What's next: UFC Ottawa
What do Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard have up their sleeves for the winners of UFC Ottawa?
The event has concluded and the dust has settled after a blistering main event in Ontario, Canada. The stacked fight card saw the likes of Derek Brunson, Donald Cerrone and Cub Swanson take to the mat. The last of those fighters put on a show against Doo Ho Choi in his last visit to Canada, which set the mood for an exciting Saturday evening.
However, it was not meant to be for Swanson as he was handed a defeat at the hands of Shane Burgos via split decision. Shane edged the scorecards with his striking over the course of the three rounds and has etched his name in the contentions of the Featherweight division. This victory has extended his record to an impressive 12 wins in 13 fights. Therefore, a realistic matchup would be an opponent like Josh Emmett. Emmett comes off the back of his own flash KO win over the storied Michael Johnson. A bout between this pair would be sure to spark interest from UFC nuts.
Moving on to the Co-headliner, Derek Brunson took on fan favourite, Elias Theodorou, in what turned out to be a rather forgettable penultimate fixture. Brunson ground out the victory against a tough puzzle in Theodorou, which is exactly what he needed to keep a ranking in the Middleweight division. This was not the best performance by either fighter, but a win is a win and a likely future foe for Brunson could be Antonio Carlos Junior. This is of course assuming that he defeats Ian Heinsich at UFC on ESPN+ 10. The two were already scheduled to fight at UFC 227, before it was cancelled due to injury. This fight makes sense. Although, a win for Ian Heinsich may raise his stock enough to campaign for a bout with Derek too. Watch this space.
Last but not least, the main event. This was what everyone was waiting for and it turned out to be a ''save the best for last'' occasion in the Canadian Tire Centre, Saturday night. Donald 'Cowboy' Cerrone kept his run of form since becoming a father by adding another W to his record. This time against a dogged and determined Al Iaquinta. The meme continues of Cerrone having superpowers amidst his son's birth. This win has extended the UFC record number of victories to 23 for Donald Cerrone. The fight saw Cowboy land two knockdowns on Iaquinta, breaking the UFC record number of knockdowns to 20 in competition and against a fighter who had not been knocked down before inside the UFC octagon. Impressive stuff.
Needless to say, Donald Cerrone v Al Iaquinta was awarded the fight of the night. Cowboy took to the mic after the fight to say that he wanted Conor McGregor next if he was not to be granted his wish of a title fight next.
''I'll take McGregor in July.'' This fight would be great for casuals and MMA fanatics, but how realistic is it for Sean Shelby and Mick Maynard to arrange? The situation revolving Conor McGregor is not understood by most and the last known information is that he is still retired from the sport of MMA. Khabib Nurmagomedov is scheduled to fight Dustin Poirier next to unify the UFC Lightweight title, most likely at UFC 242 in Abu Dhabi, in September 2019. This leaves Cerrone's only real option as Justin Gaethje. Now that is a fight that needs to be made at some point.