Riki Fukuda, now sporting an 18-5 MMA record after winning a unanimous decision by decimating Steve Cantwell in UFC 144 in Japan, is ready to ascend to higher ground.
Any winning fighter in the UFC can possibly trail-blaze towards the ultimate goal of winning the title, and Fukuda will definitely grab his chances if they present themselves.
But let’s not get too excited. It’s safer to make a conservative projection; after all, Fukuda’s is just one very recent win over a fighter suffering a slump (now with five straight losses).
If the fates will be kind, the following would be a reasonably sound career trajectory for the Japanese middleweight scrapper.