5 Fights the UFC Should Make After Rosas Jr. vs. Barcelos

UFC Fight Night: Rosas Jr. vs. Barcelos gave us a little bit of everything. A potential future contender made a statement, two TUF winners punched their tickets to the UFC, and Luis Hernandez somehow made a two-day-notice debut look easy.

And then, of course, Raul Rosas Jr. and Raoni Barcelos went five rounds before Rosas Jr. closed the show with a wild fifth-round slam.

Now comes the fun part: figuring out what’s next. Here are five fights I’d make after UFC Fight Night: Rosas Jr. vs. Barcelos.

1. Raul Rosas Jr. vs. Raoni Barcelos 2

Yeah, I’m going right back to it.

Rosas Jr. picked up the biggest win of his career by stopping Barcelos in the fifth round, extending his winning streak to six. But the fight was competitive for most of the night, with Barcelos using his experience to give the 21-year-old plenty of problems before he suffered a medical emergency– prompting the fight to abruptly end.

Obviously, this isn't something the UFC should rush into. Barcelos should take whatever time he needs to fully recover and get medically cleared after the stoppage.

But if he wants it and he's healthy, I'd run it back.

Rosas has already shown massive improvements in his striking, and another fight with Barcelos would give us a chance to see what both men learned from the first matchup. Plus, the first fight was good enough to deserve another look.

2. Ailin Perez vs. Kayla Harrison-Amanda Nunes Winner

Ailin Perez has been saying she wants a title shot for a while now. After beating Norma Dumont by unanimous decision and extending her winning streak to seven, she's got an even stronger argument.

The timing actually works pretty well.

Kayla Harrison and Amanda Nunes are scheduled to fight for the UFC women's bantamweight title at UFC 334 in November. Perez has already beaten Joselyne Edwards and now Dumont, so there aren't many obvious contenders left for her to run through.

Give her the winner.

Perez has made it clear that she believes she's next in line, and if the UFC agrees, there's really no reason to keep her fighting sideways at 135 pounds.

3. Luis Hernandez vs. Uroš Medić at 170 pounds

This might be my favorite one on the list.

Hernandez just made his UFC debut on two days' notice, submitted Sedriques Dumas in 57 seconds and improved to 8-0 with a 100 percent finishing rate. Not a bad way to introduce yourself: but Hernandez wasn't done.

In his post-fight speech, he talked about wanting to make history by fighting in three different weight classes in one year, specifically mentioning 170 and 185 pounds. He even pointed to B.J. Penn's history of competing across three divisions while saying he wants to accomplish the feat faste– so let's see him at 170.

Uroš Medić makes a ton of sense. The Serbian welterweight is 14-3 and has won his last three fights, including first-round knockouts over Geoff Neal and Daniel Rodriguez. Six of his last seven fights have ended in the first round.

Hernandez wants to make history. Medić wants to knock people's heads off.

Book it at 170.

4. Ilimbek Akylbek vs. Mahammadali Osmanli 2

Come on. We need this one.

The TUF 34 bantamweight finale ended in one of the strangest ways possible, with Osmanli disqualified after landing an illegal knee while Akylbek was down. Akylbek was unable to continue, meaning he technically won the fight but never actually got to finish the fight he trained for.

That leaves us with the obvious answer: run it back.

Akylbek became the first fighter from Kyrgyzstan to win The Ultimate Fighter, but a rematch with Osmanli would finally give both guys a chance to settle things inside the cage.

There’s unfinished business here, and honestly, it would be weird if the UFC didn't revisit it.

5. Tina Black vs. Delphine Benouaich

Tina Black just became the first Brazilian woman to win The Ultimate Fighter, stopping Melissa Amaya in the second round of the TUF 34 finale. Now she gets to make her official UFC run at 115 pounds.

So why not start with someone she already knows?

Black and Delphine Benouaich had a competitive three-round fight in the TUF semifinals, with Black getting the decision and advancing to the finale. UFC's own preview called it a hard-fought fight, and the two were teammates during the season.

Benouaich has already fought her way into the UFC, while Black now enters the promotion with a TUF championship under her belt.

Give them three rounds without the tournament pressure.

We've already seen these two put on a good fight once. Let's see what happens when both know exactly what they're getting into.