UFC Fight Night 56 aired live on Fox Sports 1 Saturday night from the Ginasio Municipal Tancredo Neves in Uberlandia, Minas Gerais, Brazil. The main card was rather dull outside of the main event, which featured MMA legend Mauricio “Shogun” Rua falling to rising prospect Ovince Saint Preux in a mere 34 seconds. Let’s see if we here at LWOS can’t book some more exciting match-ups for the main card winners and losers for their next fights:
Ovince Saint Preux: The fact that OSP beat Shogun isn’t shocking, but the way he did it is. No one was predicting a sub-one minute drubbing with OSP coming out on top. With the win, OSP moves to 5-1 in the UFC. I’d like to see OSP take on the winner of Patrick Cummins vs Antonio Carlos Jr next. They lock horns next month in Brazil, and both would test OSP, especially the wrestling of Cummins. Last time OSP took on a superior wrestler, he got dominated by Ryan Bader. This would show us how much he learned from that bout.
Shogun Rua: This was a devastating loss for Shogun. Although he’s just 32 years old the end could be near for the former PRIDE champion. His career has spanned more than a decade and he’s been knocked out in back-to-back fights for the first time ever. If Shogun is going to keep fighting, he should match up with Jimi Manuwa next. Shogun and Manuwa was the originally scheduled main event for this card before Manuwa pulled out with an injury two weeks before the fight.
Warlley Alves: Alves, the TUF Brazil 3 middleweight winner, started fast in his UFC welterweight debut before slowing down and hanging on for a split decision win against Alan Jouban. Alves remains unbeaten in MMA and is an absolute destroyer in the first five minutes, but he’ll need to improve his cardio if he wants to be a future threat to the title. A stiff test for prospects and veterans alike, Kenny Robertson should be next for Alves. Robertson is extremely durable, has a sneaky good submission game, and can most definitely test Alves’ cardio. If the Brazilian can win this one, it will a big step in continuing to justify the hype surrounding him.
Alan Jouban: If Jouban increased his output in round 3, he may have been able to finish Alves and pick up an upset win in enemy territory. Unfortunately, Jouban couldn’t quite pour it on and although he won the fight in one judge’s eyes, it wasn’t enough to pick up a win. A day earlier, Vik Grujic lost on the undercard of UFC Fight Night 55. Jouban and Grujic both favor the striking game, and both are very powerful. Match them up next.
Claudio Silva: Silva did just enough to earn a split decision in his home country against Leon Edwards. Despite a 2-0 start to his UFC career, Silva has looked rather unimpressive. Up next, he should take on another man who won on the main card, Dhiego Lima. I’ll explain why below.
Leon Edwards: Edwards looked okay in his UFC debut. His striking looked pretty good, but he’ll need to improve his takedown defense if he wants to move up the ranks of the UFC’s welterweight division. For his sophomore effort, he should take on Russian bad boy Alexander Yakovlev. This would be a fun undercard bout, especially on a European card.
Dhiego Lima: Lima, the TUF 19 middleweight runner-up, dominated late replacement Jorge Oliveira from start to finish. Lima is a heavily hyped prospect who the UFC likes, and up next he should fight Claudio Silva. Silva is 2-0 in the UFC and 11-1 overall, but his record is more impressive than his skills actually are. A fight against Lima is very winnable for the TUF vet. The UFC should book this next to keep Lima on the rise.
Jorge Oliveira: This was a tough assignment for Oliveira, who was not only making his UFC debut on short notice but doing so in a weight class heavier than he normally competes in. Oliveira will obviously get another fight, and if it’s in the lightweight division it should be against James Moontasri. Moontasri made his UFC debut in June, also on short notice. He lost a split decision to Joe Ellenberger. Oliveira vs Moontasri would be an awesome striking battle.
Juliana Lima: Lima moves to 1-1 in the UFC with the win over Nina Ansaroff, but she moves to 0-2 in the UFC as far as exciting fights goes. In two weeks, Paige VanZant and Kailin Curran make their UFC debuts against one another. Lima should take on the winner of VanZant vs Curran. Hopefully one of them can get an exciting fight out of the Brazilian.
Nina Ansaroff: Ansaroff looked pretty good in her UFC debut, but none of the judges saw it her way. Next up should be a fight with fellow 0-1 UFC strawweight Tina Lahdemaki.
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