So I gave you my immediate thoughts after UFC 133 went down last night and after having a little time to reflect, I’d like to put my UFC matchmaker hat on and talk about who should fight who going forward:

  • Rashad Evans is an easy call in that he’ll face the winner of Rampage Jackson/Jon Jones in a fight which will take place at UFC 135 for the UFC light heavyweight title. Excellent fight no matter the winner.
  • Tito Ortiz should face the winner of Forrest Griffin/Shogun Rua in a fight that will take place later this month at UFC 134. Ortiz matches up well with BOTH of those guys stylistically and Griffin/Ortiz have unfinished business splittling a pair of wins between them. Ortiz has been fighting top competition in losing efforts and there’s no reason to give him ‘gimmie fights’ at this point of his career. 
  • Vitor Belfort should face the loser of Anderson Silva/Yushin Okami or possibly Chris Leben as I think the winner of Brian Stann/Chael Sonnenwill probably get a title shot against the winner of Silva/Okami. 
  • Yoshihiro Akiyama should drop down to welterweight if he’s not cut by the UFC and face someone like Mike Pyle. Let them fight on the Japan show the UFC is rumored to have early next year.
  • Brian Ebersole has dispatched two veterans. A matchup with someone like Thiago Alves(I know Alves has a fight lined up), but someone with good striking and some takedown defense would be good for him.
  • Constantinos Philippou is still very green, so there’s no use in rushing him. Alessio Sakara is perfect provided he can stay injury free.
  • Rory MacDonald is the truth! A fight with Rick Story would be great as both are aggressive and trying to get up that welterweight ladder.
  • Matt Hamill’s life meter has been permanently decreased or he’s fighting with significant injuries. He’s definitely gatekeeper status now and would be a good fight for Phil Davis to get back into the swing of things coming off the injury.
  • Alexander Gustafsson is young and there’s no need to rush him into the shark tank of the UFC light heavyweight division. The winner of Luiz Cane/Stanislav Nedkov that’s take place later this month would be a good test.
  • Chad Mendes could be injured and may miss his title shot against the winner of Jose Aldo/Kenny Florian. If so, would be a perfect opportunity to match him up with Tyson Griffin or the #2 guy Hatsu Hioki depending on what happens in the title fight at UFC 136.

Let’s hear your thoughts!

7 thoughts on “UFC 133 post-fight: Who should fight who going forward”
  1. Yep..they do…an example is Tito Ortiz fighting Matt Hamill at UFC 121…Ortiz was coming off the loss to Forrest Griffin…and Hamill was coming off a win against Keith Jardine…just depends on where they have each guy in the grand scheme of things…and what makes sense.

  2. I like Ortiz taking on Henderson, but that shiny trinket around Hendo’s waist will probably see him having a fight with someone like Evans or the Champ.

    Mendes deserves the next shot, but I don’t like his chances. He seems to gas, and go into cruise control half way through the second in all of his fights.

    Other then that, mehh.

  3. Good to see Matt Hamill retire…as I wrote in this piece..he had to have some significant injuries or something…he had nothing in the cage the past two fights.

  4. Agreed. I said after the fight was over, he looked like his body was just beaten down and he might want to think about taking some time off.

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