Now that Dominick Cruz has defeated the only man he has ever lost to, Urijah Faber, once again defending his bantamweight title, a tough question now looms.
Who or what is next for Cruz at the bantamweight division? Cruz finds himself at the top having mowed down practically all of the legitimate challengers in the division in the past two years.
A quick glance at the 135-pound division shows that Cruz has faced and already beaten the next 4-of-5 ranked fighters in the pecking order, and it may be a tough task to find a fighter worthy of Cruz.
Here are my five picks for the next possible opponent for The Dominator.
1. Demetrius “Mighty Mouse” Johnson (9-1)
Johnson is the highest ranked bantamweight that Cruz has yet to fight, and he is coming off a solid but razor thin victory over Miguel Torres. He has nine victories in ten fights, with his only loss coming last year to Brad Pickett.
Mighty Mouse would have a large size and reach disadvantage against Cruz, but that has never stopped his heart and wrestling game before.
Johnson may be the fight with the most interest right now, simply because he has not faced Cruz yet.
2. Brian Bowles (10-1)
Brian Bowles earned himself a victory over Takeya Mizugaki last night and kept himself right in the mix at the top of the bantamweight division.
It was not the dominant finish that Bowles may have wanted to set up a rematch with Cruz, but it was a win, nonetheless. Bowles has some unfinished business with Cruz, as he lost the belt to him in his first title defence in March 2010 due to a doctors stoppage.
Bowles broke his hand early in the fight with Cruz and was unable to continue past the second round. This fight makes sense for both fighters at this point and would also generate some fan interest.
3. Joseph Benevidez (9-2)
To me, Joseph Benevidez is still the second best bantamweight in the world and poses the biggest challenge to Dominick Cruz at 135 pounds. The problem here is that Benevidez has already fought Cruz twice in the past two years, losing both times via hard fought decision.
The first one was a three-round unanimous decision and the second one was for the title, and Benevidez lost a five-round split decision.
It would be another solid, close fight if these two were to clash again, but how much fan interest would it have at this point? And how many shots at Cruz should Joseph get? It exposes the division a bit as not being very deep with talent.
4. Scott Jorgensen (9-3)
Scott Jorgensen is another fighter who is always at the top of the heap at 135, and he has also faced Cruz before. He lost a five-round unanimous decision to Cruz in December of last year when both were fighting in the WEC.
Wins over Mizugaki, Antonio Baneulos and Brad Pickett earned him his first shot at Cruz, and he put up enough of a fight that another shot at the title is not out of the question.
5. Miguel Torres (39-4)
A loss to Demetrius Johnson in your last outing does not usually qualify you for a shot at the title, but such is the situation in the new UFC bantamweight division. Torres is an experienced, popular and unorthodox fighter who poses problems for anyone in the stand up and submissions game of mixed martial arts.
Johnson exposed Torres to a weakness in wrestling and take down defense, but Torres could have easily won that decision and thus would have been in line for a shot at Cruz if he had.
Again, I think Miguel needs a two-fight win streak and a revenge win against either Benevidez or Bowles to earn him the shot he wants, but he is in the mix with all others.
Dwight Wakabayashi is a Feature Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA (also a correspondent for MMACanada.net).
Catch him on Twitter @wakafightermma .
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