UFC 174 took place in Vancouver, Canada on Saturday night with some surprising—as well as predictable—results. With the event now over, a number of potential and interesting future fights could be on the horizon for UFC 174’s winners and losers.
Buried in the prelims, Michinori Tanaka had a successful UFC debut. He defeated Ronald Delorme via unanimous decision, boosting his MMA record to 10-0 in the process.
A fight against Pedro Munhoz (11-1)—who got his first UFC victory last month—would be a good test for Tanaka. A win there would boost Tanaka’s name value and set him up for a fight against a more proven bantamweight.
Ovince Saint Preux remains undefeated in the Octagon after getting a second-round submission win over Ryan Jimmo in the main card’s opening bout. The win puts OSP’s UFC record at 4-0; more importantly, he has finished his last three opponents.
That calls for a step up in competition for the Haitian-American, and Ryan Bader—who earned a dominant victory at UFC 174 against Rafael Cavalcante—fits the bill. Bader has established himself as a force in the UFC light heavyweight division but has come up short against top fighters like Jon Jones, Lyoto Machida and Glover Teixeira in the past.
However, Bader’s dominant wins against other fighters in the division make him a perfect litmus test for someone like OSP, who is aiming to crack into the Top 10.
Andrei Arlovski and Brendan Schaub put on an unimpressive showing in their match at UFC 174. While Arlovski won via split decision, neither fighter asserted himself as a top-level fighter in the bout.
A fight with Roy Nelson is an interesting bout for Arlovski. The two have squared off before, which ended in an Arlovski victory. However, Nelson would most likely relish the chance of avenging a previous loss, while "The Pitbull" could show he still has what it takes to be a top-tier heavyweight.
Once again Rory MacDonald showed why he is a top welterweight, winning a one-sided unanimous decision over Tyron Woodley in UFC 174’s co-main event. While he has been viewed as a welterweight title contender, "Ares" is just two fights removed from a loss against Robbie Lawler.
However, a No. 1 contender's fight against the winner of Matt Brown and Robbie Lawler would be great for MacDonald. Against Lawler, he would have the chance to redeem himself, while against Brown he would be fighting a dominant fighter on an eight-fight winning streak.
Demetrious "Mighty Mouse" Johnson successfully defended his flyweight title for a fourth time against Ali Bagautinov. There is now no clear contender to fight Johnson for the belt, but John Dodson has a good case to be the next title challenger.
He lost his title bout against Mighty Mouse in January last year but has earned two dominant victories over Darrell Montague and John Moraga since then. That could be enough to see a Johnson vs. Dodson rematch before the end of the year.
