UFC 143 went down last night featuring Carlos Condit earning the UFC welterweight championship, out-pointing former Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz unanimously on the judges’ score cards.
As I am required to do as a part of my agreement with Joe Silva to do his job I’ll give you my thoughts on who the main card winners should be paired up with moving forward.
Carlos Condit:
“The Natural Born Killer” will be bringing home the interim UFC welterweight strap to Albuquerque just like he promised, Condit implemented his gameplan from the get-go frustrating the 209-native with leg kicks and frantic movement en route to scoring his second ever decision victory.
Condit is left in a difficult situation now holding the interim title with George St-Pierre not expected to return to the cage until November at best, provided that he didn’t sustain any injuries I would suspect him to defend the title once before looking to dethrone the pound-for-pound king.
The rumor mill has been stirring with the idea of Diaz and Condit re-matching before GSP is healthy with the winner facing him, provided that Diaz doesn’t go through with his retirement.
Personally, I feel Condit beat Diaz fair and square and shouldn’t have to go through him again because people feel that Diaz is a more marketable challenger.
As an opponent for the Greg Jackson trained champion I feel Jake Ellenberger would be suitable if he is able to get past a tough challenge in Diego Sanchez.
Ellenberger has been on quite a roll as of late, most recently making short work of former Strikeforce middleweight champ Jake Shields and with another victory over former title-challenger Diego Sanchez he can’t be denied as a top of the field 170-pounder.
Fabricio Werdum
Werdum returned to the UFC with a lot to prove, in his three-year absence he submitted the greatest heavyweight to ever live Fedor Emelianenko but also was coming off a defeat to Alistair Overeeem.
In a bout that was considered a flip of the coin to most he made sure there was no question who won, the Brazilian showed off excellent striking proving that his training with Rafael Cordeiro is paying off blistering the ‘Ultimate Fighter’ champ with a barrage of punches, knees and kicks to earn a decision.
Moving forward a great opponent would be former UFC champ Frank Mir who recently cemented his spot as the greatest heavyweight grappler by submitted the formerly un-tappable Antonio Rodrigo “Minotaro” Nogueira.
Both men are in a similar situation with both being primarily grapplers who have adapted to the striking game, would be a great stylistic match-up with a chance of fireworks.
Josh Koscheck:
Josh Koscheck collected his second victory since falling to George St-Pierre last night, narrowly getting past up-and-comer Mike Pierce.
The original ‘Ultimate Fighter’ bad-boy is stuck between a rock and a hard place moving forward, due to the one-sided beatdown St-Pierre put on him last year nobody is calling for him to fight for a championship anytime soon so he will be stuck in limbo until something changes.
He has expressed interest in testing the waters at 185-pounds and that’s something that could shape things up — With his world-class wrestling ability and huge punching power he could beat most at middleweight.
Pairing him up with the winner of Brian Stann vs. Alessio Sakara would be a suitable fight, both men are never in a boring fight and would be a good test for Koscheck at a new weight-class.
Renan Barao:
Barao made a serious claim to being the top-contender for the UFC bantamweight title with his victory over former title-challenger Scott Jorgensen, pushing his unbeaten streak to 29.
The Brazilian dominated the NCAA Division I wrestler for the most part showing great takedown defense and troubling him with his striking abilities.
The Nova Uniao product jumped to the front of the queue with this victory, the only logical next opponent is for him to wait for the winner of Dominick Cruz & Urijah Faber’s third encounter for the title.
That will require him to be waiting on the sidelines for quite some time though, if he is dead-set on returning to the cage beforehand and risking him title shot a good match-up would be the winner of Miguel Torres and Michael MacDonald.
Ed Herman:
At UFC 102 Ed Herman suffered a gruesome knee injury while being taken down by Aaron Simpson with many believing that would be his final fight, two years later he returned to a completely different company.
In 2011 the organization was hitting personal strides with more eyeballs than ever being able to watch him fight, despite being 31-years-old he has been on a personal best run of his career finishing Tim Creduer, Kyle Noke and now Clifford Starks.
Don’t get me wrong, I don’t expect Herman to be wearing UFC gold in the near future but he is a good test for anyone at 185-pounds, pairing him up with Alan Belcher would be a good move.
Belcher is a well-respected veteran riding a three-fight win streak and with 33 finishes between the two it’s safe to say it would be high on action with a slim chance of needing the judges’ score cards.
____________________________________________________________________________________
Follow @justinfauxmma on Twitter and keep up with the latest news by following @MMASucka on Twitter and onFacebook
