First off, all these fighters, sans Stipe Miocic, are veterans. Regardless of their ages all seem to be past their peaks, which makes all of their fights very crucial to what they do with the rest of their careers. While I still believe all of the fighters in the main and co-main are capable of reaching a title shot, I also believe one or two more losses for each of them will squash this chance (again with the exception of Miocic.)
Stipe Miocic is an interesting situation coming off of this win against Big Country, and not just a win but a three-round domination out-striking him in significant strikes 106-23. But he also has just lost to Stefan Struve via TKO. Keeping this in mind, the next logical step for Miocic is to rematch Struve to erase that loss and further cement that he's ready for a big name opponent. I suspect however, that UFC brass feels he is ready right now and the domination over Big Country proves he is ready for a big name opponent. Frank Mir who is currently ranked 6th in the UFC HW division and a former champion could be the perfect big name for Miocic. A win over someone like Frank puts Miocic in the top 5 and one fight away from the belt. Also, with his striking improving and great wrestling he proves a dangerous style matchup for all of the top HWs.
Roy "Big Country" Nelson has lost in a very familiar fashion. He got beat by someone with a very technically sound striking game which they used to negated his power punching with finesse. This is exactly how Dos Santos, Mir, and Werdum all defeated Nelson. This is his first loss in his past 4 fights, so he doesn't lose too much momentum or ranking in the UFC, but he does have a gaping hole in his game that he needs to fix if he is ever going to reach the top. His next bout should be a top ten HW, the loser of Overeem vs. Browne would be a perfect match ranking-wise to either cement or lose his place with the top HW fighters in the UFC. It would also put him right back on track for a title shot.
Dan Henderson got his second loss in a row on Saturday, but both fights were very closely contested and split decision losses to former champions. He is still in the top ten of his division. There has been some talk of him moving to the middle weight division which I think is a mistake. Dan Henderson has never had any problems with being smaller than most of the LHW division. Everyone also knows not many fighters can overpower him in this weight class and with his age being over 40 it would be unwise to step into a faster-paced division. He belongs in LHW where he can keep up with speed, cardio, and has a significant power advantage over most. A great comeback fight for Dan would be another top ten LHW who is lower than him in rankings, but is coming off a win. Enter Gegard Mousasi who is riding a 4-fight win streak but has just recently entered the UFC. When both fighters were in Strikeforce this was a matchup that was talked about often. This would be an awesome standup fight that would be a great assessment of where each fighter lies in the division and would prove whether Hendo's still got it and if Gegard can hang with a true top LHW.
Rashad Evans desperately needed this win off of Dan Henderson to avoid losing 3 in a row for the first time in his career. While it wasn't his best outing, he showed that he has started to get back on track after the horrible performance against Little Nog. Being that Rashad is ranked number 4 in the division after just one win (showcasing how weak LHW is currently), there is only one fight to make for him. Glover Texeira is the new biggest threat at LHW being on a 19-fight win streak with 18 finishes to his name no one is safe. Rashad would be another big name to test himself against and could put him in title contention. Likewise if Rashad stops Glover in devastating fashion, he steals all of his momentum and could be lined up for a rematch with Jones immediately after, if not then he would certainly be one more fight away from it. This is a win-win matchup for the UFC and the fans that clears up some of the clutter at the top of the division and sets the lineup straight for who gets the next crack at Jones.
What do you guys think? Do you have better match ups for these guys or was I dead on?
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