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| Belfort finishing off Bisping. Photo via Sherdog.com |
Khabib Nurmagomedov vs. Thiago Tavares: When you’re talking about
future champions, Nurmagomedov is probably one of the first names that come up,
especially after this win. I expected this is fight to be similar to his Tibau
fight: very close and debatable. That wasn’t exactly the case, in fact, it was
the complete opposite. Khabib knocked him down and brutally finished him, and
it was an extremely late stoppage. Nurmagomegov knocked him down with an uppercut
and landed a solid 15 unanswered elbows to the temple before Dan Miragliotta
stopped it. It was awful for MMA but amazing for Nurmagomedov.
Possible matchups for Nurmagomedov: Following this performance, I
literally cannot wait to see what type of fighter that Nurmagomedov will end up
becoming. When you talk about him making a step up in competition, he is
already just one step away from contention. He’s almost there already. He needs
to fight another guy right at his level. With the lightweight division being
the most stacked division in MMA, there are so many different choices for
Nurmagomedov. TJ Grant and Matt Wiman are fighting next week at UFC on Fox 6
and the winner of that Fight of the Year contender should fight Khabib.
Possible matchups for Tavares: This wasn’t just a devastating loss for Tavares, it
was disastrous. Being almost murdered the way he was is horrible for your
stock. He’s going to desperately need a rebound fight in order to stay relevant
in the UFC’s most stacked division. I’d say a fight with the loser between Paul
Sass and Danny Castillo makes some sense as the loser of that fight would be on a cold
streak.
Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Ben Rothwell: What did I say? I said that Gonzaga
was going to demolish Rothwell, and that’s exactly what he did. He not only
outclassed Rothwell on the ground, but dominated him on the feet. It was flat
out embarrassing. Rothwell never had a moment where he looked good in this
entire fight. Gonzaga easily landed a right hand and ended up locking in a
standup arm-in guillotine then dropped down for the tap.
Possible matchups for Gonzaga: With Gonzaga really starting to fight
smart again, he is one of the most solid guys at heavyweight. I’m not sure that
he’s ready for title contention yet but I would like to see him fight the
winner of Shawn Jordan and Mike Russow, who are fighting next Saturday on the
UFC on Fox 6 card.
Possible matchups for Rothwell: With this horribly embarrassing
performance, it puts “Big” Ben right down to the bottom of the barrel. When you’re
looking for another fighter at heavyweight who’s at the bottom of the barrel,
you’re thinking of Dave Herman. This would be a good loser goes home fight.
Daniel Sarafian vs. CB Dollaway: I was surprised that this fight was so awesome. Sarafian looked to be well on his way to a decision win in the first
round, nearly finishing Dollaway on a few occasions. The second round was much
closer though. Sarafian was slightly controlling the standup but with only
about 20 seconds left, Dollaway dropped him and nearly finished the Brazilian.
It was so close to being stopped that no one would have been up in arms if it
had been. The third round was more Dollaway than any other
round. He took down Sarafian on multiple occasions and even though Sarafian
gave a valiant effort with a sweep from half guard, if just wasn't his fight. It was an overall close fight but Dollaway ultimately took the split
decision win.
Possible matchups for Dollaway: Though not particularly pretty or
decisive, Dollaway has now made it two in a row. I would like to see him fight
Ed Herman who is coming off of a lopsided first round submission loss for
Jacare Souza. Though it will be a guy coming off of a win fighting a guy coming
off of a bad loss, Herman is still on a higher level than Dollaway at the
moment.
Possible matchups for Sarafian: He may have lost, but Sarafian showed
that he has a very bright future. He has a solid ground game and devastating standup.
I would like to see him fight the winner of Rafael Natal and Sean Spencer.
Vitor Belfort vs. Michael Bisping: I cannot tell you how happy this
fight made me. Though I did predict Bisping to win, I was cheering for Belfort
to win, much like in his fight with Jones. But this time was different. Belfort
fought smart and didn’t come out too fast; he picked his shots and went in for
the kill when the time was right. The first round was very close in the
beginning with neither fighter really doing too much. But with ten seconds
left, Belfort rocked Bisping with a headkick that nearly put him out. Belfort
then came into the second looking to finish what he started in the end of the
first round. And boy did he. Vitor landed another headkick and this time put
Bisping nearly unconscious. He followed it up with ground and pound and got
himself a TKO victory over the top contender. It was a huge win for Belfort
that puts him just one win away from a rematch with Anderson.
Possible matchups for Belfort: A lot of people are saying they want him
to fight Weidman in a number one contender’s bout, but that’s not what I want.
I want Weidman to fight Silva in the summer and have Belfort be the welcoming
party to the last middleweight champion of Strikeforce, Luke Rockhold. In my
opinion, a win for either man would give them a title shot.
Possible matchups for Bisping: Even though Bisping is a grade-A jerk,
you still got to feel for the guy. He gets right to a title shot and loses. Right
back near a title shot and loses. That’s heartbreaking stuff. You have to give
the guy respect for still getting back in there to fight the best in the world.
Now before this fight, Lombard wanted to fight Bisping after his win over
Rousimar Palhares, but he was matched up with Yushin Okami. Now that Bisping lost and won’t be getting that title shot,
win or lose for Lombard, that fight makes sense.
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