Joe Silva’s Shoes: What next for UFC Fight Night 55’s winners?

The UFC made its sixth stop in Australia with UFC Fight Night 55, which took place Friday at Sydney’s Allphones Arena. The event, which streamed on UFC Fight Pass, saw a record number of finishes as every fight on the card ended in a stoppage.

In the main event, middleweight contender Luke Rockhold (13-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) continued to make his case for a title shot when he submitted “The Ultimate Fighter 3” winner Michael Bisping (25-7 MMA, 15-7 UFC) in the second round.

The co-main event saw Al Iaquinta (10-3-1 MMA, 5-2 UFC) knock out “TUF 9” winner Ross Pearson (16-8 MMA, 8-5 UFC) while Robert Whittaker (13-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) and Soa Palelei (22-4 MMA, 4-2 UFC) picked up wins to round out the four-fight main card.

After every event, fans wonder whom the winners will be matched up with next. And with another night of UFC action in the rearview mirror, it’s time to look forward, put on a pair of Joe Silva’s and Sean Shelby’s shoes, and play UFC matchmaker.

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Soa Palelei

Should fight: Winner of Todd Duffee vs. Anthony Hamilton at UFC 181
Why they should fight: After an uninspiring effort in his previous outing, Palelei rebounded with a ground-and-pound finish of injury replacement Walt Harris for his 12th victory in his past 13 fights.

“The Hulk” had his grappling game exposed by Jared Rosholt earlier this year when he lost a one-sided decision to the talented wrestler. Unless the 36-year-old can somehow shore up that hole in his game, he’s not going to break into the next tier of the heavyweight division.

That said, Palelei is always capable of pulling off a knockout. And if he can put together a winning streak against other middling fighters in his weight class, such as the winner of Duffee (8-2 MMA, 2-1 UFC) and Hamilton (13-3 MMA, 1-1 UFC), who meet at UFC 181 on Dec. 6, he could earn another chance to face a top heavyweight.

Robert Whittaker

Should fight: Winner of Nate Marquardt vs. Brad Tavares at UFC 182
Why they should fight: Whittaker’s decision to move up to middleweight was clearly the right one. In his divisional debut, the “TUF: Smashes” winner became the first to knock out Clint Hester when he finished the fight with a second-round flurry.

The Australian rebounded from recent back-to-back losses, and after numerous tough cuts to welterweight, he said a change was needed. Not often will fighters at the UFC level move up in weight, but Whittaker looked better than ever after doing so.

Hester is hardly a small middleweight, and Whittaker didn’t appear physically outmatched prior to his knockout victory. He was quick, slick and confident, which is going to cause problems for some members of the 185-pound weight class.

While Hester had a nice winning streak before he crossed paths with Whittaker, he’s yet to defeat any competition that will prove he can be a long-lasting member of the UFC roster. If Whittaker wants to continue to rise through the ranks, he needs to defeat a bigger name.

Two well-known middleweights in Marquardt (33-13-2 MMA, 11-6 UFC) and Tavares (12-3 MMA, 7-3 UFC) are set to square off at UFC 182 on Jan. 3, and a potential victory over the winner would add a lot of credibility to Whittaker’s resume.

Al Iaquinta

Should fight: Gleison Tibau
Why they should fight: Since he first appeared on “TUF 15,” Iaquinta has shown the type of talent that could result in a special career.

He’s had setbacks and glimpses of brilliance since then, but against Pearson, the 27-year-old showed the full extent of his abilities when he stopped his British counterpart by second-round knockout.

Iaquinta saw mostly indifference when he told MMAjunkie he had a striking advantage over “The Real Deal.” He backed up those words with a counter-striking clinic that concluded with the referee pulling him off his opponent.

Pearson was a step up in competition from anyone Iaquinta had previously fought, but the New Yorker was clearly ready for it. Now it’s only natural to continue to climb the ranks.

Tibau (30-10 MMA, 15-8 UFC) would be a formidable test for Iaquinta. He’s fought a lightweight record 22 times under the UFC banner and has a history of separating the pretenders from the contenders.

Iaquinta has everything going for him right now, though. He’s young, comes from a tremendous gym at Team Serra-Longo, has unshakable self-belief and is on a roll with wins in five of his past six fights. If he can keep that momentum rolling through Tibau, he could garner a spot in top 15 of the division.

Luke Rockhold

Should fight: Ronaldo Souza
Why they should fight: Despite a setback against Vitor Belfort in his UFC debut, Rockhold has fought back to prominence and is on the verge of becoming the top contender in the middleweight division after earning his third consecutive UFC victory.

Another fighter who’s made waves in the 185-pound weight class is Souza (20-3 MMA, 3-0 UFC). “Jacare” is undefeated since coming over from the now-defunct Strikeforce organization and appears to be on a collision course with Rockhold.

Even though Rockhold already holds a September 2011 win over Souza, both fighters have evolved tremendously since then and have proven to be two of the top talents in the UFC middleweight division.

The first meeting decided who would be Strikeforce champion. Should the rematch go down roughly three years later, it’s likely that the outcome would determine the No. 1 contender to the UFC 184 title bout between Chris Weidman and Belfort.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 55, check out the UFC Events section of the site.