UFC 142 Results: 5 Fights for Erick Silva to Take Next

For a few minutes, it seemed like Erick Silva had done something no one had thought possible and had ended his second UFC fight even faster than his first.

Silva came rushing in and landed a nice knee to the body, quickly followed up with some hammer fists and immediately we started bracing ourselves for some over the top Mike Goldberg comments.

But as Lee Corso might say, “Not so fast my friend!"

Referee Mario Yamasaki concluded that Silva had landed too many punches to the back of the head of Carlo Prater, and the bout was ruled a disqualification.

Replays showed that this was not the case, but nonetheless Silva was charged with the loss.

It appears as if the UFC is going to support Silva and act as if it was a win due to the fact that they are giving him his win bonus, therefore, his next bout will likely be a step up in competition.

Rick Story

After taking out Thiago Alves at UFC 130, Rick Story was the best rising prospect the UFC had to offer, but a subsequent loss to Charlie Brenneman knocked him back down the welterweight ladder.

Story dropped his next bout to Martin Kampmann at UFC 139 and is now in danger of losing his job if he can’t pull out a win in his next fight.

Story is good enough that the UFC isn’t likely to give him an easy fight to get back on track, but a matchup with a top prospect like Silva might be too much for him.

Carlos Eduardo Rocha

Can anyone tell me where this guy went?

Carlos Eduardo Rocha burst on to the scene last November when he submitted Kris McCray at UFC 122, and shortly after gave current top welterweight Jake Ellenberger all he could handle at UFC 126.

But since that bout, Rocha has been MIA, and it is time we see him back inside the Octagon.

Rocha’s standup has been passable during his UFC bouts, and his ground game is top notch making him a good next opponent for Silva.

John Hathaway

Once one of the top prospects in the UFC after defeating Rick Story and Diego Sanchez, John Hathaway suffered a loss to Mike Pyle at UFC 120 that he has never quite recovered from.

Hathaway got back on track with a close decision win over Kris McCray in his next bout, and has been out of action since then and a fight with another rising prospect in Silva would make sense to see where they fall in the tough welterweight division.

Mike Pyle

It seems like Mike Pyle has fought every top prospect the UFC has gotten over the past few years, so why not add Silva to the list?

Pyle has gone 1-2 against the up-and-comers, losing to Ellenberger and Rory MacDonald with a win over Hathaway mixed in.

After his impressive destruction of Ricardo Funch last night, Pyle is back in the win column and should get a decent opponent in his next bout.

Dong Hyun Kim

Dong Hyun Kim was inching towards a UFC title shot before he got blasted by Carlos Condit at UFC 132.

Kim has since recovered with a dominant decision win over Sean Pierson at UFC 141 last month, and he is looking to get back into the mix with a couple of good wins.

A fight between Silva and Kim would be fun to watch, as they have vastly different styles, and it would be interesting to see which fighter would be able to establish their game.