Rich Hansen's Take
HANSEN: Fights to Make Following UFC 153 "Silva vs. Bonnar"
Oct 14, 2012 - 1:30:59 PM HANSEN: Fights to Make Following UFC 153 "Silva vs. Bonnar"

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By Rich Hansen, MMA Torch Columnist

It was fun, OK? But let's not go out and consider UFC 153 to be meaningful in the overall scheme of things here. Anderson Silva toyed with Stephan Bonnar, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira dispatched of a journeyman that Bjorn Rebney will likely pass upon in the coming weeks, and Glover Teixeira (with the help of Mario Yamasaki) damn near killed Fabio Maldanado. Those were your top three fights on the PPV.

Demian Maia, Jon Fitch, and Phil Davis each managed to reassert themselves into the top-tens of their respective divisions, but none of the three are within less than three more wins of getting title shots. It was fantastic to see Maia get back to what got him here. It's great to see Fitch use all the tools in his arsenal. It was important for Phil Davis to let his critics know that losing to Rashad Evans does not the end of a career make.

But other than that nothing of note really went down last night. However, some clarity has been shed upon several weight classes, and there are some good (and meaningful) fights to be made for some of the fighters who were featured at UFC 153. Let's take a look, shall we?

Anderson Silva: He's either going to fight GSP, Chris Weidman or Tim Boetsch, or Jon Jones. He wants to fight GSP because of the intriguing combination of money that fight would draw along with the massive size advantage he'd have over the Canadian. He doesn't want Weidman or Boetch because of the combination of a difficult opponent and the comparative lack of Q-rating possessed by either Weidman or Boetsch. And he doesn't want Jones despite the money it would draw because he's decided his legacy wouldn't afford the hit that would occur if he were to lose to Jones. That said, Dana White is willing to make his future great great grandchildren from a Jones fight, and money talks. I hope to see a fight between Anderson Silva and Jon Jones about six months from now (even though deep down I don't think it will happen).


Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira: Whilst Nogueira told Ariel Helwani that he wants a top-ten opponent next, he also has no designs on the title because he won't fight Junior dos Santos. Also, I think Nogueira has a pretty accurate sense of who he is and what he has left at this point in his career. If he wants a top-ten guy, he's deserved the right to get one, or at least one close to the top ten. But it just shouldn't be one who might be a young up and comer type, ya dig? Ben Rothwell comes to mind, but Nogueira might not be interested in that one. A trilogy fight with Josh Barnett would be perfect, but I doubt Barnett's ever going to make his way back into the UFC. So in my world, that leaves a fight with fellow former-Pride fighter Mark Hunt.


Glover Teixeira: Two ways to look at Teixeira now: 1.) He's a monster who will kill families and destroy civilizations that dare try to stop him. 2.) Kyle Kingsbury? Fabio Maldanado? Sister, please. Now, the truth lies somewhere between Godzilla and Sister Please, so let's get him in the cage with a contender, or at least a name, ASAP. Rashad Evans turned down a fight with Teixeira, due to circumstances, but going from Maldanado to Evans is akin to going from Gabourey Sidibe to Kate Beckinsale, no? Maybe a fight with the winner of December's bout between Alexander Gustafsson and Shogun Rua? Yeah, maybe. But the UFC wanted to send Rampage Jackson out with a loss to Glover once before, and I don't think that thought process has changed. So I don't see any reason why Teixeira would face off against anyone other than Quinton Jackson his next time out.


Jon Fitch, Demian Maia: I'm lumping these guys together because Maia vs. Fitch is a fight that I think needs to happen. And even if Joe Silva feels otherwise, a candidate to fight Fitch is a candidate to fight Maia, and vice versa. If GSP defeats Carlos Condit and then fights Anderson Silva next, the UFC is going to have an extreme backlog of contenders at 170 before GSP is ready to defend his title again. The UFC might be willing to have one of these former contenders re-emerge, but they don't need (want?) both to be in the mix. So this would be a logical contender for an in-the-mix-eliminator. If Maia-Fitch doesn't happen, I could see either guy fighting Nick Diaz, the winner of Rory MacDonald vs. B.J. Penn, Mike Pierce, or Siyar Bahadurzada could make for intriguing fights for Fitch or for Maia.


Phil Davis: After Phil Davis' career is over, he's going to look back at 2012 as an entire wasted year. To begin the year he was overmatched by the second best fighter in the division, which led people to forget that Davis is, you know, really really good at his job. Then he was forced to fight a pudgy nobody on Fuel TV (yes, I know Prado is good, I'm talking perceptions here), and since he went all Koschecky on the dude, he had to go down to Brazil to finally finish off his overmatched opponent. In short, Davis was both the hammer and the nail, and any improvements he's managed to his overall game this year will have come from the gym, not from the cage. I think the UFC sees Davis as a future contender, but it might be a couple of years until Davis is ready. So it seems likely to me that they want to keep him busy, with someone that actually has proven he belongs in the UFC. So maybe a fight with Jimi Manuwa could be in his future. Vinny Magalhaes mentioned on Twitter last night that he'd take a fight with Phil Davis; that makes some sense as well. I think a fight with Ryan Jimmo is the way to go. The goal is to keep Jimmo in a holding pattern, but if he loses while in the holding pattern then he's replaced by the guy who beats him. Easy peasy.


Gleison Tibau: Tibau's fantastic fight is going to be overlooked, so I want to make sure to give him a little extra attention here. Tibau, and this is a compliment here, is the best gatekeeper in UFC history. But he's young enough that there's still a slim chance of him breaking through to the top-10 of the division. Maybe. But for now, I want to see him up against guys who have designs of their own on top-10 status. Guys like Tim Means, Matt Wiman and Jacob Volkmann come to mind. However, I think a fight between Tibau and Michael Johnson fits the bill and has the potential to be a real barn burner.


Other Fights To Make:

Rony Jason vs. Diego Brandao

Erick Silva vs. Thiago Alves (schwing!)

Rick Story vs. Aaron Simpson

Dave Herman vs. Eric Prindle (jiu-jitsu doesn't work on Herman, so let's see if a good cup-check does)

Follow me on Twitter @MMATorchRich