UFC 131 Results: What's Next for the Preliminary Winners?

UFC 131 kicked off with a seven-fight undercard featuring many up-and-comers and exciting fighters from the featherweight to the heavyweight divisions.

The undercard bouts, which were broadcast on Facebook and Youtube, included the following matchups: Michihiro Omigawa vs. Darren Elkins, Joey Beltran vs. Aaron Rosa, Dustin Poirier vs. Jason Young, Nick Ring vs. James Head, Krzysztof Soszynski vs. Mike Massenzio, Sam Stout vs. Yves Edwards and Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Chris Weidman.

The main card featured heavyweight fighters Junior dos Santos, Shane Carwin, Dave Herman as well as former lightweight contender Kenny Florian.

Featherweight Bout: Darren Elkins Def. Michihiro Omigawa (Unanimous Decision)

Japanese featherweight Michihiro Omigawa (12-10) appeared to have won his first UFC victory, but that was before the scores were announced for Darren Elkins (12-2). Elkins won with the scores 29-28, 29-28 and 30-27 in a bizarre unanimous-decision win.

Elkins gets the second win of his UFC career, but a rematch would be the best thing for both fighters.

Omigawa is now 0-4 inside the Octagon, but he deserves another shot, and it should probably be against Elkins, who hadn't shown enough in this fight to warrant a jump in competition.

Heavyweight bout: Joey Beltran def. Aaron Rosa by TKO in the Third Round

Joey "The Mexicutioner" Beltran grabs his third victory inside the UFC, and it was a pretty solid performance over UFC newcomer Aaron Rosa.

Beltran (13-5) improves his status in the heavyweight division with wins over Rosa, Tim Hague and Rolles Gracie. A fight with heavyweight prospect Travis Browne (11-0) could be a very intriguing and exciting matchup between two heavy punchers who won't back down from a stand-up war.

 If he doesn't want to take that big of a step up in competition, he can take on Browne's latest victim, Stefan "Skyskraper" Struve (21-5).

Featherweight Bout: Dustin Poirier Defeated Jason Young Via Unanimous Decision

Featherweight up-and-comer Dustin Poirier had a tough match against UFC newcomer Jason Young, but he got by on his workmanlike performance and won a unanimous decision over three rounds.

With two victories in the UFC over Josh Grispi and Young, Poirier will be looking to take a step up in competition as he makes his ascension up the ranks.

It all leads to UFC Featherweight Champion Jose Aldo, but one possible option for him after this fight includes meeting up with another FW winner on tonight's card, Darren Elkins (12-2).

Another matchup could be against the very exciting Pablo Garza (11-1), who has earned fight bonuses for his last two UFC appearances.

Middleweight Bout: Nick Ring Defeated James Head Via Submission

Undefeated and rising in the ranks of the middleweight division, Nick Ring extended his unbeaten streak to 12-0 when he defeated James Head in the third round of their bout this evening.

Ring still owes Riki Fikuda (17-5) a rematch, and depending on the outcome of Fikuda's bout with Rafael Natal (12-3-1) at UFC 133, the winner of the fight could get a shot at Ring.

Light Heavyweight Bout: Krzysztof Soszynski Def. Mike Massenzio (UD)

It's been a long couple of weeks for Krzysztof Soszynski as he has had to deal with replacement opponents for his light-heavyweight bout at UFC 131.

Mike Massenzio eventually filled the spot, and it wasn't easy for him to move up in weight, losing a unanimous decision to the Ultimate Fighter competitor.

Soszynski's potential is good, but there are still many question marks about how far he can go in the division. Fights with the loser of Vladimir Matyushenko vs. Alexander Gustafsson could create some good matchups, but they won't be anything too significant within the division.

Fights with original opponents Anthony Perosh (11-6) and Igor Pokrajac (23-8) could be just the type of fights he needs to put his potential back into focus.

Middleweight Bout: Chris Weidman def. Jesse Bongfeldt via Guillotine Choke

Chris Weidman is now 6-0 in MMA with back-to-back victories inside the UFC. His win over Jesse Bongfeldt was an impressive one, and he defeated his opponent by a rarely seen standing guillotine choke.

The NCAA Division I wrestler is a purple-belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu, and he showed some of his grappling skills tonight in route to his victory.

With only two years of MMA experience under his belt, Weidman will need to make a choice of whether to take his ever-growing status and challenge a mid-tier fighter or get some more experience fighting low-tier opponents.

If Jorge Rivera (19-8) wins his upcoming bout with previous Weidman opponent Alessio Sakara, that could be a fight that gets him experience fighting one of the top strikers in the division.

He could also take on another NCAA Division I wrestler in Aaron Simpson (8-2) if he is victorious in his bout with Brad Tavares.

Lightweight Bout: Sam Stout def. Yves Edwards by KO

Sam "Hands of Stone" Stout might have earned the biggest victory of his career after he knocked out an MMA veteran of over 60 bouts, Yves Edwards.

A left hook got the job done in the very first round, and it left Edwards on the canvas for quite a while. He wasn't up during the post-fight interviews.

Stout is only 27, and he still has a lot of time to improve and become more well-rounded. He is mostly a striker, but he does have solid skills all-around, and they have led him to compiling a 6-5 UFC record.

With the highlight-reel KO, he can be guaranteed a fight with one of the top lightweights who aren't contenders, and this includes George Sotiropoulos (14-3), Evan Dunham (11-2) and Rafael dos Anjos (14-5).

Who knows? Maybe he can even fight Anthony Pettis (13-2), which would be one of the most intriguing stand-up matchups in the sport.