UFC 130 came and went and outside of Travis Browne and Brian Stann not much will be remembered from this event. Rick Story announced himself to the welterweight division in less than stellar fashion, Frank Mir outlasted a fat man and Quinton Jackson defeated a guy he should have defeated.
So where does everyone go from here? Let's look in depth at five potential match-ups following UFC 130.
Does Jackson deserve Jon Jones? Does a split decision victory over Lyoto Machida and a decision over Matt Hamill grant you a title shot in the 205 pounds division? Normally it does not. But under these weird circumstances, Jackson is the only man suitable to challenge Jones.
The whole ordeal gets kick started by the triangle of Quinton Jackson-Lyoto Machida-Rashad Evans. Each man has defeated one and lost to the other, creating a weird rock-paper-scissors feel to the light heavyweight division.
And on to that the awkward situation that Rashad Evans is in, promised a title shot until Jones pulled out of the fight, and things become even harder to discern. Evans deserves the shot at Jones, end of discussion. But his fight with Phil Davis complicates things. If Evans emerges victorious and healthy, he could challenge Jones by late October or early November. Unfortunately this is mixed martial arts and being healthy can hardly be guaranteed. Guys have won their fight and then sat on the sidelines for over a year with injuries, they simply cannot be predicted.
Another option, Lyoto Machida, has only won one fight in a row over Randy Couture, which is hardly worthy of a title shot. Machida needs to win one, maybe two, more fights to be considered worthy of a title shot. This is the light heavyweight division after all.
All of this only leaves one man, Rampage Jackson. His strength and boxing ability are sure to give Jones some troubles if they do fight. Sure Jones has a vast advantage in speed, reach, heart and conditioning, but that doesn't mean Jackson can't make it a fight. His granite chin won't make it easy on Jones.
Frank Mir vs. The winner of Brendan Schaub vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira
Frank Mir really has nothing left to do at the top of UFC heavyweight division. He has defeated and lost to Brock Lesnar. He has lost to Shane Carwin. He just beat Roy Nelson and has victories over Cheick Kongo and Nogueira. The only two top guys in the division Mir has yet to face are Junior dos Santos and Cain Velasquez.
However, in this paper thin heavyweight division Mir could very easily earn himself a title shot if he were to defeat the winner of Schaub/Nogueira. In fact after the winner of dos Santos/Carwin earns a title shot, I would like to see the winner of Mir vs. Schaub/Nogueira as next in line for a shot at the belt. The only man in that scenario who wouldn't deserve a crack at the title would be Nogueira, and I'm very hesitant to believe that he could defeat both Schaub and Mir.
For Mir, it would be his third straight victory. He has already defeated Nelson and Mirko Cro Cop, adding Schaub or Nogueira to his list would certainly make him a worthy challenger.
For Schaub, victories over Nogueira and Mir...







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