UFC Macao fallout: Let’s play UFC matchmaker edition

The UFC Macao event has come and gone and we were able to experience one of the best knockouts of 2012 when Cung Le starched Rich Franklin with a lunging right hook.

The event wasn’t packed with household names, but  I do have an idea of what should be next for a few of the winners and losers from Saturday’s event. Let’s get right to it:

• Cung Le is coming off the upset win over Rich Franklin and is pretty much fighting on borrowed time at this point in his career. He has indicated that he wants to take some time off after this last fight, but didn’t indicate that he was ready to retire just yet. I’m sure the UFC has plans for him when they go into new international markets just as they did with him headlining in China. A fight with someone like Brian Stann would be excellent.
• Rich Franklin probably should retire. However, if I were him I would have a hard time ending my career on a knockout like that. It is the first time he has ever been knocked out with a single punch, so I have to give him at least one more fight. The thing is it’s hell for him to make the middleweight limit of 185 pounds nowadays, and he’s too small to bang with the light heavyweights. I’d give him someone like Jake Shields(If Shields plans to stay a middleweight). It’s a fight he could win and Shields is a ‘name’ of sorts, albeit not a PPV draw.
• Thiago Silva will probably never become a champion in the UFC light heavyweight division, but he brings it each time he gets in the cage. He’s a gatekeeper nowadays to up and coming prospects since he already has losses to Lyoto Machida, Rashad Evans, and Alexander Gustafsson. A bout with hard-hitting Jame Te Huna would be epic, and Te Huna’s riding a three fight winning streak in the UFC.
• Stanislav Nedkov needs to move to the UFC middleweight division.
• Dong Hyun Kim looked good against Paulo Thiago. He should get the winner of the Mike Pyle/James Head fight that’ll take place in December.
• Takanori Gomi is trying to turn back the clock with his somewhat controversial win over Mac Danzig. He should fight the winner of the Mark Bocek/Rafael dos Anjos fight set for UFC 154.

None of these guys are close to contending for a title, so there are probably lots of options out there for them. I just tried to pick fights that would make sense in regards to where certain fighters are in each division, and if the fight would help them climb that divisional ladder. Hit me with your matchups in the comments section.