On Saturday (or Sunday, if you were in Australia) UFC Fight Night 65 emanated live on UFC Fight Pass from the Adelaide Entertainment Centre in Adelaide, Australia. The card was fantastic from top to bottom, with all but a few of the twelve fights delivering action in full. The main event saw two top 5 heavyweights clash, with Stipe Miocic battering hometown favorite Mark Hunt for the better part of five rounds before picking up a late stoppage win. Below, LWOS books the fights for the main card winners and losers of UFC Fight Night 65:
Stipe Miocic: Miocic battered Hunt from pillar to post for nearly 25 minutes before the fight was mercifully ended. Miocic did a splendid job of blending his strikes with his takedowns in one of his finest performances to date, and he has a few options for his next fight depending on how things shake out. He should either face the winner of Travis Browne vs Andrei Arlovski, or Cain Velasquez for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Velasquez unifies titles against interim champ Fabricio Werdum in the main event of UFC 188 in August, and if Velasquez is victorious there, give Miocic the next title shot. If Werdum wins that bout though, his first defense should either be a rematch with Velasquez or a defense versus Junior dos Santos. Dos Santos defeated Miocic by decision in December of last year in a super competitive fight, plus he holds a previous win over Werdum. If Velasquez wins though, he’s thoroughly beaten dos Santos twice already, making Miocic the perfect opponent. Browne and Arlovski face off on the stacked UFC 187 in two weeks.
Mark Hunt: Hunt was never really in this fight, and it appears he had another poor weight cut that lead to his subpar performance. Up next, he should fight the loser of Browne vs Arlovski. All three men are strikers, and Hunt taking on either man would be a fun stand up battle.
Robert Whittaker: Whittaker said the cut to welterweight was holding him back as a fighter, and it looks like he may have been right. The TUF Smashes winner is now 2-0 at middleweight, with both wins coming by knockout. He’s just 24-years-old, but it’s time for Whittaker to take a step up. Next, he should square off with the winner of Gegard Mousasi vs Costas Philippou. Whittaker just entered the top 15 with his home soil win over Brad Tavares, and Mousasi and Philippou are both top 15 fighters themselves. Both men, like Whittaker, are strongest on their feet, and either would be a great test for the young Aussie. Mousasi vs Philippou is the co-main event of this weekend’s UFC Fight Night 66.
Brad Tavares: After stringing together five straight wins, Tavares has now lost three of his last four fights, two of them by knockout. He’s still a talented fighter, as his recent win over former Strikeforce champion Nate Marquardt showed, but he probably won’t ever reach that top 5 level. Next, he should fight Clint Hester. Both are products of TUF, and both are young, fun strikers. Match them up, and watch the fireworks fly.
Sean O’Connell: O’Connell came out and did what you’re supposed to do against a much older competitor, and that’s pressure him relentlessly. It worked perfectly, with O’Connell knocking out Anthony Perosh in just under one minute. O’Connell is the definition of a fun fighter to watch, and for his next fight, he should meet the winner of Nikita Krylov vs Marcos Rogerio de Lima. Krylov and de Lima are rumored to be paired up for next month’s UFC Fight Night 69 in Berlin, Germany. O’Connell versus either man would be a slobberknocker for sure.
Anthony Perosh: Corey Anderson Perosh’s trend of alternating wins and losses since 2012 continues with the sub-minute knockout loss to O’Connell. If Perosh, who is now 42, elects to keep fighting, his next bout should be against Corey Anderson. Anderson, the winner of TUF 19, is coming off of his first career defeat last month in a Fight of the Night with Gian Villante. A fight with Perosh would give him the chance to get back on track, but it would also provide Perosh another opportunity for another upset win.
James Vick: One thing is abundantly clear about Vick: he has one nasty guillotine. After defeating Jake Matthews, he’s now 4-0 inside the octagon, 8-0 overall, with two of his UFC wins coming by guillotine over TUF veterans. Vick, a TUF vet himself, should keep climbing the lightweight ladder. Next up the rung should be Evan Dunham. In January, Dunham, a 14-fight UFC vet, stop a three fight skid with a unanimous decision win over Rodrigo Damm. The veteran would be the biggest test of Vick’s young career, and both men have proven themselves capable and comfortable both on the feet and on the mat. Make this fight, and we could have a potential Fight of the Night on our hands.
Jake Matthews: Matthews’ loss to Vick was the first of his very young career, but his future remains blindingly bright. He was winning the fight up until the point he got caught in the guillotine, and he’s still just 20-years-old. Twenty! He has plenty of time to continue to develop, and I for one think we’ll be seeing him challenge for a UFC belt one day. Next, he should take on Diego Ferreira. Ferreira has lost two straight, the first two losses of his career. Matthews is strong on the ground, but Ferreira is elite, and with both men showing improved striking skills, this is not only an exciting potential match up, but an intriguing one as well. Book it.
