The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was in Brooklyn, NY for the first time in promotional history last Saturday (February 11, 2017) with UFC 208: Holm vs De Randamie. It was a lackluster event that saw the promotion’s inaugral women’s featherweight champion get crowned and nine out of 10 bouts go the distance. The scraps are now behind us, so let’s take a look at three potential matchups featuring some of the competitors from the evening… Belal Muhammad vs. Erick Silva I think this would be an excellent match to make in the UFC’s welterweight division, with Muhammad coming off a unanimous-decision win over Randy Brown and Silva last seeing action several months ago, when he picked up a split-decision win over Luan Chagas. Muhammad and Silva are both well-rounded fighters, and I think pitting them against each other inside the Octagon would be a recipe for fireworks. This potential welterweight affair would be a solid fit for the main card of April’s UFC on FOX 24 in Kansas City. Randy Brown vs. Roan Carneiro Brown came up on the losing end of a unanimous decision against the aforementioned Muhammad, and for his next outing inside the Octagon, I would like to see him take on Carneiro, who himself came up short on the judges’ scorecards with a unanimous decision loss to Ryan LaFlare to kick off the preliminary card. I think Brown versus Carneiro would be a fun fight in the UFC’s welterweight division — one that pits an up-and-comer against a veteran. I think this potential 170-pound showdown would be a great fit for the preliminary card to June’s UFC 212 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Nik Lentz vs. Marcin Held “The Carney” came up very short on the judges’ scorecards in Brooklyn, losing a one-sided unanimous decision to Islam Makhachev to snap his two-fight winning streak at 155 pounds. For his next UFC outing, I would like to see the veteran take on 24-year-old Held, who is 0-2 inside the Octagon since making the move to Bellator, with a unanimous-decision loss to Diego Sanchez in his promotonal debut and a controversial split-decision setback to Joe Lauzon in his most recent outing. I think Lentz versus Held is another solid ‘old school versus new school’ type of matchup to make, and I would not mind seeing it booked for a future fight card. I think it would make for an excellent addition to the preliminary card for the aforementioned UFC on FOX 24 in Kansas City this April.
