Fantasy matchmaker! What's next for UFC 221 losing fighters?

As always, in addition to winners you have to have losers as well, it's a necessary evil for the fighters but you cannot have one without the other. The person who lost the most on this event is without a single doubt, Luke Rockhold. He had the opportunity to win a Interim Middleweight title and fell short to Yoel Romero.

Mark Hunt also had a night to forget, dropping a unanimous decision to Curtis Blaydes. Super Samoan has only 2 fights left on his UFC contract and he will surely want to have a spectacular end to his UFC career.

Daichi Abe vs Galore Bofando On UFC 221 Daichi Abe has suffered his first professional loss and that is always hard to get over but the only way to go is forward and that means get back in the octagon with a statement. The person who would give him the opportunity for that is Galore Bofando. He's a mainly stand up fighter who likes to trade heavy punches with his opponent which is similar to Daichi Abe. These two men would surely put on a great fight for the fans.

Teruto Ishihara vs Joe Soto The decision of his UFC 221 fight could've gone either way, unfortunately for Ishihara it went toward his opponent leaving him with a loss on his record. He held back a lot on in the fight which cost him the win, he showed moments of brilliance by hurting Quinonez twice but lack of finishing instinct was a big mistake on his part.

Fighting Joe Soto would be no easy task but having in mind that Soto is coming off a two straight losses, where he got submitted and TKO'd, he also will need an opponent that needs to go all out and try to finish the fight to keep his job in the UFC. They should fight and give it their all to impress and deliver.

Mizuto Hirota vs Damir Hadzovic In his fight against Ross Pearson, Mizuto Hirota returned to the lightweight division. Last time he appeared as a featherweight on the weigh-in day he looked like a zombie, barely standing on the scale and showing signs that the weight cut takes extreme toll on his body. Now, as a lightweight, he showed a little bit more skill but he was fighting a really tough opponent and lost the fight.

Fighting Damir Hadzovic is the next logical step, they both fought a few weeks apart and will potentially be ready to come back at the same time, plus their styles are similar and it could potentially be a good fight.

#8 Ben Nguyen vs #9 Dustin Ortiz After making a record for the fastest submission in the UFC flyweight history, Ben Nguyen had one of the worst nights of his life at UFC 221 when he fought Jussier Formiga and got knocked down by a spinning backfist and then completely choked out via a rear naked choke. That was his first attempt at fighting a top #5 ranked guy and it backfired for him so I think in the next fight he needs to fight somebody a little lower ranked than that but still in the top #10.

Dustin Ortiz fits the description, he is ranked #9 and is coming off a win against Alexandre Pantoja. Winning against Ortiz would immediately get him back to where he was and on to another top ranked guy.

Jeremy Kennedy vs Godofredo Pepey Suffering the first loss in your career in a brutal way is never a positive thing but you can find things to learn from it and it quite possibly makes you a better fighter in a way. Alex Volkanovski was a bit more than he could chew and it was a night to forget for Jeremy Kennedy.

But onto better things, and those better things are his next fight which I think should be Godofredo Pepey who is coming off a 2 fight losing streak and is looking to rebound with a win. He's a jiu-jitsu guy who likes to test their skills on the ground but make no mistake, he also holds a couple of TKO/KO wins. This fight would be a good test for Kennedy and a good return fight after suffering his first loss.

Rob Wilkinson vs Ryan Janes I am not sure Rob Wilkinson will still be fighting for the UFC but if they do decide to not cut him and give him another opportunity he should fight Ryan Janes. Rob is a young guy who used to be the real deal in Australia but his stint in the UFC has not been good, in 2 fights he got TKO'd both times and his UFC career might be coming to an end.

Fighting Ryan Janes would be the final opportunity for Rob and I think it's a good opponent to have if you are fighting for your job because he's not impossible to beat and would let you show your skills a bit more.

Damien Brown vs Matt Frevola Losing 3 in a row usually means you're out of the UFC but considering how exciting Damien Brown's matches are he might get another shot to redeem himself and got a couple more opportunities in the UFC: If he does, he should fight Matt Frevola, who is a recent addition to the UFC roster. He fought and lost his debut via TKO but is a fighter who likes to put on a show for the fans, much like Damien Brown.

Saparbek Safarov vs Khalil Rountree Jr. After fighting two top #15 ranked guys in a row, Saparbek needs to fight somebody unranked in order to try and get a win in the UFC. While not ranked, Khalil Rountree Jr. is an extremely dangerous opponent who likes to finish his fights early via brutal knockouts. By beating him, Saparbek would get to keep his job and try to maybe get another crack at the top ranked guys.

Li Jingliang vs Tim Means After getting his 4 fight winning streak snapped by the hands of Jake Matthews, Li Jingliang needs to regain his confidence by fighting an opponent who would indulge in the "stand and trade" type of fight he excels at. Tim Means is definitely that type of opponent and a real challenge for the Chinese fighter.

Those two would surely give us a fight of the night contender and a potential finish which is what the UFC and the fans love.

Cyril Asker vs Marcelo Golm One fight he wins, one fight he loses seems to be the story of the Cyril Asker, he is 2-3 in the UFC and needs to step up his game if he wants to be successful in the company. While his chin and durability might be impressive, he needs to sharpen the rest of his skills and return to the octagon with a big statement.

Fighting and beating Marcelo Golm would surely be a massive success for the French fighter and something he needs in his career because beating a prospect brings more momentum to your name.

#5 Mark Hunt vs #13 Tim Johnson Being at the top for so long means you have fought pretty much everybody in the rankings and could mean you have a potential shortage of opponents. That's why in this case I went little deeper in the rankings with the next opponent, he is ranked #13 and his name is Tim Johnson.

Fighting him would be great for Mark Hunt because in this fight he could show that he still has what it takes to compete at the highest level and get himself back in the win column. If he wins this fight he would definitely earn himself a shot at another top ranked heavyweight.

#2 Luke Rockhold vs #3 Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza After getting knocked out again, Luke Rockhold finds himself in a weird situation right now. He's a former champion who has beaten some amazing fighters but for him, it could be a long way back to the title shot. The best way to do that is by having a rematch with Jacare. He fought him a long time ago in Strikeforce and successfully managed to beat him over 5 rounds. If he beats him again, he would make a statement and get himself back to a contender role in the division.

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