UFC 190 took place live from the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil this weekend on Aug. 1.
What’s next for the UFC 190 main card winners?
In the main event, UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey stopped Bethe Correia 34 seconds into the first round to retain her title.
In the co-headliner, Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua defeated Antonio Rogerio Nogueira for the second time, via close decision.
Also on the main card, Stefan Struve picked up a decision win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva upset Soa Palelei via TKO in the second round.
Opening up the seven-fight pay-per-view card, top strawweight contender Claudia Gadelha picked up a dominant decision win over newcomer Jessica Aguilar.
It’s time for us at MMASucka.com to take the role of matchmaker once again — what’s next for the UFC on FOX 16 main card winners?
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(C) Ronda Rousey
Should fight: (#1) Miesha Tate
Rousey picked up another under-one minute stoppage win on Saturday night against ‘Pitbull’. Last weekend at UFC on FOX 16, top contender Tate defeated Jessica Eye in a No. 1 contender’s bout and it was confirmed later that night that ‘Cupcake’ would indeed fight the winner of Rousey-Correia. Fast forward seven days, we have a trilogy between ‘Rowdy’ and Tate which’ll likely go down later this year or early 2016. Since losing to Rousey for the second time, Tate has picked up four straight wins and definitely deserves the title shot. There is no debate here, as Rousey vs. Tate has already been confirmed for a later date.
(#8) Mauricio Rua
Should fight: (#10) Quinton Jackson
‘Shogun’ got back into the winning column against Nogueira in the co-feature but the performance was far from one that screamed “top five opponent”. Rua called for a rematch with Quinton Jackson following the bout, and ‘Rampage’ said on social media that he is ready to go. A fight between the two makes sense because they are close together in the rankings, and the winner of the bout would move on up the light heavyweight rankings. Neither of them will ever crack into the top five again, however, so it’d just be a good scrap between legends.
(#15) Stefan Struve
Should fight: (#14) Oleksiy Oliynyk
Struve picked up his first win in two years against Nogueira on the UFC 190 main card last weekend. ‘Skyscraper’ did just enough, however, as it was a close contested contest. In my opinion, he doesn’t quite deserve a top 10 opponent quite yet, so I think match him up with a guy on the rise, and that’s Oleksiy Oliynyk. The Ukrainian-born fighter is 38-years old but is the best he’s ever been, and I think a win over Struve would solidify his spot in the UFC heavyweight rankings. On the other hand, this would be a legitimate win for Struve. The fight is interesting on paper and could play out in many different ways, plus with both of them at the bottom of the top 15, it definitely makes sense.
(#12) Antonio Silva
Should: Retire
Silva finally got back into the winning column on Saturday night and looked okay doing so. However, his performance was far from one that said ‘Bigfoot’ is back, and ready to crack back into the top five — far from it. Palelei is far from a top heavyweight in the world, and if the first round lasted 10 more seconds, Palelei would’ve gotten the TKO win. I’ve said this since ‘Bigfoot’ was forced to stop using TRT and when he got knocked out by Andrei Arlovski — he should not fight anymore. I think he would’ve retired if he lost on Saturday, so with that, he probably won’t. But his chin is awful and with his medical condition, I really do not think it’s safe for him to continuously get knocked out. Chances are, if he doesn’t retire, he’ll fight a top 10 guy and lose via stoppage, and we’ll have this argument again. Let’s hope he calls it quits right now, so we don’t have to write another one of these “Silva needs to retire” paragraphs.
(#1) Claudia Gadelha
Should fight: (C) Joanna Jedrzejczyk
Gadelha picked up a very solid win against former WSOF champ Aguilar in the opener of the main card. She arguably defeated now-champion Joanna Jedrzejczyk less than a year ago in a No. 1 contender’s bout, and I think a fight now with the titleholder would be just as close as their first meeting. The only bout for the Brazilian that makes sense is a title fight with the Poland-native, in either a pay-per-view co-feature or the main event of December’s “big” FOX card. However, there is no argument here, as Dana White has already confirmed she’ll get the next shot at Jedrzejczyk.
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Nick Baldwin is a Staff Writer for MMASucka.com. Follow him on Twitter @NickUFC.
