Saturday morning, UFC Fight Night 66 emanated live on Fox Sports 1 from the Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay City, Philippines. The main event saw a long discussed dream match-up come to fruition when former UFC Lightweight Champion Frankie Edgar cruised to a unanimous decision win over former WEC Featherweight Champion Urijah Faber. Below, LWOS books the fights for the main card winners and losers of UFC Fight Night 66:
Frankie Edgar: Edgar absolutely dominated Faber, winning every round on every judges scorecard. Next, Edgar should fight Jose Aldo or Chad Mendes. Aldo defends his featherweight title against Conor McGregor in July. If McGregor wins that fight, it’s very likely that Aldo will get an immediate rematch. In that case, Edgar should fight Faber’s teammate and fellow top featherweight Mendes. But if Aldo successfully defends against McGregor, Edgar deserves to fight for the belt. Edgar and Aldo met once before, with Aldo winning a unanimous decision back in February of 2013. Edgar has won four straight fights sine that meeting.
Urijah Faber: It’s unclear whether Faber will stay at featherweight or go back down to bantamweight. If he can’t beat Edgar though, it’s unlikely he’ll be able to beat the other top featherweights, Aldo, McGregor and Mendes. But there’s still fun fights for him at 145, like with Cub Swanson or Ricardo Lamas. People will always pay to see a Faber fight, and clashes with Swanson or Lamas are perfect recipes for action packed bouts.
Gegard Mousasi: It wasn’t Mousasi’s most exciting performance, but his win over Costas Philippou was nothing short of dominant. Mousasi is slowly climbing his way back into title contention, and one middleweight who is always on the brink of a title shot is Michael Bisping. Bisping has been in the UFC since 2006 and his list of opponents is a who’s-who of MMA fighters, including Dan Henderson, Vitor Belfot, Tim Kennedy, Chael Sonnen, Wanderlei Silva and more. Gegard Mousasi isn’t on that list. Let’s change that.
Costas Philippou: With the holes in his ground game, it’s pretty clear that Philippou will likely never be a UFC champion. But his stand-up remains extremely strong, so he should be matched up with some strikers for his next few bouts. James Te Huna hasn’t fought in about a year, and if he’s planning on returning soon, a fight with Philippou would be a fun one.
Mark Munoz: We all know what’s next for Munoz: retirement. It’s rare that an MMA fighter retires on a win, but Munoz laid down his gloves in the center of the octagon after his unanimous decision win over Luke Barnatt on Saturday. Mark Munoz, from everyone at LWOS, congrats on a great career, thanks for all the fun fights, and enjoy your retirement.
Luke Barnatt: Barnatt has now lost three straight fights. All three have been by decision, two of them being split calls. Barnatt has a really good personality and was on TUF, so I doubt the UFC will cut him. For his next fight, he should take on Chris Camozzi. Camozzi returned to the UFC last month for an extremely short notice fight with Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza after being released back in September of last year. Whoever loses this potential fight will likely be sent their walking papers for good.
Neil Magny: Magny has improbably won seven straight fights now, and it’s time for him to take a serious step up in competition. One type of opponent he hasn’t faced during his current hot streak is a real ground specialist. We know Magny can hang on the feet, but how has his ground game improved? A top 10 welterweight who will test Magny on the mat is Demian Maia. Maia is coming off of a five round schooling of Ryan LaFlare in March.
Hyun Gyu Lim: Lim is a super fun fighter to watch, but he has some clear deficiencies, specifically his ground game. Another fighter with limitations on the ground and a ton of skills on the feet is Jordan Mein. Match up Lim with the Canadian, and we’ll get an awesome bout for sure.
Phillipe Nover: For this first time in five years, Nover fought inside the octagon, and for the first time ever, the TUF 8 runner-up picked up a win inside the octagon. Unfortunately, many people thought his opponent, Yui Chul Nam, deserved the victory. Like Nover, Levan Makashvili picked up a split decision win on the main card. They should fight next; more below.
Yui Chul Nam: As stated above, many fans and pundits, myself included, scored the Nover vs Nam bout in the South Korean’s favor, but two of the three judges didn’t see it that way. Nam always comes to scrap, just like Mark Eddiva, who lost a split decision himself earlier in the night. More on their potential face off below.
Levan Makashvili: Makashvili was less than stellar in his UFC debut, but it was enough to get the win. With a full training camp, he’ll likely look much better. Phillipe Nover should be next for him. Both men will be able to test each other, and Nover will be the biggest name Makashvili has ever fought.
Mark Eddiva: Eddiva has now lost two straight fights, and if he wants to stay in the UFC after his next fight, win or lose, he’ll need his next fight to be a barn burner. Yui Chul Nam, who was robbed of a win versus Nover on the card, is the perfect opponent to be matched with Eddiva. A fight between them would be a leading candidate to win Fight of the Night on any card. Book it.
