UFC 118: What's Next?

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Tuesday, August 31, 2010, 12:09 pm

Greg Schultheis
CSNwashington.com

UFC 118 in Boston had its share of ups and downs. Frankie Edgar silenced the critics by methodically chipping away at B.J. Penn for five rounds. Penn showed that he may be getting older and slowing down a bit. Randy Couture carried the sport of MMA on his back as he easily submitted Heavyweight Boxing Champion James Toney. And most surprisingly, Kenny Florian did more standing around than fighting in front of his hometown crowd. Here is what's next for the participants of UFC 118.

Lightweight Championship: Frankie Edgar vs. B.J. Penn
What Happened: Edgar's speed was just too much for Penn as he helped himself to a unanimous decision (50-45, 50-45, 50-45) to retain the UFC Lightweight strap.
What's Next For Edgar: Gray Maynard
What's Next For Penn: If Penn stays at lightweight, a re-match with Florian may be in order. It may make sense for Penn to move up to the welterweight division.

Randy Couture vs. James Toney
What Happened: Couture showed Toney what MMA is all about by submitting Toney (arm-triangle choke) at 3:19 of Round 1. Boxing is a great skill to possess in MMA, but there are many other tools needed to be successful in the octagon.
What's Next For Couture: Most likely he will move back to light heavyweight. Some interesting match-ups could be against Forrest Griffin, Jon Jones or the loser of Rampage vs. Machida.
Next For Toney: It's "Lights Out" for James Toney. One and done!

Kenny Florian vs. Gray Maynard
What Happened: A lot of sizing each other up (Kimbo Slice vs. Houston Alexander comes to mind) until Maynard went straight to his wrestling roots to take a unanimous decision win (30-27, 30-27, 29-28). Florian had a few nice submission attempts in the third round, but he may have let the hometown crowd get into his head.
Next For Maynard: A possible tough sell bout between him and Frankie Edgar for the lightweight belt.
Next For Florian: A re-match with B.J. Penn or maybe the winner of Dunham vs. Sherk.

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