Following Saturday night’s ‘UFC On FOX 7’ event in San Jose we take a look at what could be next for the main card’s winners.
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Ben Henderson:
Ideally Henderson would now be headed for a rematch with Anthony Pettis, the last man to beat him in the final WEC event back in December of 2010. However, Pettis has already opted to move down to fight for the featherweight title against Jose Aldo so that match-up will have to wait.
With Henderson already having dispensed with a number of the division’s top contenders that leaves no obvious fight for him, and so the UFC have just made the best with what they have and announced that the winner of former title challenger Gray Maynard and TJ Grant who’s on a four fight winning streak at 155lbs.
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Daniel Cormier:
Prior to Saturday’s show former Strikeforce GP champion Cormier looked to have plenty of exciting opportunities, whether it be a potential heavyweight title fight with Cain Velasquez, or a move down to light-heavyweight to challenge Jon Jones.
However, a fairly lackluster fight against Frank Mir has taken a little steam out of his hype train and it’s quite possible the UFC will now hold back on either of those two possibilities for now.
Cormier’s leaving it up to the UFC to decide which division he fights in and the feeling from Dana White seemed to be leaning towards 205lbs. Stylistically I think the most interesting match-up would be against the winner of Dan Henderson Vs Rashad Evans which takes place in June.
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Josh Thomson:
When Thomson is injury-free and on-form he’s always been a dangerous fighter and he certainly proved that on Saturday night. TKO’ing a Diaz brother is a big feather in his cap and he should be getting lined uf for another meaningful fight at 155lbs next.
I can’t help but feel that a match-up with Diego Sanchez would make for a hell of a fight and a win there would put Thomson in a strong position in the division.
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Matt Brown:
Who’d have thought Brown would go on a five fight winning streak at this stage in his career? Certainly not me. I still don’t see him as a realistic title challenger, but you have to respect the run he’s on so perhaps someone on the fringes of the 170lb top 10 rankings would be appropriate.
Robbie Lawler is the first name that springs to mind, but he happens to be fighting Tarec Saffiedine next, so let’s go for the winner of that one.
