Now that the dust has settled on UFC 169: Barão vs. Faber 2 it’s time to start thinking about what’s next for the combatants involved. A spot of post-fight press conference matchmaking has made the job of predicting José Aldo’s future a little easier, but what about the other victors?
Renan Barão – The decision of who to match the UFC bantamweight champion up with next is up in the air at the moment. If Dominick Cruz is likely to be fit in the next few months then Sean Shelby has an easy task. Cruz was supposed to fight Barão last night and he’s the best fighter in the division yet to face the Brazilian. The big question is whether the Ultimate Fighting Championship is ready and willing to throw Cruz into the veritable shark tank of a match with its current champion after a layoff of more than two-and-a-half years.
If not Cruz, then who else? The only other viable opponent would appear to be #3-ranked Raphael Assuncao if he can get the better of #11-ranked Francisco Rivera at UFC 170. If there is no word on the recovery of Cruz’s groin by the time that fight is done with later this month, the Brazilian former WEC contender could be the next in line.
José Aldo – It appears that Dana White has already taken care of the matchmaking here. He all but sanctioned a jump in weight class for Aldo, which means a title fight against Anthony Pettis. The current featherweight champion seemed more than ready for the challenge to boot. All that would need to be sorted out are the personal terms. While I don’t agree that Aldo should be stripped of his 145lb belt for what could be a one-off trip to lightweight, I don’t think there are many better fights to be made in any division in MMA right now, so I think most fans will deal with it. Hopefully Aldo will too.
Alistair Overeem – ‘The Reem’ got back to winning ways with a dominant – if not overly impressive – defeat of a former UFC champion. He’s still ranked in the UFC’s heavyweight top 10, but two KO defeats in a row prior to last night’s win mean that he’s a couple of fights removed from a title shot right now. With any luck talk of a rematch with Brock Lesnar will soon be forgotten as well. There doesn’t seem to be any demand for that fight other than from Overeem himself.
To go along with Joe SIlva’s usual practice of matching winners with winners, the obvious route would be to match ‘The Demolition Man’ up with Stipe Miocic, who just beat Gabriel Gonzaga a week ago. However, Overeem’s has a big name and given the amount of money he is being paid by Dana White and company, he may be paired with someone with a more marquee. Junior Dos Santos could be an option after the amount of trash talk exchanged between the two men throughout 2012.
Ali Bagautinov – John Lineker was touted as the next challenger for Demetrious Johnson if he could make weight and win. Seeing as the scrappy Russian was the one that walked out of the Octagon with the win he could very well be in the frame for that title shot. The only thing that could probably stop that would be an emphatic win for Brad Pickett against Ian McCall in March. ‘One Punch’ is infinitely more marketable than Bagautinov and would jump to the front of the flyweight queue by putting his name in the win column in London.
Abel Trujillo – The name of the game is fun when looking at the next opponent for Abel Trujillo. Last night’s war with Jamie Varner was a blast and Uncle Dana will be thrilled to see a bit more of that. ‘Killa’ threw Nate Diaz and Donald Cerrone’s names into the conversation, but I don’t think he’s quite ready for that level of competition just yet. A fight with the man he was originally pencilled to fight at UFC 169 – Bobby Green – would be more appropriate. It was also set up some more of the sort of stand-up action that was so wonderful to behold on last night’s man card.
