UFC Fight Night 31: Fight for the Troops 3 has come and gone, leaving us with some very interesting possibilities across the board for the most impressive winners. Here are some fights I’d love to see made by the UFC matchmakers: In the lightweight division, two match-ups I would like to see are Michael Chiesa vs Norman Parke, and Rustam Khabilov vs Myles Jury. In my last fight prediction article, I said I would like to see Parke vs Jury, but I would prefer to split them up in order to make these two better match-ups. Chiesa vs Parke would be a really exciting battle between two TUF winners with lots of heart. Even more exciting would be Khabilov vs Jury, as I think both fighters would be a real test for each other. Khabilov got past Masvidal, but Jury presents different problems, as well as some of the same ones Masvidal did. An intriguing potential bantamweight match-up would be Francisco Rivera vs Raphael Assuncao. Assuncao is ahead in the rankings and would prefer an opponent above him, but Rivera himself wants an opponent that is in the top 10. I think Joe Silva and UFC should give Rivera what he wants and put these two together in the Octagon, as I think it will be a really exciting fight that will likely end with a knockout. I would like to see a welterweight scrap in the form of Seth Baczynski vs Stephen Thompson. I think The Polish Pistola going up against Wonderboy would make for a terrific match-up, and it makes perfect sense for both of them. A middleweight battle I would like to see is Yoel Romero vs Tim Boetsch. Boetsch will be a step up in competition for Romero, and will be a test for him. Romero will be at a serious cardio disadvantage in this bout, so if he can’t put Boetsch away early, he might be in serious trouble. Finally, I would like to see a middleweight war in the form of Tim Kennedy vs Michael Bisping. Both guys are dealing with injuries right now and should be healthy in time to square off against each other. Perhaps Bisping’s may take longer, but in any case, this is a fight between two extremely well-rounded mixed martial artists I would love to see. I think it would be a very fun battle that takes mostly on the feet.
