UFC 132 Analysis

UFC 132, held last night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, was a perfect event for the Fourth of July Weekend. It simply caused great fireworks from start to finish. In my opinion, it was easily one of the best fight cards of the year.
After each event, the question is what happens to next to a fighter and that is exactly what we will talk about now regarding a specific few.

Guillard

Melvin Guillard (MMA 29-8-2, UFC 10-4)- After a stellar knockout of Shane Roller, Guillard is currently on a five fight win streak in the UFC. Usually that would give any fighter a title shot, but besides Roller and Evan Dunham, the other wins on his steak are not very note-worthy. This win against Roller just means that Guillard needs a big fight to prove that he really is a first class lightweight. Two fights come to mind next when I think of Guillard's future. The first would be against a main event winner on this card in Dennis Siver who Guillard previously knocked out in 2008. The way Guillard talked about Siver in the post-fight conference where he requested a rematch is just asking for this fight to happen. However, I think the better fight would be against Anthony "Showtime" Pettis. Pettis is coming off a loss to Clay Guida, that cost him a shot at the UFC Lightweight title, and an opponent like Guillard would be perfect for him. Both are extremely flashy and talented, which makes a great fight. If Guillard were to win that, he would for sure be a first class lightweight in the UFC.

Condit

Carlos Condit (MMA 27-5, UFC 4-1)- With his electrifying knockout of Dong Hyun Kim on the main card, Condit now has a four fight winning streak in the UFC. Condit, who has another solid win over welterweight contender Dan Hardy, deserves a welterweight title shot but due to Georges St. Pierre being already booked to fight Nick Diaz in late 2011, it will not happen just yet. Condit does not want to wait either and wants to fight one more time before the year ends. Other notable welterweight fighters Matt Hughes, Diego Sanchez, and Jake Shields are all booked so that leaves one option; Jon Fitch. Fitch was suppose to fight BJ Penn on this card to serve as a rematch for their February battle that ended in a draw, but Fitch pulled out due to injury. So the best option would be let Penn go back to lightweight, have Fitch heal and then fight Condit. Fitch has always believed that he gets screwed over when it comes to title shots, so give him the next worthy opponent (Condit) and see what happens. I would love to see Condit prove that he is worthy to one day fight GSP.

Bader

Ryan Bader (MMA 12-2, UFC 5-2)- The favorite going into a fight with legend Tito Ortiz, Bader left the fight stunned and disappointed when he tapped while in a guillotine choke. This is the second fight he lost in a row due to this choke. With the loss, Bader is now out of the light heavyweight top five, but is still a rising fighter who shows lots of promise. The best thing for Bader to do next would be to fight Matt Hamill, who just lost at UFC 130 to Quinton "Rampage" Jackson. Bader needs a win, to get his career back on track, and Hamill would be just the fighter to accomplish that.

Ortiz

Tito Ortiz (MMA 16-8-1, UFC 15-8-1)- Ortiz just shook up the light heavyweight division big time with his shocking win over Bader. This was expected to be the fight where Ortiz gets beat up again, and where he finally gives up on his career, but Ortiz proved to all of us that he still has it. This was simply amazing to watch. The win against Bader was the first in over five years, and is most likely is last run at the title. Can he do it? Can he beat the odds again? I have no idea how far the run will go, but the fact that Ortiz is truly healthy, and is completely focused on his career means this run could go on for a while. When I watched Ortiz's arm being raised in the air for victory, instantly one possible fight popped in my head: Ortiz-Griffin 3. The previous fights between Ortiz and Forrest Griffin both ended in split decisions with Ortiz winning the first, and Forrest winning the last in November of 2009. If Griffin was to lose at UFC 134 against Shogun Rua, I guarantee Ortiz-Griffin 3 would happen again, because of how close the previous fights were and how big this fight could be. Ortiz was the Cinderella of UFC 132, now it is time just see when the couch turns back to a pumpkin.

Dennis Siver (MMA 19-7, UFC 8-4)- See Melvin Guillard

Silva

Wanderlei Silva (MMA 33-11-1, UFC 2-4) Silva being knocked out against Chris Leben, is really sad. It is terrible to see a legend get knocked out, but it also shows that Silva needs to retire. He needs to realize that he needs to quit now before his career becomes tarnished even more, but knowing Silva that wont happen. In fact, he already has his next fight planned out against Chael SonnenWanderlei and Sonnen have talked smack for months now, and this fight is both what these men want. If Silva could not beat Leben, I do not know how in the world he thinks he could beat Sonnen, but hopefully another lost would help Silva realize that the great career he has had finally needs to come to an end.

Leben

Chris Leben (MMA 26-7, UFC 12-6)- After an amazing knockout of Silva, Leben now makes up for disappointing loss to Brain Stann in January. Leben is no where near a title shot yet, but I do consider him to be a top middleweight because Leben is really good and has incredible knockout power. The next fight I see Leben partaking in would be against the winner of the UFC 133 fight between Victor Belfort and Yoshihiro Akiyama. The winner of this fight could be in the title picture which means they should take on Leben next to see what happens. I would love to see Leben take on Belfort because of the credibility Belfort has and a win against him would show Leben does deserve a title shot, but I would also love to see him fight Akiyama again which was one of the best fights of 2010, where Leben came out on top. If either of these fights would happen, many fight fans would be happy.

Cruz

Faber

Dominick Cruz (MMA 18-1, UFC 1-0) & Urijah Faber (MMA 25-5, UFC 1-1)- I figured I should put the main event fighters together because of what I think should happen next, but I will explain that in a minute. Last night's fight between Cruz and Faber was magnificent, it was easily fight of the night, although I did not like the outcome of Cruz winning by unanimous decision (50-45, 49-46, 48-47) to retain his UFC Bantamweight Title. The fight was extremely close and very exciting. Both men did damage, and I thought Faber had it won with some of the knockdowns he had, however he could not finish. I had the fight at 48-47 for Cruz (Three rounds to two), so I was really surprised that some idiot had the fight at 50-45, Cruz did not win all five rounds in my opinion. Because of how close I and many others thought this fight was, and more importantly how exciting this fight was, I think the best thing to do would be to have an immediate rematch. I still think Faber is the better fighter and he deserves the chance to show it one more time against Cruz. Its not like he does not deserve because he put on a great performance that could have won the fight, however Cruz's standup was just too solid. I think this would be best for the Bantamweight division, but I also heard that Brian Bowles could be next in line. Guess we will just have to wait and see.