Joe Silva's Shoes: What's next for the UFC Fight Night 26 winners?

The UFC’s highly anticipated UFC on FOX Sports 1 debut was a tremendous success.

Saturday’s “UFC Fight Night 26: Shogun vs. Sonnen” event at Boston’s TD Garden had an action-packed six-fight main card with Chael Sonnen capping off the evening with a first-round submission win over former light heavyweight champion Mauricio Rua, which halted his two-bout losing streak.

In the co-main event, heavyweight Travis Browne stunned fight fans when he knocked out Alistair Overeem with a front kick to the chin for one of the most incredible knockouts of 2013 thus far.

Rounding out the main card action, Urijah Faber outworked fellow bantamweight Yuri Alcantara for a decision win, Matt Brown put welterweight Mike Pyle to sleep in just 29 seconds, returning middleweight John Howard made the Boston fans proud with an upset of “The Ultimate Fighter 17? finalist Uriah Hall, and Michael Johnson disappointed those same Boston fans by taking out veteran lightweight Joe Lauzon. No matter the nature of each man’s victory, they all accomplished the ultimate goal of the sport, and that’s being declared the winner at the fight’s conclusion.

After every fight card, fans wonder whom the winners will be matched up with next.

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.

MICHAEL JOHNSON
Whom he should fight next: Isaac Vallie-Flagg
Why they should fight: Johnson snapped a two-fight skid when he spoiled Lauzon’s Boston homecoming in a surprisingly complete effort over the course of 15 minutes.

“The Menace” looked better than ever in an extremely important fight for his career, but he still has a long way to go before establishing himself as a top contender in the lightweight division.

Johnson (13-8 MMA, 5-4 UFC) needs another tough opponent next, and they don’t get much tougher than 10-year vet Vallie-Flagg (14-3-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who is on the road to recovery after an injury forced him out of a UFC 161 matchup against Sam Stout earlier this summer.

Vallie-Flagg is a well-rounded competitor with a tremendous amount of experience. He would undoubtedly put Johnson’s development to the test and see if his upset of Lauzon was the product of “J-Lau” having a flat night or if he has truly made strides in his game.

JOHN HOWARD
Whom he should fight next: Derek Brunson
Why they should fight: Brunson was expected to face Yoel Romero at UFC 164 in just a few weeks, but unfortunately, he was forced to withdraw from the contest due to an injury.

Assuming he isn’t too banged up, having Brunson (10-2 MMA, 1-0 UFC) face Howard (21-8 MMA, 5-3 UFC) after his split-decision win over Hall seems like a compelling matchup.

The two men carry contrasting physiques, as Howard is short and stocky while Brunson is tall and lengthy. It would be a classic striker vs. grappler matchup, and while Howard was able to deal with Hall’s grappling for the most part, he would be in for a much more difficult fight against the former University of North Carolina wrestler.

With a loaded UFC middleweight division, both men are hungry to join the elite of the weight class but currently sit outside of the contenders bubble. A few more victories in the octagon would push them toward that group, and that road continues with this fight.

MATT BROWN
Whom he should fight next: Mike Pierce
Why they should fight: Brown’s incredible career turnaround and six-fight winning streak is a tremendous accomplishment, and the 32-year-old is making major strides toward becoming a title contender at 170 pounds.

Brown has looked great during his current run, but if “The Immortal” truly wants to prove he is capable of defeating opponents at the highest echelon of his weight class, he needs to get past a strong wrestler.

If Brown (18-11 MMA, 11-5 UFC) can’t defeat someone with the goal of beating him up on the ground, his chances of giving a competitive fight to a strong grappler such as champ Georges St-Pierre or top contender Johny Hendricks would appear to be slim.

Pierce (17-5 MMA, 9-3 UFC) is on a nice four-fight winning streak of his own, and while few see excitement in his wrestling-heavy fighting style, he would surely test Brown’s improvements in an area that has led to most of his career loses.

Pierce is a top 10 fighter. His style would provide a realistic gauge of Brown’s ability to become a real title contender or tell us if his success will be limited to brawls with opponents willing to engage him where he’s strongest.

