Matchmaking Predictions for UFC on FOX 19’s Losing Fighters

darrell horcherUFC on FOX 19 came and went, producing a night of entertaining action that saw seven of 11 bouts end inside the distance, and with the night of scraps now in our rear view, let’s take a look at a few potential match-ups featuring some of the losing competitors from the evening… Tecia Torres vs Joanne Calderwood This would be a fun match-up in the UFC’s women’s strawweight division between a pair of Invicta FC and TUF 21 veterans. It would also be a rare “winner vs loser” match-up, with Torres coming off a unanimous decision loss to Rose Namajunas this past weekend and Calderwood taking a unanimous decision against Cortney Casey. Torres and Calderwood are amongst the best strawweights in the division and I think they would produce fireworks if pitted against each other inside the Octagon. I think this potential women’s 115-pound scrap would be a solid fit on the main card for July’s UFC on FOX 20 in Chicago. Darrell Horcher vs Cody Pfister Unless you want to feed Horcher to the wolves again, I feel like this is a pretty obvious match-up. Horcher is off his second round TKO loss to Khabib Nurmagomedov this past weekend and Pfister was defeated by second round guillotine choke submission in his latest Occtagon outing last year against Sage Northcutt. I think this is a fight that makes sense and won’t at all surprise me to see booked on a future fight card, likely the Fight Pass prelims for July’s UFC Fight Night 91 in South Dakota. Beneil Dariush vs Loser of Pettis/Barboza Dariush dominated the first round against Michael Chiesa but made a mistake early in the second frame which allowed Chiesa to take his back and ultimately sink in a choke/crank to hand the Iranian the first submission defeat of his professional mixed martial arts career. Coming off the defeat, I would like to see him take on the loser of this weekend’s Anthony Pettis vs Edson Barboza match-up. I think both Dariush vs Pettis and Dariush vs Barboza would make for excellent stylistic match-ups and I would be eager to tune in for either scrap. Manny Gamburyan vs Filip Pejic “The Anvil” had his first taste of defeat as a bantamweight this past weekend against former UFC flyweight title challenger Jon Dodson, losing via knockout very early in the opening stanza. For his next outing inside the Octagon, I would like to see him take on Croatia’s Pejic, who recently made his promotional debut, losing by first round rear naked choke submission against Damian Stasiak. Gamburyan vs Pejic would be a match-up between one of the smallest bantamweights and one of the biggest. This is not a pairing anybody would care about, but it is one that makes sense and I think it would be a good fit on the Fight Pass prelims for the aforementiond UFC on FOX 20 in Chicago this July.

Written by Gabe Killian

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