UFC on Fuel 9 Results: What's Next for the Winners?

The UFC takes another trip abroad and has more tough calls to make when it comes to the future of its fighters.

With several intriguing matchups and a slew of fan favorites appearing on the card, there is a lot to talk about here. For now, though, we'll just take a look at what's next for the winners from UFC on Fuel TV 9.

So let's get to it, then!

Papy Abedi

The Congolese judoka earned a much-needed win over UFC newcomer Besam Yousef, but he didn't set the world on fire with his effort, earning a split-decision nod with takedowns and light ground-and-pound.

He would have ended up on the European MMA circuit with a loss, but for now he will remain in the UFC. His next opponent, however, will not be anybody especially fearsome.

Look for Abedi to face against another UFC freshman or perhaps a veteran needing to bounce back from a loss. A fight against one of the competitors from TUF: Brazil, TUF: The Smashes or TUF 16 would make sense.

Tom Lawlor

For a little while, it looked like Lawlor's days in the UFC might be over. The Rhode Islander was tossed around with little difficulty in the first round by Michael Kuiper. Then, early in the second round, Lawlor sunk in a surprise guillotine choke during a takedown attempt.

While Lawlor earned a hard-fought victory, the master of the walkout is still in a tough spot in his career and will have a hard time shedding the “gatekeeper” label. As such, it is easy to pick opponents for him.

He will either end up against a rising prospect like Brad Tavares or Ronny Markes or a struggling veteran like Alessio Sakara or Brian Stann. Either way, it's good to have Lawlor's UFC future secure, at least for now.

Ryan LaFlare

Ryan LaFlare made the most of his UFC debut, earning a cut-and-dry 30-27 unanimous-decision win over Ben Alloway. He now enters the incredibly crowded UFC welterweight division.

Who will he fight?

God only knows. Lord knows there are dozens of people for him to fight, ranging from middling veterans to build a name off to fellow fresh faces looking to string together wins to start their UFC careers. Neil Magny, Justin Edwards, James Head, Nick Ring, Stephen Thompson and Amir Sadollah are all possibilities.

Conor McGregor

The crowded featherweight field just got even more crowded with the addition of Irish striker Conor McGregor. The much-hyped debut of the fast-handed prospect lived up to expectations, as he made the 3-0 (in the UFC) Marcus Brimage look like a complete amateur.

The UFC has a tough challenge ahead when it comes to picking another opponent for “Notorious."

If the UFC wants to build him into a stud for its European cards, the next step is to pad his record against some less-than-elite competition. Nam Phan, Matt Grice, Tiequan Zhang or the winner of Cody McKenzie vs. Leonard Garcia fit the bill.

If the UFC wants to throw him into the title picture, the stars are aligned for that as well. He could find himself in big fights against Manny Gamburyan (if he beats Nik Lentz), Erik Koch or Dennis Siver. That would allow him to avoid the tough grapplers of the division like Clay Guida and Chad Mendes while lifting him up the rankings.

McGregor has plenty of options.

Adlan Amagov

Nick Diaz, Nate Marquardt, Tarec Saffiedine, Tyron Woodley, Robbie Lawler and now Adlan Amagov—the UFC's welterweight division has been bolstered by the absorption of Strikeforce fighters.

Amagov made it look easy, cruising to a victory over Chris Spang via effective striking and clinch work.

The Russian kickboxer, like the other welterweights discussed so far, has plenty of options when it comes to his next opponent. Not to mention, at age 26, this may not even be the best we'll see from him. Thiago Alves, the loser of Matt Brown vs. Jordan Mein, Court McGee, Kyle Noke and Siyar Bahadurzada would all be fun opponents for his next tilt.

At age 26, Amagov still has time to grow. Keep a close eye on him.

Tor Troeng

As you've probably noticed, we at Bleacher/Report regard Tor Troeng as some sort of hybrid of Anderson Silva and Jesus Christ. After getting knocked out by Josh Samman in the house, though, he made us look a bit foolish. Now we look a bit less silly.

Troeng added to Adam Cella's TUF woes by choking him out in a lopsided fight, and will almost certainly find himself facing off with another TUF17 (or possibly TUF: Brazil) alumnus in his next fight.

Since the Finale hasn't actually gone down yet, we have no idea who it will be, but look for him to either fight a winner from one of the preliminary card fights, or possibly the loser of the finals.

Reza Madadi

Reza Madadi added another chapter to the woes of the JACO Hybrid Training Center by choking out Michael Johnson in an exciting, back-and-forth grappling match. The win for Madadi, though, does not mean as much as the loss for Johnson.

