This weekend Jimi Manuwa made a huge statement to the rest of the Light Heavyweight division when he knocked out previous interim Title contender Ovince St Preux at #UFC204.
In picking up the stoppage win Manuwa has added his name to the top list of 205lbers sniffing around at the UFC Title and whilst he didn’t name anyone in his post fight interview, we have come up with a list of five we would like to see “The Posterboy” fight next;
Nikita Krylov
Krylov was the one that got away after being originally booked to face Manuwa in London their scheduled bout was pulled due to an undisclosed injury sustained by Manuwa. Whilst the bout does nothing to advance his position in the rankings it does allow him to practice his sharpened tools and adjust to a return to his hard hitting ways. Nikita Krylov is currently booked to face Misha Cirkunov at #UFC206 but should “The Miner” get past Cirkunov I would certainly like to see him in there with “The Posterboy”.
Shogun Rua
Rua is another one that escaped as Manuwa was due to travel to the Brazillian’s home turf but again due to an injured Manuwa, his place was taken by Ovince Saint Preux who went on to win the match up via KO. It’s a fight Manuwa was looking forward to as Shogun’s career was one of a small group of fighters the Light Heavyweight followed before entering the UFC as a professional athlete. Shogun represents an advancement up the rankings for Manuwa and is the fight to make in order to catapult him back into title contendership.
Glover Teixeria
Glover, like Manuwa is one of those guys who is always just one or two fights away from a Title shot and a win for Manuwa over Teixeria definitely puts him towards the front of the queue for a crack at the gold. This would promise to be a stand up affair and whilst Glover is coming off a knockout loss to Anthony Johnson, definitely is no push over.