Everyone loves to play fantasy matchmaker and there’s no better day to take on the challenge as the day after a major event. Here’s a selection of last night’s fights and where I think the fighters should go from here.
James Te Huna vs. Igor Pokrajac – Te Huna is a guy that they’re going to want to keep around but from the reports (I have not yet seen the fight) he got buzzed by Pokrajac in the second round. I’d think a move to a fight with Razak Al-Hassan is a fair step. It’s not really a progression from Pokrajac but I think it’s too soon for him to take that step up to the level of a Brian Stann or Steve Cantwell. Al-Hassan is 0-2 and doesn’t look like he has any business in the UFC so it’s probably sensible for him to be used as a “get me over” fight for a guy the promotion wants to protect for regional interests. As for Pokrajac? Next for him is a job search.
Chris Lytle vs. Brian Foster – Really great leg lock win for Lytle and for the first time since August of 2007 he has back-to-back wins. If Ben Saunders gets the win over Jake Ellenberger a fight between him and Lytle has fight of the night written all over it. The winner would also emerge as a fringe contender at welterweight. As for Foster, his job should be safe given that his style is very crowd friendly but he does need a win to stick around. If Amir Sadollah weren’t going to be tied up with Dong Hyun Kim that would be a good fight. As a matter of fact, pretty much every fighter who would be a good fight for Foster is tied up at the moment with almost all of the mid-level 170 pounders being booked between now and UFC 115.
Stephan Bonnar vs. Krzysztof Soszynski – Really there isn’t anything better for either guy than a rematch. They were putting on a good fight that would please more or less any crowd on any show they put it on. The inconclusive ending really makes for plenty of reason to throw them back on a card on Spike or Versus.
Two more individual fighters:
George Sotiropoulos – I’d be interested to see George move up to fight Sean Sherk (depending on the status of his injury). Sherk is basically “good Stevenson” and I’d be interested to see if Sotiropoulos can continue on with his good use of length and extremely high level floor game. Sotiropoulos is very good but he’s also 32 so you can’t waste too much time before seeing what he’s got.
Michael Bisping – Against dangerous strikers Bisping just looks so hesitant to fully engage. He spent the entire fight against Silva looking to pot shot and very rarely threw anything hard enough to make Silva think twice about coming in with his wide shots. The Kendall Grove/Mark Munoz winner would be a very nice fight for Bisping who needs to re-earn his spot fighting against the upper end of the middleweights.
Where is the rest of the card? Ryan Bader, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Cain Velasquez? Well, that’s what I’m tasking all of you with, dear Bloody Elbow community. Have some fun and share your thoughts on what the appropriate next step for everyone is.