The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) went to Seoul, South Korea for the first time in promotional history with UFC Fight Night 79: Henderson vs Masvidal. The event is now behind us, having produced a night of fun and interesting fights, so now let’s take a look at some potential match-ups featuring a few of the competitors from the evening… Dongi Yang vs Sam Alvey This would be a rare “winner vs loser” match-up in the UFC’s middleweight division, with Yank scoring a second round TKO of Jake Collier this past weekend and Alvey being on the losing end of a TKO against Derek Brunson earlier this year. I think the two match up well and would produce a fun fight in the UFC’s middleweight division; one that will almost certainly play out on the feet for it’s entirety, potentially ending in a knockout, as both middleweights are known to hit hard. I’d like to see this fight booked for a future card, and I think it would work as part of the preliminary card for February’s UFC Fight Night 83 in London. Yoshihiro Akiyama vs Mike Pyle “Sexiyama” is not sure if he will fight again following a somewhat controversial split decision loss to still undefeated Alberto Mina at yesterday’s UFC Fight Night 79 in Seoul, but I think he is mostly saying that because he feels saddened and robbed. He looked the best he has ever looked in this fight, with his striking specifically, so I would personally like to see if in action at least once more, and I think fellow 40 year old veteran Mike Pyle make sense as the next match-up for him. Pyle came up short in a unanimous decision against undefeated Colby Covington in his latest outing earlier this year and has no plans to retire any time in the near future. I would Akiyama vs Pyle is a match-up that makes a world of sense and I would like to see this potential welterweight battle on a stacked UFC 198 card, which is still scheduled for New York in April. Alberto Mina vs Rick Story Mina kept his undefeated streak alive with a razor thin and somewhat controversial split decision win over veteran Yoshihiro Akiyama and is now 2-0 in the UFC. For his next Octagon outing, I would like to see him take on another veteran in Story, who has not seen action since a split decision victory over Gunnar Nelson over a year ago. I think Story is a good next fight for Mina and vise versa. After a win over Akiyama, another one over Story would be big and would almost certainly crack him into the division’s top 15 rankings. For Story, I think the undefeated Mina is a good opponent to get in the Octagon win following his extended layoff, which has largely been in part due to injury. I think this would be a solid potential scrap in the UFC’s welterweight division and think it’d be a good fit for the main card for March’s UFC Fight Night 84 in Australia. “Stun Gun” Dong Hyun Kim vs Neil Magny I think this would be a fantastic match-up to make in the UFC’s welterweight division, with “Stun Gun” making it two in a row with a first round TKO win over Dominic Waters at yesterdays UFC Fight Night 79 in Seoul and Magny taking a split decision over Kelvin Gastelum a week prior. Kim has been a top ranked welterweight for years now and continues to be a threat in the division. Magny recently cracked the top 10 with his win at #9, and for his next outing, I think it would make a lot of sense for him to take on Kim at #7 to see if he can continue his climb up the UFC’s 170-pound ladder or if his ride up will get derailed by the Korean. Not to mention, I think the two would produce a very entertaining scrap, and as a fight fan, this is one battle I would not want to miss. This is another fight that would be a good fit for April’s UFC 198 set for New York City.
