What’s Next For The Losers At UFC 226

What’s Next For The Losers At UFC 226:

By Alex Conway

It was a historic night for Daniel Cormier at UFC 226, who became the fifth two-division champ in UFC history and just the second to hold two belts at the same time.

But for every fighter that experiences a big victory there is the flip side of the equation, the fighters who didn’t get their hand raised and will march forward-looking to get their careers back on track in the future.

Here is a look ahead for the fighters who weren’t victorious at UFC 226.

Stipe Miocic

While Daniel Cormier became the new UFC heavyweight champ, it brought to an end the historic reign of Stipe Miocic. The Cleveland native had rattled off a record three title defences before getting stopped by strikes against Cormier in the first round of UFC 226’s main event.

Miocic stood in the cage while DC celebrated and Brock Lesnar crashed the party and stood a few feet away and called him a “piece of shit.” The former champ then showed up to the postfight press conference and answered questions, an admirable task after a tough loss.

In the immediate future Miocic will go home and await the imminent arrival of his first child. His wife is due to give birth any day now and it was a big storyline throughout fight week. So while Cormier got the in-cage glory, Miocic is about to experience a personal high that few in life can rival.

As far as fighting goes, Miocic won’t be too far out of a title shot, but that title picture is probably going to get put on ice for a bit if Lesnar truly is the next challenger to Cormier’s crown. Lesnar won’t be able to fight until January at the earliest due to his outstanding issues with USADA, which stems from Lesnar failing a drug test prior to his last UFC appearance against Mark Hunt at UFC 200. If DC decides to wait, Miocic may have to take a fight or two before getting another crack at the title.

A fight with Curtis Blaydes or Alexander Volkov would be a good return fight for Miocic. A win against either would certainly keep Miocic in the title hunt, and a win for either of those guys over Miocic would definitely put a stamp on their title contender status and give them a big public boost to their profile.

Another fight I wouldn’t’ mind seeing Miocic in would be against Cain Velasquez. The former two-time champion hasn’t been seen since fighting Travis Browne at UFC 200 two years ago. He’s been injured for much of the last five years, but was seen in the UFC Embedded series sparring with DC. Maybe he could be returning soon and that would be a fight that could bolster a pay-per-view or headline a UFC on ESPN card heading into the new ESPN deal set to take place in 2019.

Francis Ngannou

That couldn’t have been the way Francis Ngannou wanted to get back into the mix following his dominant loss to Miocic in January. A highly anticipated slugfest between two known knockout artists turned into a staring contest when Ngannou fought Derrick Lewis in the co-main event of UFC 226.

Ngannou lost a decision in a fight where the former title challenger only landed 20 strikes total. The commentary team seemed to think that maybe Ngannou was gun-shy after his loss to Miocic or was trying to conserve energy so that he wouldn’t gas later in the fight. Either way the strategy employed by Ngannou was entirely ineffective.

Ngannou will likely remain a ranked fighter, but the UFC is unlikely to give him a high-profile booking after that performance. Maybe a fight against Marcin Tybura or Aleksei Oleinik makes sense to give Ngannou a chance to fight against someone who isn’t an obvious knockout threat. Maybe they go the route of pitting him against Tai Tuivasa if they feel like putting him in a do-or-die situation, one where he slugs it out and gets back on the highlight reel by adding to his own or becoming part of Tuivasa’s.

Let’s hope Ngannou can put this behind him because he still remains on paper one of the more interesting and exciting fighters in the UFC’s next generation of heavyweight talent.

Paul Felder

Paul Felder desperately wanted to get a fight booked after losing fights with Al Iaquinta and James Vick due to circumstance well beyond Felder’s control in 2018. So he took a welterweight fight with Mike Perry, moving up a weight class to take on a heavy hitter.
The fight didn’t go Felder’s way but I doubt he loses much momentum after a fun back-and-forth loss to Perry. The fight was bloody and Felder fought through an apparent arm injury that only slightly hampered his willingness to throw with that arm.

A likely move back to lightweight should be in order for Felder and once he heals from his injury he should get a top-10 opponent. A fight with Michael Chiesa would be fun if Chiesa stays at lightweight, or maybe the loser of James Vick and Justin Gaethje’s upcoming fight in Nebraska would be worth a look at.

Michael Chiesa

It’s been a tough 2018 for Michael Chiesa. He was injured in the infamous Conor McGregor shenanigans in Brooklyn in April and was forced to withdraw from that fight with Anthony Pettis at UFC 223. The fight with Pettis was re-booked for Saturday but Chiesa missed weight on Friday and on the scales declared he won’t be cutting to 155 pounds anymore.

He then lost via submission in the second round to Pettis almost immediately after doing a bit of showboating and whether he remains at lightweight where he is currently a top 10 fighter remains to be seen.

Chiesa has always been a large lightweight and he’s enjoyed a size and grappling advantage at that weight class. Up a weight class in welterweight would probably be healthier for him, but it would be intriguing to see if he experiences the same advantages up there.

If he sticks around at lightweight I want to see him fight Paul Felder. If he moves up I want to see him fight Donald Cerrone. A fight against the former lightweight title challenger would give him a good transition fight into the 170 pound waters against a guy who wouldn’t be considered a huge welterweight.

Gokhan Saki

The former Glory kickboxer got knocked out in the first round of his fight with Khalil Rountree. An unexpected result but it was the only kind of fight that you’ll probably see Saki in while with the UFC. A stand-up fight that serves to bolster a card’s overall excitement is exactly the type of fights that Saki was brought into the UFC to perform in.

A fight with Gian Villante or Sam Alvey feels like a lot of fun. They aren’t pure strikers, but they are the types of fighter bull-headed enough to stand and trade with Saki and also at times provide a test for him in other areas of the MMA game. I’d like to see the UFC explore those options for Saki next.