The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) was live this past Saturday night (April 23, 2016) with UFC 197: Jones vs St Preux and featured a solid night of action. Now with the fun night of scraps in our rear-view, let’s take a look at some potential match-ups featuring a few of the competitors from the evening… Henry Cejudo vs Ray Borg “The Messenger” came up short in his flyweigh title fight against reigning champion Demetrious “Mighty Mouse” Johson, losing via TKO in the very first round of action, ultimately getting his first taste of professional mixed martial arts defeat. Following the sour loss, Cejudo will be taking a long look at the drawing board, and I think an opponent that makes sense for his next outing is Ray Borg. New Mexico’s Borg is coming off a unanimous decision loss to Justin Scoggins and is eager to get back into the win column. No win would be bigger than defeating an Olympic gold medalist coming off a title fight. Not only do I think this fight makes sense in this razor-thin division, but I think it will likely be a great fight. I am a fan of both of these flyweight and I would like to see them pitted against each other inside the Octagon. I think this potential 125-pound scrap would be a good fit for the main card to July’s UFC on FOX 20 in Chicago. Rafael Natal vs CB Dollaway Natal dropped a unanimous decision to surging prospect Robert Whittaker on the UFC 197 main card this past weekend, which snapped a four fight winning streak for the Brazilian, and he will now be looking to return to the win column I think a fight ag ainst fellow veteran CB Dollaway would make sense and I think it presents an interesting match-up. Dollaway is coming off a second round knockout loss to Nate Marquardt and is also in dire need of getting his and raised. I think this potential middleweight bout makes sense and should be booked for a future fight card, likely sometime this Fall. Andre “Touchy” Fili vs Bruce “Leeroy” Caceres This would be a rare “winner vs loser” match-up in the UFC’s featherweight division, with Fili coming off a second round knockout loss to Yair Rodriguez this past weekend and Caceres recently bouncing back into the win column in his return to 145-pounds with a unanimous decision win over Masio Fullen. I think “Touchy” vs “Bruce Leeroy” is a fun fight and I would like to see it booked for a future fight card, possibly for the Fight Pass prelims to November’s UFC 205 in New York City. Dominique Steele vs Randy Brown Steele went to war with Danny Roberts in a ‘Fight of the Night’ winning effort this past weekend but came up short on the judges’ scoecards, and for his next outing inside the Octagon, I would like to see him take on Brown, who is coming off a second round rear naked choke submission loss to Michael Graves. I think Steele vs Brown is a potential match-up in the UFC’s 170-pound division that makes sense and would be a solid fit on the prelims for any fight card, though personally I think would be most fitting for the aforementioned UFC 195 in Brown’s backyard of New York City this November.
