On Saturday night, the UFC’s first event of 2015 came to us live on pay-per-view in the form of UFC 182. While the main card as a whole was lackluster, the main event lived up to its immense hype as UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones retained his title in a five-round dog fight against two-time U.S. Olympian Daniel Cormier. The year is young, and all ten men featured on the main card need new opponents. LWOS is here to help as always. Below, LWOS books the fights for the UFC 182 main card winners and losers.
LWOS Books the Fights: UFC 182
Jon Jones: Jones was as gritty as ever in his latest title defense, his eighth one to date. Up next, he’ll be taking on the winner of Alexander Gustafsson vs Anthony Johnson. Those two clash in the main event of UFC on FOX 14 on January 24 in Gustafsson’s hometown of Stockholm, Sweden. If Gustafsson is the winner, it will be a rematch 2013’s Fight of the Year.
Daniel Cormier: Cormier was in the fight for the first three rounds, but he faded hard in the championship rounds. He’ll bounce back for sure, and his first opponent should be the loser of Gustafsson vs Johnson. That way, not only does Cormier stay right in the title hunt with high level opposition, but the Gustafsson vs Johnson loser does as well.
Donald Cerrone: Cerrone was not please with his fifteen minute dissection of Myles Jury, but most fans, UFC President Dana White included, enjoyed the fight. Cerrone is known for being his harshest critic, and for fighting frequently. Logically, his next opponent should be the unbeaten Khabib Nurmagomedov in a number one contender’s bout. But Nurmagomedov has a knee injury, and he won’t be ready to fight until the spring. Cerrone said he’d be ready to fight again in six weeks in Denver. There’s not a lot of other top guys out there who aren’t already booked right now, so unless Cerrone wants to take a step down in competition, he should wait for Nurmagomedov to heal up.
Myles Jury: Jury looked uninspired in his first big step up in competition, and it resulted in the first loss of his career. Jury still has a bright future though, and up next, he should face off with fellow TUF veteran Gray Maynard. Maynard, the former two-time lightweight title challenger, has lost three straight, all by knockout. Against Jury, he’ll either be redeemed, or sent into retirement.
Brad Tavares: Tavares sorely needed a win after dropping two straight to end 2014, and he got it here. Next, he should take on another young, rising prospect like himself: Robert Whittaker. Both men love the stand and trade, and a fight between them would be fun to watch.
Nate Marquardt: Marquardt looked like a shell of his former self on Saturday night, constantly getting beaten to the punch by his younger foe. Marquardt is approaching 50 career fights, and while he might be nearing retirement soon, he can still put on some exciting fights if he’s matched up with the right opponent. That man is CB Dollaway. Dollaway has the wrestling to put Marquardt on his back, but Marquardt has an excellent jiu-jitsu game, and a fight between the two could be a chance for him to put in on display. Dollaway is coming off of a loss to Lyoto Machida two weeks ago.
Kyoji Horiguchi: Horiguchi looked good in his victory over Louis Gaudinot, and it’s not out of the realm of possibility that he could receive the next flyweight title shot against reigning champ Demetrious Johnson. But Horiguchi himself said he’d like a fight or two more before that opportunity, so next, he should go toe-to-toe with Jussier Formiga. Formiga has won two straight, and his only career losses are to top four flyweights Joseph Benavidez, Ian McCall and John Dodson. The Horiguchi vs Formiga winner would be in line for a championship fight with Johnson.
Louis Gaudinot: Gaudinot was fun to watch as usual, but Horiguchi was just better than him. To keep his streak of fun fights going, his next opponent should be Justin Scoggins. After winning nine straight to open his career, Scoggins has hit a bit of a rough patch, losing his last two. Win, lose or draw though, Gaudinot vs Scoggins would be an immediate candidate for Fight of the Night.
Hector Lombard: Lombard looked bored in his win over Josh Burkman. He won though, and that’s what matters. He’s still a top four welterweight, and since Robbie Lawler and Johny Hendricks are rematching next for the championship, that leaves Rory MacDonald as the odd man out, making this the perfect time for a Lombard vs MacDonald number one contender’s fight.
Josh Burkman: Burkman looked alright in his return to the octagon, and considering he was apparently sick all week and the heavy-handed Lombard couldn’t finish him, this was almost as good as a win. Almost. Now that he’s back in the UFC, there’s a litany of fresh fights to make for him, the first of which should be a bout with TUF 7 winner Amir Sadollah. Both men love to swing, and it would be an exciting, crowd-pleasing fight. Book it.
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