Evan Dunham took on TJ Grant at UFC 152 on Saturday night with both fighters taking home “Fight of the Night” honors for their performance.
Dunham has stumbled as of late and now has lost three of his last five fights. Although he and Grant gave a good fight for the fans, it was still a unanimous-decision loss added to his career record.
So where does Dunham go from here?
It’s hard to say with so many lightweight fights coming up over the next few months. One thing is nearly certain—he’ll most likely have to win to avoid being another loss away from losing his spot on the UFC roster.
Dunham has been averaging two fights per year as of late and looks to be on schedule to fight again in January, assuming he will be healthy.
Here are five fights Dunham should take next:
- Loser of Thiago Tavares and Dennis Hallman (October 5)
- Loser of Rafael dos Anjos and Mark Bocek (November 17)
- Winner of Mac Danzig and Takanori Gomi (November 10)
- Winner of Jacob Volkmann and Shane Roller (October 5)
- Winner of Jeremy Stephens and Yves Edwards (October 5)
Each of these matchups would still provide respectable opponents for Dunham, but they aren’t near the top of the food chain—which is where he would be had he come out on top against Grant.
Dunham is leaning towards the other side of 30, so he has time to make another run up the ladder—it’s just going to start with a mid-tier opponent.
Joe Chacon is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report and a staff writer for Operation Sports. You can follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.
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