UFC 198: Werdum vs. Miocic – Fights to make for the main card fighters

UFC 198 ended up being a hell of a card for the promotion. Five KOs, a submission, and big upset wins for 4 fights on the card, including huge wins for two old-school Brazilian veterans in front of home crowds. Lots for fans to be happy about, all capped off by a changing of the guard that left the 45,000 strong crowd just about dead silent. That means, it’s time to sort through the rubble and figure out what to build next.

That’s where the art of fantasy fight booking lies (and it is an art). Picking out just the right next move for a fighter to make takes a certain amount of panache and, dare I say it, genius. So, I’m putting my immense matchmaking talents to use, under the Silva/Shelby model of winner vs. winner, loser vs. loser, tenure vs. tenure to give you the best possible future fights for each of the major contenders from UFC 198.

STIPE MIOCIC: Two choices out in front of Stipe, but with Cain Velasquez already booked to face Travis Browne at UFC 200, it seems like this is exactly the right time to book Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem. Overeem has earned his shot, he’s got as much name value as anyone over 205 lbs and it brings to fruition a plan years in the making. And, if Overeem wins, he has yet to fight Cain and has a win over Werdum, so that keeps options wide open. Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem.

FABRICIO WERDUM: I know when I wrote up Rothwell’s post fight matchmaking, I put him against Brown off a loss to Cain, but why not Werdum off a loss to Miocic. Obviously both Arlovski and Barnett are out there as well (hell Arlovski beat Werdum once) but I want to see Arlovski and Barnett fight. So the most sensible top shelf matchup is Fabricio Werdum vs. Ben Rothwell.

RONALDO SOUZA: He’s the only meaningful contender right now for the winner of Rockhold vs. Weidman 2. He’s coming off a win now, and Romero is still sidelined and while Bisping would be a nice career twilight moment, it seems that the UFC might have Bisping picked to maintain his gatekeeper role. So after UFC 199, it’s time for Jacare to get a title shot.

VITOR BELFORT: Well, Bisping did say he hasn’t yet been offered the Robert Whittaker fight, despite that reportedly being in the works, and Bisping vs. Belfort 2 would be a lot of fun. Otherwise it seems like the UFC aren’t going to get Belfort and Anderson Silva to fight each other and he and Rashad were longtime Blackzilians teammates. But, if the UFC has other plans for Michael Bisping then… Why not Vitor Belfort vs. Nick Diaz? Weird fight, but I think it’d be crazy awesome.

CRIS CYBORG: Assuming the UFC doesn’t just let Cyborg waste more time fighting random people over in Invicta (I’m sorry Invicta, I love you but this is what’s happening), and assuming that they can’t convince the winner of Pena/Zingano, Holm/Shevchenko, or Ronda Rousey to fight her, then let’s see if we can get Cris Cyborg …

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