MMA betting expert Luca Fury plays matchmaker for potential upcoming fights based on UFC 146 results from May 26, 2012. 
Heavyweights: Junior dos Santos vs. Cain Velasquez 2 In the main event of UFC 146, dos Santos picked apart Frank Mir for the majority of the first round before polishing him off midway through the second. The bout was the first UFC heavyweight title defense for “Cigano” since capturing the crown from Velasquez, who fought in the co-main event of the evening. Velasquez fought Antonio Silva and made a statement, as he dummied “Bigfoot” en route to a brutal, first-round finish. The MMA odds had Velasquez and dos Santos each as heavy favorites in UFC 146, and they came through in dominating fashion for those who backed them. With both champion and former champion looking so impressive, the next opponents for each of them are a no-brainer: each other. Heavyweights: Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Silva It took just one punch and 51 seconds for Roy Nelson to halt fellow heavyweight Dave Herman. The two came out swinging, and “Big Country” countered a jab with his trademark overhand right, tagging Herman flush and forcing referred Steve Mazzagatti to halt the action. Even with the victory, Nelson is still an unimpressive 2-3 in his last five matches and finds himself in the lower ranks of the division. A match with an opponent in a similar position seems fitting, and since the two were originally scheduled to meet on this card before injuries caused a shake-up, Silva seems like the perfect man for the job. Heavyweights: Stipe Miocic vs. Stefan Struve With two undefeated heavyweight prospects meeting in the octagon, either Miocic or his opponent Shane del Rosario had to lose. Luckily for Miocic, it wasn’t him, as he pounded out del Rosario in the second round. The win brings his record to 3-0 in the UFC, but not over the most impressive list of fighters. Struve also pushed his winning streak in the UFC to three when he armbarred Lavar Jonhson just over a minute into their fight earlier in the night. Given the timeline, their place in the division and the intriguing style matchup the bout presents, a fight between the two makes all kinds of sense. Lightweights: Jamie Varner vs. Paul Sass In one of the biggest upsets of 2012 so far, Varner made his return to the UFC after five years to score a first-round technical knockout win over the highly-touted and previously undefeated Edson Barboza. Varner used his wrestling to keep Barboza thinking before surprising him with a vicious salvo of right hands to put the first loss on his record and did so as a big +425 underdog according to the UFC 146 odds. Another undefeated prospect fought earlier in the night and managed to keep his unblemished record intact, as Sass scored an upset triangle choke win over Jacob Volkmann as a +165 dog . Thus far into his UFC career, no one has been able to stop the Brit’s slick submission game. A fight with a wrestler like Varner, who is also a capable striker, would provide an interesting test.
