The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was back in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada last Sunday (February 19, 2017) for the second time in promotional history with UFC Fight Night 105: Lewis vs. Browne, where five of 11 bouts ended inside the distance. The scraps are now behind us, so let’s take a look at some potential matchups featuring a few of the winning competitors from the evening… Derrick Lewis vs. Francis Ngannou Lewis earned a come-from-behind, ground-and-pound knockout in the second round over Travis Browne in the main event to make it six straight wins for himself inside the Octagon. Five of those wins have come by way of knockout, with four decided in ground-and-pound fashion. For his next outing, I would like to see him take on up-and-coming prospect Ngannou, who is undefeated in the UFC and coming off a first-round knockout of Andrei Arlovski. I think this would be a great matchup in the UFC’s heavyweight division and is a fight that makes a lot of sense, especially considering both men are knocking at the door of entering the title picture. I think a victory here would put the winner one or two fights away from competing for the gold. This potential heavyweight contest would be a great fit to the main card for June’s UFC 213 in Las Vegas. Johny Hendricks vs. Thiago Santos “Bigg Rigg” had a successful middleweight debut, defeating former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards following three competitive rounds of action. Earlier in the evening, kicking off the televised preliminary card, Santos defeated Jack Marshman via second-round TKO to bounce back into the win column following a rear-naked choke submission loss to Eric Spicely in the first round back in 2016. I think Hendricks versus Santos is a good next move for both 185-pounders and a pairing that makes sense to me. I think this potential middleweight contest would be a solid addition to May’s UFC 211 in Dallas, either on the main card or as the preliminary card headliner. Sara McMann vs. Liz Carmouche McMann defeated short-notice promotional newcomer Gina Mizany via arm-triangle choke submission in the first round, and she now enjoys a three-fight winning streak inside the Octagon. For her next outing, I would like to see her take on Carmouche, who was her originally-scheduled opponent for the card before being forced to pull out due to injury. After making quick work of Mazany and earning an easy payday, I think it would make sense for her to take on Carmouche her next time out. That is a matchup I would like to see added to the main card for April’s UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville.
