UFC Fight Night 40 is behind us, having produced a very exciting night of fights filled with big upsets and great finishes. Now with the action-packed night of 13 fights concluded, there are some possible match-ups I would like to see made… Johnny Eduardo vs George Roop – This would be a bantamweight scrap I would very much look forward to seeing. Eduardo just notched a spot in the top 10 of the division with a first round knockout of Eddie Wineland at UFC on FOX 40 in Cincinnati this past Saturday. It was an incredibly impressive performance that followed a two-year long layoff for the Brazilian, and he surely returned with a bang! Roop last saw action at the TUF Nations finale a month ago, taking home a unanimous decision victory over the Hawaiian Dustin Kimura. Roop has been wanting to face a ranked opponent, and now with Eduardo jumping into the rankings, I see this as a match-up Roop would be happy to take. I would expect this to be a fun battle on the feet, and think it would be an entertaining fight, whether it last a few minutes or goes for all 15. A win here would be a big deal for either bantamweight, and would likely earn them a shot at a top seven opponent in their next outing. I think this match-up would be a good fit for the UFC’s first visit to Bangor, Maine this August. Nik “The Carney” Lentz vs Felipe Arantes – I wanted to see this match-up made and included as part of my predictions post-UFC on FOX 9 last December. Both featherweights were coming off losses then, but now they are both coming off wins. Arantes was successful with a unanimous decision win over Maximo Blanco three months ago, and Lentz just scored a unanimous decision victory of his own over a game Manny Gamburyan this past weekend at UFC Fight Night 40 in Cincinnati. Arantes will not exactly be a step up in competition for “The Carney” but I don’t think he will be an easy out. Possessing excellent Muay Thai, solid takedown defense, and great Jiu-Jitsu, I think the Brazilian could keep this a close and entertaining fight. I think this match-up would be right for either for UFC 176 in Los Angeles this August, or UFC Fight Night in Brazil this September. Should the fight be in L.A., it would mean the first Octagon appearance for Arantes outside of his home country of Brazil. Should the fight take place in Brazil, it would be the third trip there for Lentz, who has already defeated featherweights Hacran Dias and Diego Nunes on enemy turf. This isn’t a scrap too many fans would get excited over, but I think it is a pairing that makes sense and a fight I think would prove to be entertaining. Neil Magny vs Mike “Quicksand” Pyle – This is a welterweight match-up that I think would be very interesting. Pyle again would be playing the role of “gatekeeper” in the division, and it would be interesting to see if Magny could get past him. The Ultimate Fighter season 17 veteran has looked incredible in back to back fights with unanimous decision wins over Gasan Umalatov and most recently Tim Means this past Saturday. He is now 2-0 for 2014 and will be looking to make it 3-0 this Summer, and I think Magny vs Pyle would be a good fit for a main card slot on July’s UFC Fight Night in Atlantic City, especially considering Magny is a native New Yorker. Pyle last saw action at UC 170 in February, taking out TJ Waldburger via third round TKO. He is now 5-1 in his last six fights and will be looking to make it two in a row his next time out. Erik “New Breed’ Koch vs Yancy Medeiros – Koch is now 1-1 in the UFC’s 155 pound division, after suffering a knockout loss against “The Detroit Superstar” Daron Cruickshank this past weekend at UFC Fight Night 40. He will now be looking to get back in the win column, and that is where Medeiros enters the picture. The Hawaiian found himself unsuccessful in his last outing at UFC 172 a few weeks ago, suffering a first round submission loss against the veteran Jim Miller. Fresh off losses, I think Koch vs Medeiros would make for a very entertaining scrap between two lightweights who like to move forward and go for it. I see this fight as being a good fit on the televised undercard for August’s UFC Fight Night in Oklahoma. I have no doubt these two will produce an exciting scrap, whether it lasts a couple minutes or finds its way to the distance. Erick Silva vs Pascal Krauss – Silva won over many fans in a losing effort against Matt Brown this past Saturday night in UFC Fight Night 40’s main event brawl. He nearly hurt and finished Brown early in the first frame, but it was Brown all the way through the rest, eventually stopping the Brazilian via TKO in the third. He lost the fight, though he pocketed $50,000, as he and Brown notched the night’s ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus. Krauss has not seen action since UFC 164 nine months ago, where he suffered a first round knockout against Hyun Gyum Lim. That fight also took home ‘Fight of the Night’ honors, though it was a call many found befuddling, as it was a short and one-sided beating. Not to mention the fact that Dustin Porier faced and defeated Erik Koch on the same card in a very entertaining fight; a fight that hands-down should have taken home the night’s award. I think Silva vs Krauss presents a very interesting welterweight match-up, and it is certainly one fight I would be curious to see. I think it would be a very fun scrap, but I am mainly just anxious about what exactly will happen when their styles clash inside the Octagon. I think this fight would be a good fit for October’s UFC 179 in Rio de Janeiro, though I’m not sure if Krauss will want to remain out of action for that much longer. Note: the fact that he is not fighting on the UFC’s upcoming card in Berlin may suggest that he is dealing with an injury.