Madadi looked solid, but he is in the ever-stacked lightweight division, where building a name is even more challenging than winning fights. Because of that, he could find himself fighting anyone from an established veteran to a promotional newcomer.

Longtime lightweight Yves Edwards? Definitely a possibility. TUF: The Smashes runner-up Colin Fletcher? It could happen. Popular kickboxer Melvin Guillard? Why not?

Your guess is as good as mine.

Akira Corassani

Shortly after this fight, Mike Goldberg called the featherweight division “wide open." That's the best way to put it. Akira Corassani advances to 2-0 in his UFC career and is a big win or two away from becoming a household name in the division.

Corassani now has wins over two guys who are no slouches, beating Robbie Peralta on Saturday via unanimous decision in an exciting fight. Lucky for him, there are plenty of options.

On this card were two other big featherweight fights, with Conor McGregor and Diego Brandao both looking downright scary. Both of them would be solid opponents for Corassani. Seriously exciting potential fights there.

Diego Brandao

TUF winner Diego Brandao looked fearsome against Pablo Garza, taking him down and choking him out in the first round. Seriously, Diego Brandao has moments when he looks like a Top-Five featherweight.

It's no secret that the UFC likes to give a little extra help promoting TUF winners, and Brandao now has two great submissions to his name. He is not a title contender yet, but it's in his future.

As stated on the last slide, fights against fellow UFC on Fuel TV 9 featherweight winners Akira Corassani and Conor McGregor would be easy to make and exciting. There are other potential opponents out there, too, like Eddie Yagin, Dustin Poirier and Hacran Dias.

Watch out for Brandao. He's going somewhere.

Brad Pickett

Regardless of who won the fight between Mike Easton and Brad Pickett, what's next is sure to disappoint. The UFC's bantamweight division is so shallow that there simply aren't many compelling matchups to make.

Pickett won a hard-earned decision, but even after a great fight with technical striking and sneaky grappling, it's hard to get excited about his next fight.

He already owns losses to Scott Jorgensen and Renan Barao. He is definitely not going to be part of the title picture for the foreseeable future.

He may end up facing another Top-10 opponent like Michael McDonald or the winner of Brian Bowles vs. George Roop. That said, he is going to be steered away from any contenders or prospects for the next year or so.

Matt Mitrione

A Blackzilian actually won a fight. How about that?

This was a big one for Matt Mitrione, who found himself overmatched against veteran heavyweights Cheick Kongo and Roy Nelson. Against Phil De Fries, though, he ended up scoring a much-needed knockout victory. De Fries “ran into a wall” during his takedown attempt (as Florian and Goldberg repeated eight times), got rocked and was punched stiff.

Mitrione is still in an awkward spot in a heavyweight division that has a rift between the title contenders and the various strikers the UFC has collected over the last few years. His next opponent will likely be from the latter bunch.

Among that lot are fighters like Dave Herman, Shane del Rosario and Stipe Miocic (though he has a fight scheduled). Probably the best fight for Mitrione, though, would be a bout against TUF 10 runner-up Brendan Schaub.

The heavyweight division is in an ugly spot. The UFC needs to inject some young talent, and Mitrione, at age 34, just does not fit the part.

Ross Pearson

Many felt that Ryan Couture was being thrown to the wolves when he got matched against Ross Pearson. While it didn't look that way at first, the Brit still won emphatically with a barrage of punches that took out Couture.

It seems, at least for now, that he is going to stay in the lightweight division. It's tough to peg where the UFC ranks Pearson, which makes it difficult to determine his next opponent.

With Dan Hardy's days in the fight game numbered, the UFC is going to want to build up a British fighter to take his place in earnest. Pearson has the style and skill to last in the UFC for a while, and there are plenty of beatable fighters that he could be matched against that would guarantee fireworks, including Takanori Gomi, Diego Sanchez, Yves Edwards and Melvin Guillard.

If the UFC wants to throw him into the deep end, a fight against Joe Lauzon or the winner of Donald Cerrone vs. K.J. Noons would make him a player near the top of the division.

Gegard Mousasi

In a no-win situation, Gegard Mousasi maintained his spot as one of the better light heavyweights in the division.

In his UFC debut, the former Strikeforce champion jabbed Ilir Latifi into submission en route to a slam-dunk decision victory. Obviously, a win over the still-unknown Latifi does little to help his career, but it is far better than the catastrophe that a loss would have brought down on his title aspirations.

So what's next for Mousasi? Since he is a UFC newcomer and established light heavyweight, he makes for an interesting opponent against any top UFC fighter.

Fights against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Phil Davis and Forrest Griffin make sense. Rescheduling the fight with Alexander Gustafsson, though, would probably be the best idea.