Dominick Cruz — Since the bantamweight division has been so mismanaged by the UFC, Brian Bowles is probably getting the next shot despite only fighting on Facebook on this show. Because really, who the heck else is there? And there's nothing wrong with Bowles getting the shot — it'll be an interesting fight — but the fact of the matter is, despite Cruz's win over Urijah Faber being thrilling, I think a lot of that "thrill factor," so to speak, had to do with Faber's involvement. Cruz will get a one fight grace period, but if he isn't exciting against Bowles, the division's in trouble. The Cruz-Faber fight has moved the division from being dead in the water to being on life support.
Chris Leben — Leben's stoppage of Wanderlei Silva likely ends the legendary champion's career and also marks a solid bounce-back effort from Leben, who had a terrible outing against Brian Stann at UFC 125 (one that apparently was completely forgotten about by the commentary team). This is a mess, though. I've been racking my brain and throwing ideas off Mike Fagan about what to do with Leben and here's what I've come up with. You can do Leben against Vitor Belfort if Belfort beats Yoshihiro Akiyama next month. Or you can go down the line and have him fight someone like Chris Weidman. There's really no in between if you want to match him with someone coming off a win because Mark Munoz seems destined to fight Brian Stann. So let's go ahead and say Leben against Belfort.
Dennis Siver — Lightweight is a huge mess from a contenders standpoint right now. In any other division, Siver would be a big win away from a title shot. Not here. There's a ton of guys who are waiting in line and unfortunately for Siver, he's near the back of that list. Jim Miller, Clay Guida and Melvin Guillard all have better claim to a potential shot that Siver. Miller has Ben Henderson in August and Guillard called out Siver on Saturday. Siver has to take a step up and that would be it. Let's see the rematch of that big preliminary fight from UFC 86. Look where these two are now.
Tito Ortiz — As I write this, it's been about five hours since Ortiz shocked the world and well, I'm still shocked. I know they already fought, but Lyoto Machida needs a fight. That'd be fun again. Or if you don't fancy rematches, Ortiz could fight Mauricio Rua if he beats Forrest Griffin, or he could square off with the winner of the August fight between Rich Franklin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and both of those would be fresh fights. Regardless, I don't see Ortiz getting someone who isn't a name. Maybe Matt Mitrione is lurking somewhere hoping Ortiz will want to move to heavyweight.
Carlos Condit — Oh, the welterweight division. Condit was super impressive Saturday against Dong Hyun Kim, but to me, anybody who wants a 170-pound title shot in the UFC should have to go through Jon Fitch first. A bout between Condit and Fitch for the No. 1 contender spot would be pretty neat, but if the UFC is intent on doing a rematch between Fitch and B.J. Penn (which is completely unnecessary in my opinion), then Condit would have to wait to fight the winner of the Jake Shields/Jake Ellenberger fight in September. Both scenarios are good and a win against any of those names would earn Condit a title shot, but I want to see his takedown defense tested against Fitch.
