5 fights to make after UFC 202: Diaz vs. McGregor 2
UFC 202 lived up to its billing Saturday night, as Conor McGregor earned a decision over Nate Diaz in the main event while the four other fights on the main card ended in finishes.
Aside from the multitude of great fights, the decision outcomes at UFC 202 paved the way for some even better matchups to be made down the line. Check out five fights we think the UFC should put together for some of the big winners from Saturday night.
Both McGregor and Diaz said after the fight that they were down to complete the trilogy, with Diaz even saying he wasn’t interested in any other fights at the moment. It appears at this point the only thing we’re waiting on is for the UFC to draw up the contracts.
McGregor stated in his post-fight media scrum that he wants the next fight to be at lightweight, which is great since 155 pounds has been shown to be the optimal fighting weight for both fighters.
Why not strike while the iron is hot and make this fight as soon as McGregor can start training again.
When Anthony Johnson sent Glover Teixeira’s tooth flying 13 seconds into their UFC 202 co-main event fight, he’d probably done enough to be crowned king light heavyweight right then and there. But instead, Johnson will go about it the legit way, and he’ll fight current champion Daniel Cormier for the light heavyweight title, as agreed upon by both fighters tonight.
Cormier survived Johnson’s powerful punches the first time around, but after Rumble’s consecutive chin-checking exhibitions against Glover Teixeira, Ryan Bader and Jimi Manuwa, I wouldn’t dare pick against him. Not with my name in the byline. Nope.
Eddie Alvarez had his eyes on the winner of the UFC 202 main event between Conor McGregor and Nate Diaz, but it looks like someone else had their eyes on him. Lightweight contender and welterweight killer Donald Cerrone said over and over again in the lead-up to UFC 202 that he wanted to return to 155 pounds to face Alvarez next. And now that he’s take down his third straight welterweight opponent, he deserves a shot at the strap.
"Cowboy" handed Alvarez a loss in his UFC debut, so this is probably a fight that piques both their interest.
Yea, I said it -- former champion and No. 1-ranked welterweight Robbie Lawler. Larkin has won four of his last five fights since dropping to welterweight, three of which have come by way of knockout, including his first-round shellacking of seventh-ranked 170-pound fighter Neil Magny on Saturday night at UFC 202.
Aside from that, Larkin has a unanimous decision win over Lawler from their 2012 fight under the Strikeforce banner that “Ruthless” may want to avenge.
Larkin was unranked at welterweight before UFC 202, so there’s no telling where voters will place him in the rankings, but no doubt he should land in the top 10. His recent success coupled with his history with Lawler makes for an interesting fight at 170 pounds.
Ohh!!!! @Da_Monsoon strikes first to the body! #UFC202 https://t.co/bdQTpJVjmV
— UFC (@ufc) August 20, 2016
The UFC bantamweight division just got a bit more interesting as heavy-handed Cody Garbrandt all but guaranteed himself a shot at Dominick Cruz with his performance at UFC 202. He became just the second man in the UFC to stop Takeya Mizugaki with punches -- Cruz is the other -- and made sure to call Cruz out in his Octagon interview.
Cruz, who was working the UFC on FOX desk for the event welcomed the callout and dished out some trash talk of his own.
And what’s this we hear about Daniel Cormier having to break them up backstage?
.@DominickCruz vs @Cody_NoLove anyone? #UFC202 https://t.co/ZZeT3U28HB
— UFC (@ufc) August 21, 2016
