UFC 198 came and went, delivering a night of exciting action. Now with the entertaining night of scraps in our rear-view, let’s take a look at a few potential match-ups featuring some of the losing fighters from the evening… Fabricio Werdum vs Ben Rothwell Werdum suffered a first round knockout at the hands of Stipe Miocic this past weekend, ultimately being dethroned as the UFC’s heavyweight champion. In an attempt to make it back to the gold, I think it would make sense for him to take on Ben Rothwell, who is coming off a unanimous decision loss to former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos. I think Werdum vs Rothwell would be a solid heavyweight showdown and I would like to see it booked for a future fight card, possibly the main card for November’s UFC 205 in New York City. Matt Brown vs Gunnar Nelson I think this would be a very entertaining scrap in the UFC’s welterweight division. It would be a rare “winner vs loser” match-up with Brown suffering a third round rear naked choke submission against Demian Maia this past weekend in Brazil and Nelson coming off a second round rear naked choke win over Albert Tumenov a week prior. They both have a loss to Maia in common, as Nelson’s latest defeat came via unanimous decision against the Brazilian. Brown vs Nelson would be a classic “striker vs grappler” match-up and it is one pairing I would be very interested in seeing and am sure no fight fan would miss. I think this potential welterweight bout would be a solid fit to either headline or co-headline September’s UFC Fight Night in Germany. Corey Anderson vs Ovince St Preux I think this would be an excellent match-up in the UFC’s 205-pound division, with Anderson coming off a controversial split decision loss against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and St Preux losing a one-sided unanimous decision to Jon Jones just a few weeks earlier. I think this is a pairing that makes sense in what is a razor-thin division and believe these two will likely produce an exciting scrap. I would like to see this fight bokoed a part of the prelims for the aforementioned UFC 205 in New York City this November. Warlley Alves vs Sean Spencer Alves came up short in a unanimous decision loss to Bryan Barbarena to kick off the main card for UFC 198 this past weekend and it was the biggest upset of the night by a long-shit; arguably the biggest of the year. Alves was a massive favorite heading into the contest, but after failing to put Barberena away early, fatigue began to set in and Barberena started to get the better of him en route to a win on the scorecards. It was close but even the hometown edge was not enough to give Alves the nod. Following the defeat, I would like to see him take on Spencer, who is coming off a third round TKO loss against veteran Mike Pyle. I think Alves vs Spencer would be a solid match-up in the UFC’s 170-pound division and would like to see it booked for the preliminary card to July’s UFC 201 in Atlanta, which will be headlined by a welterweight title fight between defending champion Robbie Lawler and challenger Tyron Woodley.
