The UFC Fight Night 54 event went down in Canada this past weekend, and in the main event, welterweight Rory MacDonald won impressively over Tarec Saffiedine to stake his claim to the No. 1 contender spot at welterweight. MacDonald was not the only fighter who likely sealed up a title shot on the card, as Rafael Assuncao defeated Bryan Caraway to stake his claim to the number one contender spot at Bantamweight.
Assuncao carried a six fight winning streak into this fight, and he was favored over Caraway, who was ranked well below him in the rankings. Assuncao deserves credit for staying busy and fighting, and not holding on and waiting for a title shot.
The fact is, the Bantamweight title is in the middle of it’s own saga, and Assuncao is probably going to have to wait deep into 2015 to get a shot at the belt. The current champion, TJ Dillashaw, is coming off his first title defense, and an impressive showing by former champion Dominick Cruz in his return after 3 years away from the octagon means they are likely on a collision course for the next title bout. Though Assuncao holds an October 2013 win over Dillashaw and he has now won 7 in a row, his overall name recognition doesn’t compare to Cruz, so he is probably going to have to wait.
Further complicating matters is the presence of Renan Barao, another former champion and one who had risen tot he top of the rankings as far as pound for pound goes. Though his resume deserves it, difficulties in dealing with him and his camp have meant that Barao did not get a re-match for the belt he defended multiple times, but if he returns and wins one or two matches, it will be hard to deny Barao a shot.
So what should Assuncao do? The UFC could certainly offer up a Barao versus Assuncao match to determine who will be next for the winner of Dillashaw and Cruz. Unfortunately for Assuncao, that is some hard work to do to get a shot at a title he has already done enough to earn, but that is the likely way things will go for Assuncao at this point.
