Looking Ahead For UFC 173’s Four Big Preliminary Winners

Saturday night was huge for T.J. Dillashaw who put in a flawless performance against Renan Barão to take the Brazilian’s bantamweight title. “The Viper” unquestionably stole the show and he’s become the main talking point following this weekends action.

However, UFC 173 also produced four big winners on the preliminary card who deserve their fair share of attention. So, with that in mind, let’s take a look at what may come next for those fighters:

First up is Mitch Clarke for his technical second round submission over “Raging” Al Iaquinta. Clarke managed to choke out the surging Serra-Longo fighter with a beautiful d’arce choke 57-seconds in to the second round.

The 28-year old is now on back-to-back wins with his finish on Saturday. Prior to his victory over Iaquinta, Clarke took a points win against John Maguire back in June. The Canadian has proven himself to be ready for a step-up in competition, so maybe a matchup with Ireland’s Norman Parke would be fitting.

Park was last seen in action in March where he fought to a draw with Brazil’s Leonardo Santos. The Irishman would have got the win if it weren’t for a point deduction due to grabbing his opponents shorts. “Stormin” would prove to be a good test for Clarke to see where he currently sits in the division.

Next up is TUF 18’s Chris Holdsworth for his dominant win over Chico Camus. Holdsworth had a tough test in for his first official fight in the UFC with Camus, who can be a handful for any opponent.

But, Holdsworth passed his test with flying colours, out-striking and out-grappling “King” with relative ease to take his first official win in the Octagon. The Ultimate Fighter winner showed an improved striking game against Camus but I would like to see if his skills are enough to hang with someone like George Roop.

Michael Chisea and Tony Ferguson were next to pick up big wins on the preliminary card. TUF 13’s winner Ferguson scored a brutal knockout over Japan’s Katsunori Kikuno with just under a minute to go in the first round of their meeting, while TUF 14’s winner Chisea took a unanimous decision win over Francisco Trinaldo.

With the TUF winners being 2-1 in their last three fights, with both of their losses coming to fighters in the top 15, it would make sense to match them up next. Their styles make for an interesting matchup with Chisea’s grappling and Ferguson’s striking. With both men emerging from their bouts injury-free a fight between them shouldn’t be too hard to set up.

Who would you like to see the big winners matched up with next?