The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was back in Saitama, Japan last night (September 26, 2015) with UFC Fight Night 75: Barnett vs Nelson. Following the exciting and surprising night of action, let’s take a look at a few potential match-ups featuring some of the competitors from the evening… Uriah Hall vs Roan Carneiro Hall scored the upset and knockout of the year with a come-from-behind second round TKO stoppage of former Strikeforce light heavyweight champion Gegard Mousasi. The impressive highlight reel finish puts “Prime Time” on a two fight winning streak with two highlight-reel T/KO finishes, and it also guarantees that he will finally crack the UFC’s top 15 middleweight rankings. For his next outing, I think it is appropriate and fitting that he take on Brazilian Roan Carneiro, who was Mousasi’s original scheduled opponent, before withdrawing from the bout due to injury and ultimately being replaced by Hall. I think Hall vs Carneiro would be a solid striker vs grappler match-up and I’d personally like to see it. I think it would be a good fit for the main card of January’s UFC Fight Night 81: Dillashaw vs Cruz. Gegard Mousasi vs Thales Leites Mousasi dominated his UFC Fight Night 75 opponent Uriah Hall for the first round of action, but was caught by a jumping/spinning back kick, a flying knee and ground and pound to follow, for a TKO defeat at the start of the second stanza. The loss snaps a two-fight winning for the Armenian and sends him back to the drawing board. I think an opponent that makes sense for his next outing would be Thales Leites, who recently dropped a split decision to Michael Bisping. Both 185-pounders will now be eager to return to the win column and I think would produce a fun fight if paired up against each other. I think this potential middleweight scrap would make for a good fit on January’s UFC 195: Lawler vs Condit main card in January. Diego Brandao vs Hacran Dias Brandao scored an impressive first round T/KO of Japanese veteran Katsunori Kikuno and made it two in a row inside the Octagon, following a TKO (doctor stoppage) of Jimy Hettes five months ago. I would like to see him pitted against fellow Brazilian Dias, who recently took a split decision over Levan Makashvili and is currently enjoying a two-fight winning streak of his own. Both 145-pounders are looking to extend their streaks to three and I would like to see them get the opportunity to do so against each other. I think this would be a fun fight in the UFC’s featherweight division and one I would not want to miss. I think this fight would be perfect as the headliner to the televised preliminary card for the aforementioned UFC 195: Lawler vs Condit in January. Josh Barnett vs Travis Browne II This is the fight Barnett wants, and considering that he is coming off a win and Browne is coming off a loss, I could see it happening. The division is razor thin, so coming off his first round knockout loss to Andrei Arlovski, I think Browne would accept this rematch, because Barnett is currently higher on the heavyweight ladder than he is, following Saturday night’s unanimous decision win over Roy Nelson at UFC Fight Night 75 in Japan. The reason Barnett badly wants this rematch, according to his interiview on the Joe Rogan podcast, The Joe Rogan Experience, is because he feels Browne disrespected him after defeating him, by mocking him with Barnett’s own “slit throat” taunt. I think he is in a position to get this rematch, and with Browne recently reinstated by the UFC following a temporary suspension, I think there is a decent chance this rematch gets put together. To fill up that aforementioned UFC 195: Lawler vs Condit main card in January, I think this scrap would be a solid fit for the evening’s Pay Per View card.