URIJAH FABER
Whom he should fight next: Michael McDonald
Why they should fight: Under most circumstances, Faber’s current three-fight winning streak would be enough to earn a title shot. However, due to the fact interim bantamweight champion Renan Barao is scheduled to fight Eddie Wineland in September with the winner meeting champ Dominick Cruz in a title-unification bout in early 2014, a championship fight is still a ways away for “The California Kid.”

According to the current USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie.com MMA bantamweight rankings, the Team Alpha Male product sits in the No. 3 spot and holds victories over three of the five UFC fighters ranked below him in the top 10.

The two remaining fighters whom Faber (29-6 MMA, 5-2 UFC) has yet to share the cage with are McDonald (16-2 MMA, 5-1 UFC) and Brad Pickett, who happened to fight each other on the UFC Fight Night 26 preliminary card.

McDonald put on a near-flawless performance en route to taking out Pickett by second-round submission, and he now appears to be on a collision course with Faber.

Considering “Mayday” is ranked just one spot behind the former WEC champion, it’s a logical matchup and one that would have major implications in the division’s title picture.

At just 22 years of age, McDonald is considered to be the future of the weight class, and adding a name such as Faber’s to his list of victories would legitimize him on an entirely new level.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Faber has been knocking off fellow contenders left and right, but with losses to Cruz and Barao, he has yet to prove he can take out the next generation of elite 135-pound competitors.

Faber vs. McDonald is one of the most important fights that can be made in the bantamweight division at this time, and it’s a matchup both men said they were open to at the event’s post-fight press conference.

TRAVIS BROWNE
Whom he should fight next: Winner of Frank Mir vs. Josh Barnett at UFC 164
Why they should fight: If you subtract Browne’s knockout loss to Antonio Silva from his record – a fight where he suffered a bad leg injury before being finished – “Hapa” has put together a very respectable body of work throughout his UFC career.

Of course, defeating Overeem in highlight-reel fashion was the most notable of those victories, and now the 31-year-old is on the shortlist of title contenders in the heavyweight division.

With the top of the weight class wide open after Cain Velasquez and Junior dos Santos complete their trilogy in October at UFC 166, one more win could get Browne (15-1-1 MMA, 6-1-1 UFC) the title shot he has been working toward since making his UFC debut in 2010.

If the American wants to put his case for a championship fight over the top, he needs to defeat someone who has once held the belt. And in just a few weeks at UFC 164, two former UFC heavyweight champs go to battle when Mir (16-7 MMA, 14-7 UFC) welcomes Barnett (32-6 MMA, 4-1 UFC) back to the octagon.

Mir would still have a lot of work to do in order to get back to a title shot even with a win over Barnett, but also defeating Browne would only benefit his cause.

Unfortunately, due to the fact both Browne and Mir train out of Greg Jackson’s gym in New Mexico, it’s unclear whether or not they would be willing to fight each other.

As for Barnett, his return to the UFC after more than a decade makes him an exciting new addition to the roster, and a win over Mir could potentially fast track him to a No. 1 contender’s fight.

A Browne vs. Barnett matchup provides the UFC with a fight between two men who have not challenged for a UFC title in this decade, which is exactly what the division needs at this time.

Whomever Browne ends up facing next will draw the attention of fans, and more importantly, it will have a huge impact on which contender could be challenging for the belt in the next 12 months.

CHAEL SONNEN
Whom he should fight next: Wanderlei Silva
Why they should fight: A long-winded retelling of the rivalry between Sonnen (28-13-1 MMA, 7-6 UFC) and Silva (35-12-1 MMA, 5-7 UFC) is unnecessary at this point since anyone who follows the sport knows about the history and distain the two fighters have for one another.

At this point, it’s pretty simple. Silva told MMAjunkie.com on Friday that he wants the Sonnen fight next, and just seconds after his submission win over Rua on Saturday, Sonnen took the microphone from Joe Rogan and responded with his own wishes for a fight with “The Axe Murderer.”

A clash between Sonnen and Silva has been inevitable for years, and considering both are coming off arguably the most impressive victories of their UFC careers, there has never been a more logical time to book this matchup than right now.

For complete coverage of UFC Fight Night 26, stay tuned to the UFC Events section of the site.

(Pictured: Travis Browne)