Where do the fighters go from here, now? Rampage--does he get the winner of Bader/Jones? Does he get another top contender and the winner of that fight gets the winner of Jones/Bader vs Rashad/Shogun? Machida--One KO loss and one very close decision loss. Where does he go? Loser of Jones/Bader? Penn's already set up. Hughes?
Next to getting to watch the fights, this to me might be the most fun part of being a mixed martial arts fan, trying to figure out where the fighters go next and who they can match up with. I actually have a lot of opinions on where fighters can go from here, and who they can match up with. I'm gonna try to talk about some of these guys. For Hughes, after winning 3 straight, and then losing his last fight to BJ Penn, I can see a couple of different guys for him to fight. From a fan stand point, I would love to see him get matched up with Dan Hardy, I could only imagine the trash talk leading up to that fight. If John Howard loses to Alves I could see that as a fun fight. Even a fight with Brian Foster I could see as a very fun fight to watch. The one fight I don't want to see that is floating around some message boards, is Hughes-Hallman 3, I honestly have no desire to see that fight. Nor do I feel, even with past wins over Hughes himself, that Hallman really deserves that fight. Now onto Machida. I still believe he is once again gonna be a future champion one day. I don't know what it is, but the guy really just captures my imagination when he fights, while getting on most other peoples nerves. That said I would love to watch him fight the loser of Franklin/Griffin, or like you pointed out, the loser of Jones/Bader. Both are very intriguing fights in my eyes. I also wouldn't mind seeing him go just a bit lower, and face a guy like Matt Hamill that is on a two fight win streak. As for Jackson, I would like to see the winner of Jones and Bader fight for the title, and Rampage fight the winner of Franklin vs Griffin for the next title shot. Especially if the winner is Rich Franklin, because I think a Franklin vs Rampage fight could produce some major moments. The one I am excited to see is what happens to Tyson Griffin and Joe Lauzon after this. Perhaps Griffin is now ready to drop down to featherweight, with them on their way to the UFC? I think potential fights against guys like Manny Gamburyen and Mike Brown at that weight class could be real exiting. Joe Lauzon meanwhile could be looking toward fighting a Shane Roller or Jamie Varner loser? I wouldn't mind seeing him fight either guy. There are a lot of fights to be had in the upcoming months, and I'm excited for them all!
I like your ideas. I completely forgot about Franklin/Forrest fighting. I think Rampage should get the winner of that. Franklin/Jackson would be an exciting fight and Rampage wants a rematch with Forrest. Lauzon has so much potential, but he gassed pretty bad @ 123. Hopefully he works on that.
I didn't think about it until I read it on this forum, but it does make sense that maybe Lauzon was injured heading into that fight and didn't have the ability to work on his cardio well heading into that fight, and just didn't tell anyone. I remember it was well publicized that Joe and his brother were having problems training together because Joe was having problems with his brothers lack of interest in cardio. I find it hard to believe that Joe Lauzon would then turn around and have the same exact problems heading into this fight, without some kind of nagging little injury. Regardless of the reason though, like you said, he needs to get that problem fixed by his next fight. That 155 division is SO cutthroat right now, he can't afford to be 1-3 in his last 4 fights and expect to stay employed by the UFC.
