Fights to make for the UFC: Almeida vs. Garbrandt main card fighters

There are more than a couple fighters who have to ask themselves some hard questions after this latest UFC Las Vegas fight night card. Guys who came in expecting to roll through their opposition who themselves got rolled, and fighters looking for career revitalizing wins who instead got chalked up with another loss. On both accounts, that makes for some careful matchmaking duties.

Who do you set up for another potential setback, who do you give a better style matchup to? What makes the kind of fight that everyone’s still interested in after a bad loss? After all, it’s not half as hard to sell a winner. Those are the questions I’m sure Sean Shelby and Joe Silva are asking, so they’re the questions I’m here to answer.

As usual, I’ll be going after the Shelby/Silva style of booking. Winners against winners, losers against losers, and similarly tenured opponents. So, let’s get to the fantasy fights:

CODY GARBRANDT: Mookie’s made my job a bit easier with his post fight analysis piece, and frankly it’s just the fight that makes the most sense. Another action fight between young fighters, a step up in experience, but not a leap into the deepest ends of the pool. John Lineker and Michael McDonald are scheduled to fight. Garbrandt should get the winner. Garbrandt vs. Lineker/McDonald winner.

THOMAS ALMEIDA: Part of me wants to just make some chaos and put Thomas Almeida in with Aljamain Sterling. They’re both 4-1, both coming off a loss, etc, etc… but that feels lazy and wasteful. If we want to go winner vs. loser, I think a fight with Takeya Mizugaki would be great, and a good way to give Almeida a hard fight without putting him against a power puncher. Could also say the loser of McDonald/Lineker, for a complete all-violence round-robin, but I’ll go Almeida vs. Mizugaki instead.

JEREMY STEPHENS: Since Stephens obviously deserves a big bump up in fight notoriety after this win, the cruelest parts of me want him to face B.J. Penn when/if Penn returns from suspension. But that could be years with USADA. Unfortunately the upper end of 145 is pretty booked up right now, or full of guys Stephens has already lost decisively to. The best of the latter option would be a rematch with Cub Swanson, since Stephens broke his hand early in that fight. If Ricardo Lamas beats Max Holloway, that’s a good fight for Stephens. If he doesn’t, however, I say give Stephens the loser of Edgar/Aldo. Sure he’s not likely to win, but he deserves some kind of shot at a big fight and it’d be a nice bounce back for either guy. Stephens vs. Aldo/Edgar loser.

RENAN BARAO: It’s probably time to just go out and make sure Renan Barao can get a good win, still. He looked great in bursts against Stephens, but he also looked overly reliant on his chin and like he couldn’t muscle people the way he used to at 135. He may drop right back down, for that matter. If he doesn’t, I say Barao vs. Siver, whenever Siver comes back. If that’s too long, then he could also fight Clay Guida, if Guida loses to Brian Ortega. Still, Barao vs. Siver for now.

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