justin Lawrence vs. Cody McKenzie

Michael Kuiper vs. Chris Camozzi

Jared Hamman vs. Buddy Roberts

Erik Perez vs. Francisco Rivera

Ken Stone vs. Vaughan Lee

Chico Camus vs. Alex Caceres


Fights To Make After UFC On Fox 4

Some of you may have noticed I bailed on doing this column after the Fox show last week. Writer's block, it's a bitch. So, here's a quick rundown of what I want to see coming out of that show.

Lyoto Machida vs. Jon Jones for the UFC Light Heavyweight title: Whether or not I think it makes sense, it's going to happen.

Shogun Rua vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira: Since I think they're going to pit Alexander Gustafsson against Rashad Evans, there's nothing wrong with having Nogueira coach against Shogun on TUF Brazil 2, and then having them rematch their 2005 Fight of the Year.

Joe Lauzon vs. Frankie Edgar: Needless to say I wasn't writing up this fight a week ago, but things change. Before Going with Edgar I was leaning towards Lauzon vs. Khabib Nurmagomedov.

Mike Swick vs. Matt Riddle or Thiago Alves: Swick looked really good in spurts, but when he wasn't looking really good, he was looking really bad. I want to see him fight Riddle, to let him continue to work the rust out. Plus, Riddle is an incremental step up from DaMarques Johnson. But if the UFC decides to strike while the iron is hot, they might go with Alves.

Nam Phan vs. Rani Yahya: Yahya will not under any circumstance be baited into playing Phan's game. This will be a good test to see if Phan can keep a fight against a very determined ground fighter standing.

John Moraga vs. Ian McCall was going to happen on the Fox show before anyone knew who Moraga was. Now we know. Now we want to see the McCall fight.

Brandon Vera vs. Ryan Bader: Vera is being praised for losing to Shogun in the manner in which he lost; Bader is being savaged for losing to Machida in the manner in which he lost. Personally, I think they both lost, and I'd rather win shitty than lose with rainbows and puppy dogs and all osrts of pretty birdies tweeting overhead.

Jamie Varner vs. Takanori Gomi would be a f***ing war. Sometimes I just want to see concussions, and then drink and scream at my television while I see them happen.


Follow me on Twitter @MMATorchRich.