UFC 153 is in the books and the future looks pretty bright for a few guys. Things aren’t as rosy for a few others, but it’s unlikely that any of the twelve main card fighters are going to be released and they all got paid, so they can’t complain that much. As usual, yours truly is here to provide some insight on what might be next for some of these guys – and a few of the possible fights are pretty compelling.
Anderson Silva – Dana White is pushing the hell out of a bout with Jon Jones, stating that once Silva sees the amount of money offered, he’ll take the bout. Silva says that’s not happening, and wants to fight Georges St. Pierre instead (assuming GSP beats Carlos Condit next month). One thing he definitely won’t be doing is defending his title against Chris Weidman, according to what he had to say at the post-fight press conference last night. What’s most likely? GSP. What would the fans like to see most? Jones, probably.
Stephan Bonnar – Retirement. Or if Forrest Griffin loses to Chael Sonnen at UFC 155, let the two men finish their trilogy and be done with it. Bonnar can go out in a better situation that way, even if he loses again.
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira – He didn’t look absolutely amazing, but he got the job done. They could go back to a bout with Cheick Kongo which was originally scheduled for UFC 149. Or if Josh Barnett does indeed make his way over to the UFC, let’s see the third fight between them.
Dave Herman – My guess is that he’ll stick around for one more fight, and they’ll stick him in there with a scrapper to get a crowd-pleasing fight out of it. Shane del Rosario sounds like a good idea to me.
Glover Teixeira: Will anyone actually fight him? He talked about Quinton Jackson after the fight, and they were originally scheduled for the event. Let’s do that. I suggested Teixeira vs. Phil Davis on BE Radio last night, but it might not have been the best idea.
Fabio Maldonado – Hopefully he went to the hospital. After that, who knows. The loser of the Cyrille Diabate vs. Chad Griggs bout next month maybe? Or maybe even Wagner Prado.
Jon Fitch/Demian Maia – This is my favorite one of the bunch – I would absolutely love to see the UFC match up Fitch vs. Maia next. If Maia is still in grappling mode and Fitch stays in action mode, it could be one of the best grappling matches ever seen in the organization. It might not be every fan’s cup of tea, but it certainly is mine and I badly want to see it.
Erick Silva – I think they’ll push him back down the ladder and match him up with an older guy. Aaron Simpson would be an interesting opponent for Indio. Jay Hieron was suggested last night as well, and I really like that bout too.
Phil Davis – It’s very hard to see what they do with him next. Instead of treating him like a top guy, they inexplicably booked him against Chad Griggs, and then Prado with Griggs got hurt. He predictably trashed Prado after the eye poke hiccup, and should be back to facing upper-tier guys. But who? Not a lot of people make sense. Maybe the winner of Stanislav Nedkov vs. Thiago Silva? Brandon Vera? Neither are perfect fits, but Davis is in an odd spot so a perfect fit doesn’t really exist.
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