Originally posted by: chriscrowing
Date: April 10, 2011 at 05:10 AM
Source: https://forum.mmajunkie.com/threads/next-for-sf-daley-vs-diaz.37650/
First up, I'm making suggestions based on guys who are in a similarly winning or losing way to the fighters and are currently on the SF roster - as Diaz & Melendez have pretty much messed up their divisions and none of the marketable guys below them are putting streaks together, I've had to make some questionable calls - but I've also made suggestions on the possibility if transfers from/to the UFC are on the cards - which at the moment we're told they aren't, but its fun to fantasy book...
Nick Diaz:
Was briefly in trouble against Daley, but anyone who can finish Semtex with strikes gets my respect. Diaz has pretty much cleaned out his weight class in Strikeforce and the prospect of pitting him against GSP is tempting... but Dana has said no unification matches and Coker has said were 8-9 months away from any trades so that (and the possibility of someone like Penn or Fitch being transferred to SF to challenge Diaz) goes out the window for now. With that in mind, I'd give Tyron Woodley a title shot, on the basis that he's unbeaten and 'home grown' at Strikeforce. After that match, the crossover fights may become a possibility, and also it might b possible to sign someone like Askren or Saunders from Bellator.
Assuming transfers to UFC are plausible - definite Unification bout against
GSP
, assuming he beats Shields would be awesome. Failing that, a transfer of someone like
Jon Fitch
or
BJ Penn
to challenge for the SF title would be cool.
Paul Daley:
Looked good then got KO'd last night - Daley is always best in a standup war, and seeing as he probs won't get a title shot again I'd like to see him against someone who will similarly come to bang. I'd like to see him against
Cyborg Santos
or
Marius Zaromskis
because that fight would be AWESOME.
Gilbert Melendez:
Has a similar problem as Diaz in that he has cleared out his division, but there is no likelihood of a transfer of a challenger from or Gilbert going to the UFc anytime soon. Of the likely challengers, Josh Thomson is coming off a loss, JZ is coming off a loss, KJ Noons is coming off a loss, Pat Healy is coming off a win but lost recently to Thomson and I've got other plans for him anyway. As a stopgap until we can get some trickle down from the UFC, I'd give
Justin Wilcox
, a home-grown fighter on a 6-0 streak the next shot.
Again, assuming co-promotion is possible, a fight against the winner of
Edgar-Maynard
would be cool, but seeing as they are commited to facing the winner of Guida-Pettis, that would involve a long layoff for El Nino. In that case, I wouldn't mind seeing someone like
Donald Cerrone
or
Melvin Guillard
transferred over to face Gilbert.
Kawajiri:
Back to Japan? If not, a fight against one of SF's many top notch yet currently in-a-losing way fighters would be fine - say a rematch on American soil with
Josh Thomson
?
Gegard Mousasi:
I scored the fight as a win for him and a draw leaves him kinda in limbo - as Joe would say 'it's hard to sell a title shot coming off a loss' so I reckon he should get
Mike Kyle
as was originally planned.
Keith Jardine:
Managed to hang with a currently relevant LHW but is apparently looking at a move to the middleweight division - given he was gassing against gegard, you havre to question the wisdom of that but OK... I guess matches against
Robbie Lawler,
Trevor Prangley
or
Scott Smith
could all have some fan interest and also make sense from a 'relevance' point of view.
Shinya Aoki:
It seems Aoiki will sub almost anyone in SF not named El Nino, but I'd like to see him against
Pat Healy
in what could be a #1 contenders match.
Lyle Beerbohm:
A match against
JZ Cavalcante
would make sense I guess...either that or back to Challengers.
