Ronda Rousey
Ronda Rousey

The historic UFC 157: Rousey vs. Carmouche event has come and gone which means it’s time to get back to business. The rather lackluster main card on paper turned out to be fairly decent.

We had a big upset with Robbie Lawler knocking out Josh Koscheck. Urijah Faber unexpectedly finished the always tough Ivan Menjivar. Lyoto Machida and Dan Henderson was a dud that ended via split decision. At least the judges got it right though. However, the main event with Ronda Rousey and Liz Carmouche made the entire event. Let’s take a look at who some of the winners and losers could be facing next.

Ronda Rousey: Pretty sure that she’ll take on the winner of the Miesha Tate/Cat Zingano TUF 17 Finale fight that will take place in April

Liz Carmouche: She made a name for herself off Rousey in a losing effort. No idea who she’ll fight next. Ideally she’d face someone like Sara McMann who could use Carmouche as a stepping stone towards a title shot IF she could beat her.

Lyoto Machida: Dana White said Machida will get a title shot. However, I think Alexander Gustafsson will bypass him if he wins impressively against Gegard Mousasi. So I’ll say Machida will fight someone like Rashad Evans, although Evans called out Shogun Rua recently.

-Dan Henderson: Didn’t look too bad considering the circumstances of the long layoff plus coming off knee surgery. I think he and Shogun Rua should rematch since the first fight was so great and relatively close.

-Urijah Faber: Faber’s in a tough spot. He beats all the other top guys in his division except the champion. If Cruz can’t return to fight this summer I wouldn’t be opposed to giving Faber another shot at Renan Barao for the interim title.

-Court McGee: McGee probably saved himself from being cut from the UFC roster with his win over Josh Neer. He looked decent in his first stint as a welterweight. It’s a stacked division, so somebody like John Hathaway would be a good starting point although he’s (7-1) in the UFC.

-Robbie Lawler: Lawler really set himself up nicely with the win over Koscheck. The guy has dynamite in his hands and can put anyone to sleep on any given night. Give him Tarec Saffiedine in a battle of Strikeforce imports. It would be an exciting fight stylistically and another ranked opponent for Lawler.

-Brendan Schaub: Schaub fought the smart fight against a power puncher like Lavar Johnson. He would have been put to sleep had it not taken Johnson down and laid on him. Give Schaub to Sean Jordan.

-Dennis Bermudez: He’s now won three straight UFC fights. It’s time to step of the competition just a hair. Enter Nik Lentz

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