Were there future title-holders on UFC 138?

Nitesh Dutt
CSNBayArea.com

Did Munoz's win over Leben help his chances at a future title shot?

Several fighters came out of the UFC 138 card in Birmingham, England looking like serious contenders for titles. Many fans knew about Mark Munoz and Thiago Alves, but several other fighters made names for themselves as well.

As we do after each card, let’s take a look into the Mind of Nitesh crystal ball and see what some of the night’s winners have ahead of them.

Che Mills: Mills had the lone finish on the preliminary card and it was quite the impressive finish. The England welterweight dropped American Chris Cope with two vicious knees and followed with punches to end the fight after just a mere 40 seconds. It was Cope’s UFC debut and he left quite an imprint while walking away with the Knockout of the Night. Cope has a ways to go before he can be mentioned as a title contender, but more fights like this will help him climb the ladder to the top more quickly.

Terry Etim: Etim added another Submission of the Night honor to his list of UFC achievements with a guillotine finish of Eddie Faaloloto after 17 seconds in the first round. It was his fourth submission finish in the UFC and the most impressive yet. The downside for Etim is he is in a crowded lightweight division. However if he can string together several more wins, he could finally breakthrough as a title contender. He is on the brink of title talk, but needs to do more inside the octagon.

Renen Barao: Barao is one of those fighters that has had a very illustrious and well-documented career, but has never been able to break through as a true title contender. UFC’s bantamweight division is not as deep as some would assume and a man that has one loss in 29 matches should be considered as a top contender. His submission victory over Brad Pickett is just one of many he has had in his career. A possible bout between Barao and the winner of Brian Bowles vs. Urijah could take place for a shot at the title. Plus, with champion Dominick Cruz currently injured a title bout wouldn’t be in the near future.

Mark Munoz: After his thorough domination of Chris Leben, Munoz has shown that he is ready to battle with the “big names” of the middleweight division. The idea has been tossed around that Munoz could go up against the winner of Michael Bisping vs. Mayhem Miller, which takes place on December 3. The winner of that bout would, most likely, get a shot at the middleweight title. Anderson Silva, who is the champion, still doesn’t have an opponent in the upcoming future. Chael Sonnen has called out Silva and, after his win on Saturday night, Munoz did as well. Albeit in a much less “pro wrestling” manner, which can make him more deserving in the eyes of fight fans everywhere.

As we all know, only Joe Silva and Dana White can decide who fights when and where. At least we can all take a guess and, maybe, what we guess will turn out true. 

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