All eyes are on who Fabricio Werdum will face next despite earlier rumors suggesting that Cain Velasquez would be given a rematch.
Per Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White, current Heavyweight champion Werdum's next match could be against either Stipe Miocic or Andrei Arlovski.
Both fighters are on match-winning streaks, although Miocic lost a controversial match against Junior "Cigano" Dos Santos. Miocic lost the bout by unanimous decision and he claims that it was a fight that was unfairly taken away from him.
Other than that loss, the American mixed martial artist has been on a tear. He is coming off a total knockout (TKO) win over Mark Hunt, and he believes that he deserves to get the first crack at Werdum's UFC Heavyweight title.
But Arlovski's run is equally impressive. He hasn't lost in his last five fights. His last triumph came at the expense of Travis Brown, whom he defeated at UFC 187 last May.
Initial rumors actually hinted that Arlovski had already been chosen to face off with Werdum, but the UFC president immediately shot down those speculations and said that no decision on who will be Werdum's next opponent has been finalized.
But one has to admit that Arlovski's five-match winning run does seem to make him a frontrunner for Werdum's title. Miocic, however, raised an interesting point.
"I fought one former champion and two title contenders. I think I have a good resume to earn a title shot, and I'm going to plead my case for it. That's what I want," said Miocic in an interview with Bleacher Report.
Miocic's last five fights have indeed been against ranked fighters belonging to the top, and this could be a good contention as to why he should be given a shot at the title. Could White be listening?
As it stands now, there is no word on who between Arlovski and Miocic has the edge. Does Werdum possibly have a preference for his next opponent?
As far as Werdum is concerned, he digs deep into two possible fighters whom he suffered losses to in the past. One is Arlovski and the other is dos Santos. But with Cigano injured, it may likely boil down to Arlovski to settle an old score.
Could this enrage Miocic who seem to be out of the mix? Only Dana White can change all that.
