Matchmaking for Lightweight Division

With the recent retirement of Khabib Nurmagomedov, let’s have some fun and play matchmaker for the UFC’s lightweight division. We already have one match made, in Dustin Poirier vs Conor McGregor. Presumably, this match is going to be for the vacant belt. Now we are left with Gaethje, Chandler, Oliviera, and Hooker all needing an opponent.

¨ Justin Gaethje vs Dan Hooker

First, starting with one matchup that has been made known by the likes of Chael Sonnen This fight makes a whole lotta sense and is guaranteed fireworks. Dan Hooker is on the rise, and his stock has not dropped after losing a decision to Poirier, as he showed tremendous heart and skill in that bout. Gaethje coming off the loss to Khabib in the second round has to put him back in the rankings slightly. Matching him up with Hooker as the number one contender fight makes the most sense to me.

¨ Michael Chandler vs Tony Ferguson

Please, please, please book this fight UFC. Chandler said it best himself that this would be the perfect fight to introduce him to the UFC fanbase. Not only that, but Chandler is a multiple time Bellator champ and truly deserves a top five ranked opponent. This a highly intriguing matchup. Chandler has never faced anyone with such an unorthodox style like Tony Ferguson. One reason why Tony might not take this fight is since Chandler does not yet have a ranking next to his name. However, I believe Chandler still has the name value to make this a huge fight.

¨ Charles Oliveria vs Beneil Dariush

I love this matchup. There is a bit of separation in their rankings as Charles is number 6 and Beneil is at 11. But, this will be a chance for Charles to prove he is the real deal. While he did dismantle Kevin Lee, Lee has been jumping between weight divisions and has been too inconsistent to have him as his biggest win. On the other side, Beneil is a UFC veteran who has reinvented himself and never looked better Beneil has been on a tear during these quarantine months. Most recently with his spectacular spinning-backfist knockout over Scott Holtzman. Both guys have such slick ju-jitsu and have been improving their standup games in each fight. The winner of this fight should take on the winner of Islam vs RDA if that fight gets rebooked.