A rare Sunday night UFC card came to us this weekend with UFC Fight Night 59, live on Fox Sports 1 from the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts. The event was all about Conor McGregor, who came through big time with a 2nd round knockout of opponent Dennis Siver. With the event now behind us, it’s time for the fighters to look ahead to their next opponents. That’s where LWOS steps in to help. LWOS books the fights for the main card winners and losers below:
Conor McGregor: This is an easy one: McGregor will challenge Jose Aldo for the UFC Featherweight Championship next. The bout is the rumored main event for UFC 187, which will be Memorial Day Weekend in Las Vegas. We’re four months away from seeing if McGregor can back up his smack talk against one of the top pound-for-pound fighters in the world, and the undisputed king of the featherweight division.
Dennis Siver: Siver looked a bit better than most thought he would against McGregor, but the end result was still the same, with Siver falling by knockout. Next, Siver should take on another long tenured UFC veteran and top 15 featherweight, Jeremy Stephens. Stephens has lost two straight, but both fights were against top level competition in the form of Cub Swanson and Charles Oliveira. Both Siver and Stephens and excellent strikers with underrated ground games. It would be a fun fight.
Donald Cerrone: Cerrone picked up a razor close decision win over rival, friend and former champion Benson Henderson on Sunday night, avenging two previous losses to Henderson in the process. Post fight, Cerrone hinted that he may finally be ready for some time off (he had 15 days off in between this fight and his previous one), and also that the UFC higher ups want his next opponent to be Khabib Nurmagomedov. Nurmagomedov is coming off of a knee injury, and the winner of a potential Cerrone vs Nurmagomedov fight would undoubtably be the next man to fight to fight for the UFC Lightweight Championship after Rafael dos Anjos challenges Anthony Pettis for the belt in March.
Benson Henderson: For the first time in his career, Henderson has lost two fights in a row. The former champ has a lot of options of where to go next, like rematches with Gilbert Melendez or Josh Thomson, but I think the best choice would be for him to face off with Eddie Alvarez, the man he was originally supposed to take on at this event. Really though, you can’t go wrong with an opponent for Henderson.
Uriah Hall: Hall did what he was supposed to do against a late notice replacement when he picked up a first round technical knockout win against Ron Stallings by opening up a deep, nasty cut above his left eye. Up next, Hall should take on the man he was originally supposed to meet on this card, Costas Philippou. That match up made sense when it was first booked, and it still makes sense now, and to top it off, Hall called him out after the fight. It’s a no-brainer.
Ron Stallings: Stallings looked pretty decent for a guy fighting on less-than-a-week’s notice versus a superior athlete. Plus, he still wanted to continue fighting, but the doctor was the one who stopped Stallings, not Hall. If nothing else, this got Stallings into the UFC, and for his next fight, he’ll actually get a full training camp. Speaking of his next fight, that should be against Scott Askham. Askham, a Brit, prefers to strike, like Stallings, so a fight between the two of them should be exciting.
Gleison Tibau: Tibau picked up another UFC win, his 16th all time, in classic Tibau fashion by grinding out Norman Parke over 15 minutes and picking up a split decision victory. Tibau will always be a high-end mid-tier lightweight in the UFC until he beats a highly ranked fighter. I’m not sure Matt Wiman would be considered a super high-ranked fighter, but he’s ranked higher than Tibau, that’s for sure. They should fight next.
Norman Parke: This was a tough loss for Parke, who lost to a man in Tibau who does everything Parke does, just slightly better. This was Parke’s first loss in the UFC, and his first loss since March of 2010. Parke is still young, just 28-years-old, he’s starting to get more high-level experience, and he’s big for the division. His future is still bright. Up next, he should take on Danny Castillo. Castillo is a long time veteran of both the UFC and the WEC, and more often than not, if you can beat him, you’re destined for the upper echelon of the division.
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