THE LOSERS

James Irvin: First thing Irvin needs to do is move back up to 205. He did not look good at the weigh ins and during the short time there was a fight going on, his ring rust was also apparent.  He could fight Eric Schafer at Ligh Heavyweight, as both would be coming off of losses.  Schafer’s BJJ could either prove to be a blessing or a curse for Irvin. If he can control where the fight takes place he could use his striking to take apart Schafer. He needs to spend sometime putting back all that muscle mass he seems to have lost though.

Paul Buentello: Well he proved he is hardcore with popping in a dislocated finger in the Octagon. He still lost though. He just kept getting pushed back into the cage by a relentless Kongo. The problem with someone like Buentello is he hasn’t really evolved with the sport and any of the new up and coming wrestlers in the division would eat him alive. You could still give him some favorable match ups.  Antoni Hardonk comes to mind as he is primarily a kick boxer and is coming off of 2 straight losses, so it would make since. You could also have him face Todd Duffee like originally planned for UFC 107.

Gabe Gonzaga: As I mentioned in my winners portion they could  match him up against Cheick Kongo. It could be a fun strike fest but it could also allow Gonzaga to show off his BJJ and hopefully force Kongo to further improve his wrestling.  If not you could give him Buentello as they are both coming off losses or maybe even the loser of Stefan Struve vs Roy Nelson.

Brandon Vera: He needs to get his face and head fixed first. He had a lot of potential early on but just can’t seem to achieve his apparently “destined” greatness.  He won’t get cut from the UFC as he is a valuable gatekeeper. You could possibly give him Keith Jardine but the loser of that might look worse then Stephan Bonnar afterwards. I mentioned Vladimir and Thiago Silva as potential future opponents for Jones in the “Winners article”.  If Jones doesn’t get to face one of them, why not give one of them to Vera?  Thiago would be the better match up style-wise since he likes to strike and isn’t much of a wrestler. Vladimir would be a bad style match up since he is a pretty good wrestler which is something Vera doesn’t seem to do well against even though he has a wrestling background.

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