Matches to make following UFC Fight Night Dublin

Matches to make following UFC Fight Night Dublin

by Chris Houten - @mrhouts

With UFC Fight Night Dublin in the books and McGregor already confirmed to be fighting Poirier at UFC 178, we take a look at additional match ups the UFC should look at following UFC Fight Night Dublin.

Gunnar Nelson vs Damien Maia
Now 4-0 in the UFC after defeating Zak Cummings by 2nd round submission, Gunnar Nelson should draw a top 10 opponent in his next match up, and I would like to see Damien Maia as that opponent. A talented grappler who's striking is ever improving, Maia will likely never challenge for the welterweight title, but still has the skills to present problems for any man at 170lbs.

From a grappling perspective who doesn't want to see Nelson vs Maia? More so though this bout makes sense as Maia will asks all of the questions that need to be asked to Nelson if he is to be a viable title challenger - can Nelson deal with a much larger welterweight, what happens when he faces a guy with better BJJ then him, and what is he like when the pressure is put on him the way Maia would.

Ian McCall vs John Lineker
With John Dodson injured and out till 2015, and Brad Pickett no longer the number one contender in the flyweight division following his loss to Ian McCall last night, the flyweight division is looking a little thin for contender at this stage.

With McCall victorious over Pickett, and John Lineker impressive in victory over Alptekin Ozkilic just a few days prior, a match up between McCall and Lineker to determine the next number one contender makes sense.

Norman Parke vs Diego Sanchez
Following his victory over Naoyuki Kotani, Parke took to the mic to declare he wants to fight Diego Sanchez next. A fight against Sanchez makes a lot if sense for Parke, he is the kind of name that could propel Parke into the top 10 with an impressive win. Parke will know he has the tools beat Sanchez as well having see Alliance teammates Myles Jury & Ross Pearson (just not on paper) recent beat Sanchez.

If the UFC are interesting in promoting Parke, as it seems that they are with the hint of a return to Belfast possible in the near future, they will also see sense in a match between Parke vs Sanchez. And as for Sanchez, we all know he's not backing down from any fight.

Ilir Latifi vs Nikita Krylov
With both men picking up impressive TKO victories in Dublin, a match up between Latifi and Krylov seems a natural pairing for the European 205ers. With both men having similar UFC records, and fighting to the same schedule currently, Latifi vs Krylov would be an exciting addition to the UFC's return to Sweden in October.

Cathal Pendred vs George Sullivan / Igor Araujo winner
Cathal Pendred produced one of the greatest comebacks the UFC has ever seen at UFC Fight Night Dublin defeating Mike King by Rear Naked Choke in the 2nd round, after taking a battering by the much larger man in the opening frame. Pendred will now return to his natural weight category, welterweight, the division where he won his Cage Warriors title.

The winner of September's bout between George Sullivan and Igor Araujo will present an interesting challenge for Pendred in different ways - Sullivan being a knockout artist and Araujo, deadly on the ground.

Fighter vs Writer: Brendan Loughnane predicts UFC 166 (The Results)

Fighter vs Writer: Brendan Loughnane predicts UFC 166 (The Results)

by Ben Heather @benheather

On Saturday night Brendan Loughnane stepped in to the hot seat to challenge Kingdom MMA in the latest Fighter vs Writer feature.

This week we put forward the one and only, the MMA Ranter himself Tommy Strong. Tommy certainly had his work cut out for him this week facing a very talented competitor but we hoped he could get the win for Kingdom MMA.
Below you will be able to see the results as the fights happened. It was a closely contested battle and Brendan certainly proved he isn't just a good fighter but also great at predicting the fights too and he was a respectable opponent for Tommy.

The Scoring

If you predict the correct winner of the fight you will get one point and if you predict the correct method of victory you will get an extra point. However, if the fight ends in a stoppage and you predict the round as well the method you could earn a third bonus point. If the fight goes the distance you can only earn a maximum of two points.

UFC 166 Results

John Dodson Def. Darrell Montague by KO RD1

• Brendan Loughnane: Dodson by Decision - Score 1
• Tommy Strong: Dodson by TKO Rd 2 - Score 2

Score after the 1st fight: Brendan Loughnane - 1 Tommy Strong - 2

Gabriel Gonzaga Def. Shawn Jordan by TKO RD1

• Brendan Loughnane: Gonzaga by TKO Rd 1 - Score 3
• Tommy Strong: Jordan by TKO Rd 1 - Score 0

Score after the 2nd fight: Brendan Loughnane - 4 Tommy Strong - 2

Gilbert Melendez Def. Diego Sanchez by Unanimous Decision

• Brendan Loughnane: Melendez by TKO Rd 3 - Score 1
• Tommy Strong: Melendez by Unanimous Decision - Score 2

Score after the 3rd fight: Brendan Loughnane - 5 Tommy Strong - 4

Daniel Cormier Def. Roy Nelson by Unanimous Decision

• Brendan Loughnane: Cormier by Unanimous Decision - Score 2
• Tommy Strong: Cormier by Unanimous Decision - Score 2

Score after the 4th fight: Brendan Loughnane - 7 Tommy Strong - 6

Cain Velasquez Def. Junior Dos Santos by TKO RD5

• Brendan Loughnane: Velasquez by TKO Rd 5 - Score 2
• Tommy Strong: Velasquez by Unanimous Decision - Score 1

FINAL SCORE BRENDAN LOUGHNANE - 9 TOMMY STRONG - 7

Kingdom MMA would like to thank Brendan Loughnane once again for his participation in Fighter vs Writer even if he has become only the second fighter to beat one of our writers. All I can say is the best man won and it's going to be a long time before we put Tommy up to represent the site again.

Brendan proved what many people have been saying for a long time, Tommy is all talk!!

UFC 166 Adds Lightweight Battle

Diego Sanchez vs. Gilbert Melendez Added to UFC 166 Fight Card

by John Haigh @JohnBJayHaigh

UFC officials on Thursday added a lightweight bout between the inaugural The Ultimate Fighter winner Diego Sanchez and former Strikeforce champion Gilbert Melendez to the 19th October UFC 166 fight card set for the Toyota Center in Houston Texas.

Since his split decision victory over Takanori Gomi in March, Sanchez (24-5) has been lobbying for a fight with Nate Diaz, Josh Thomson, or Melendez.

His win over Gomi was Sanchez' first fight back at lightweight since going (2-2) in his stint at welterweight, with a victory over Melendez and his win over Gomi they would go a long way towards moving Sanchez back towards title contention in the lightweight division. Sanchez previously failed in his only UFC title shot against then lightweight champion BJ Penn at UFC 107 in late 2009.

Melendez (21-3) made his UFC debut against lightweight champion Benson Henderson at UFC on Fox 7 in April, but fell short, losing a split decision. Now, like Sanchez, he is looking for the quickest route back to No 1 contender spot.

Melendez said in May that he was willing to fight anybody on the roster, as long as he wasn’t going back to ground zero. He wants to fight someone that will propel him back to a fight against whomever holds the belt.

“There’s a lot of good guys. Whoever is hot right now,” said Melendez. “Whoever is the hot dude who is closest to getting that title shot, I’ll take it.”

Announcing Sanchez vs. Melendez, UFC officials also confirmed the previously reported welterweight bout between Nate Marquardt and Hector Lombard for UFC 166.
The event is to be headlined by the rematch between UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos.