Cung Le wasn’t at 100 percent when he faced Rich Franklin in the main event of UFC on Fuel 6, but you’d never know it. Le ended the fight with a single punch that caused Franklin to face plant into the canvas a little over two minutes in the opening frame.
The victory was impressive, as Le finished the fight with his punches rather than his kicks, and Franklin is a notoriously tough guy to finish.
It was Le’s second consecutive victory inside the Octagon, but it puts him in quite the predicament. Two victories over respectable opponents usually means a step up in competition for a fighter’s next outing. But that may not be the case for the 40-year-old Le.
There’s no denying that Le is one of the best strikers in the division, but I don’t expect him to make a title run in the near future. That likely means we will see Le against other big-name veterans or against some guys who may have fallen out of the top 10.
A fight against the winner of Constantinos Philippou vs. Nick Ring makes sense if the UFC wants to put together a matchup based on rankings.
If the UFC is looking for more of a matchup based on money and drawing power, fights against either Brian Stann or Mark Munoz makes sense, as both have big names. Despite the losses by both, men a fight with Le could be a great main event on a free show or lead in to a pay-per-view.
There’s also a handful of big-name fighters who could be on their way over to the UFC once Strikeforce closes its doors. Guys like Ronaldo Souza, Robbie Lawler and Tim Kennedy are all guys that could fight Le in the future.
Creating matchups for Le right now is nothing more than spit-balling, as it’s really up in the air where he goes after this. There aren’t a lot of big-name fights for someone like Le, so if he and the UFC are looking for the big-money fights, moving up to the light heavyweight division may be the right move.
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