Monday, October 10, 2011

Crystal ball: what lies ahead for UFC 136 winners?



Nitesh Dutt
CSNBayArea.com

With UFC 136 in the rear-view mirror and UFC 137 a mere three weeks away, what will be the future of the victorious fighters from 136’s main card? Come and read along as I take a look at the future of UFC 136’s winners.

Joe Lauzon: Lauzon was considered an underdog in his lightweight bout against Melvin Guillard, but stunned audiences with a first-round submission victory. Lauzon now has two straight wins, but is still far from title contention in a deep lightweight division.

Nam Phan: Phan’s impressive decision victory over Leonard Garcia, but it was his first victory in his last three fights. His career is at a crossroads. If he is able to build off of this victory and win one or two more fights then he’d be in the title picture. His UFC career looks to be safe as his fights are always exciting.

Chael Sonnen: His calling out of Anderson Silva post-fight was a classic moment, but some fans saw it as too “pro wrestling” and not a true example of the UFC fighters’ attitude. However, his impressive win over Brian Stann should clearly make him a number one contender for Silva’s middleweight title once again. Dana White wouldn’t be against making a Silva-Sonnen II fight.

Jose Aldo: After dissecting Kenny Florian en route to a unanimous decision victory, Aldo’s next opponent should be Chad Mendes of Team Alpha Male. The two were slated to meet at UFC 134 for Aldo’s title, but it never happened due to Aldo suffering an injury. There is still enough time in the year for the two to meet and it could possibly happen at UFC 141 on December 30.

Frankie Edgar: His TKO win over Gray Maynard to retain his lightweight title showed fans another dimension to Edgar’s fight game. He walks away with a broken nose along with more respect and admiration than he had going into the fight. His future is quite interesting. As Inside the Cage had noted in past articles, the UFC is looking to bring Strikeforce Lightweight Champion Gilbert Melendez over and if they are successful in doing so, it could lead to a title unification bout. However, if the UFC decides to make Gilbert earn a shot then it is more likely that Edgar will face the winner of Ben Henderson vs. Clay Guida.

As questionable as the future is for these fighters, I’m positive they are happy they face these questions rather then the ones their unsuccessful opponents are facing today.




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