By crushing Japanese veteran Takanori Gomi at UFC Fight Night 52, Myles Jury advanced to 6-0 in the UFC and 15-0 overall. Jury is one of the hottest names to come off of The Ultimate Fighter in recent years, and he has looked utterly dominant of late.
However, in spite of his success, Jury finds himself on the outside looking in when it comes to the lightweight title picture, courtesy of an overabundance of potential contenders. Because of that, the next fight for Jury is critical in terms of advancing toward the belt.
So who could he fight that will help him stake a claim for a title shot? Who could the UFC want to keep building him up? Who makes the most sense for him as an opponent overall? Find out right here!
Khabib Nurmagomedov
The young man from Dagestan may be recovering from knee surgery, but if the early projections are to be believed, we could see him get back into the cage relatively soon. With Gilbert Melendez set to fight Anthony Pettis for the belt in December and Eddie Alvarez and Donald Cerrone facing off in a possible top-contender bout, both Jury and Nurmagomedov will need to put in an impressive effort if they want to get a title shot in early 2015.
So...why not just fight for it?
Nurmagomedov is already deserving of a title shot given his utter dominance over high-level competition. He is doubly deserving from an "MMA Math" perspective given how Rafael dos Anjos (whom he beat in April) just knocked out former lightweight champion Ben Henderson. Still, MMA is a "what have you done for me lately" business, and if Alvarez and Cerrone put on a good show, we could easily see both Jury and Nurmagomedov get lost in the shuffle.
For Jury, this fight is a great opportunity to trampoline toward a title shot. For Nurmagomedov, this is...well—he doesn't care. He'll fight anybody.
Joe Lauzon
So you might not have realized it, but the UFC has actually been quietly grooming Myles Jury. He showed himself to be a special talent from the get-go by beating Michael Johnson and Ramsey Nijem (both of whom have since gone on to prove themselves as solid fighters), and the UFC has been helping him to build his brand since...mostly at the expense of established veterans.
This is what some (and by "some" I mean "I") like to call the "Jon Jones Treatment." The UFC knows Jury could be a top talent for a long while, and rather than throwing him to the dogs, the promotion has been letting him organically expand his skill set while keeping him busy and in the news by feeding him recognizable names.
Joe Lauzon is a recognizable, popular veteran who is on a recent upswing. If the UFC wants to keep sharpening Jury's teeth, a fight between the two makes sense.
Rafael dos Anjos
Rafael dos Anjos and Myles Jury are easily the two most underappreciated fighters among the top 10 in the lightweight division. Both of them own emphatic, impressive wins over high-level competition, yet they continue to toil in obscurity.
So why not have them fight one another?
The matchup is an intriguing clash between a young, athletic hotshot and a refined, crafty veteran. Both are formidable all over the cage and come from top-level camps (Jury from Alliance MMA and dos Anjos from Evolve MMA). The two would almost certainly combine for an exciting, technical matchup, and attaching such a fight to a blockbuster card such as UFC 182 would be a great way to help build them up.
