The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was in Belfast, Northern Ireland for the first time in promotional history with UFC Fight Night 99: Mousasi vs Hall II. The 13-fight card produced a ton of excitement, with more than 50 percent of the contested bouts ending inside the distance. Following the entertaining evening of scraps in Northern Ireland, let’s take a look at some potential matchups featuring a few of the competitors from the evening… Kevin Lee vs. Beneil Dariush Lee delivered another dominant performance, earning a second-round rear-naked choke (technical) submission win over Magomed Mustafaev, which puts him at three wins in a row inside the Octagon. He deserves ranked opposition for his next outing, and I think it would make sense for him to take on Dariush, who is coming off a unanimous-decision win over Rashid Magomedov, which put him at two in a row. I think Lee versus Dariush would make for an intriguing potential matchup in the UFC’s lightweight division, and it is one I would not mind seeing booked for a future fight card, preferably the main card for January’s UFC 208 in Anaheim, CA. Ali Bagautinov vs. Ian McCall “Puncher” came up short in a unanimous decision loss to Kyoji Horiguchi this past weekend and will be looking to get back into the win column his next time out. I think a matchup that makes sense for him is one against McCall, who was supposed to compete against Neil Seery on the same card but was forced to withdraw due to illness and hospitalization. “Uncle Creepy” is coming off an extended layoff and has had a handfull of cancelled bouts this year. Bagautinov verus McCall is a potential matchup that draws my interest, and I would like to see it booked for the UFC’s February trip to Brooklyn, NY for UFC 209. It would be a good fit for the evening’s televised preliminary card on FOX Sports 1. Magomed Mustafaev vs. Rashid Magomedov Mustafaev suffered a second-round rear-naked choke (technical) submission defeat against the aforementioned Lee and saw his impressive 13-fight winning streak snapped. For his next outing inside the Octagon, I would like to see him take on fellow Dagestani striker Rashid Magomedov, who recently has an impressive winning streak of his own snapped in a unanimous decision loss to Beneil Dariush. I think this potential Dagestani striker versus Dagestani striker matchup makes sense and would be very entertaining. This is another fight I think that would be a good fit for the aforementioned UFC 209 fight card in Brooklyn, likely on the Fight Pass prelims for the fight card. Brett Johns vs. Rani Yahya Undefeated Welsh bantamweight prospect and Cage Warriors 135-pound champion Johns made his long-awaited UFC debut and scored an impressive unanimous-decision victory over Kwan Ho Kwak. Scoring 11 takedowns and surviving a late onslaught from Kwak, Johns won over many fans with his debut performance. For his next Octagon outing, I would be interested in seeing him take on an experienced grappler and veteran like Yahya. Would he try to ougrapple the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, or will he opt to keep the fight standing and look to either knock him out or out point him? Perhaps it would not be up to him, as Yahya would dictate where the fight takes place? These are questions I would like answered, and I think this matchup would be a good fit for the FOX Sports 1 televised prelims to UFC 210 in Las Vegas this March.
