Matches to Make After WEC 51

There will be no discussion of whom reigning WEC featherweight champion Jose Aldo should fight next. Mainly because it doesn’t matter -- the WEC has captured lightning in a bottle with the Brazilian and they should just keep on feeding him whoever earns a shot.

However, there are many fantastically violent matches just begging to be made now that the blood has dried from WEC 51.

Donald Cerrone vs. Jamie Varner III

Fans, media and anyone else with a functioning pair of lungs would love to watch Cerrone and Varner bring out the best and worst in one another.

After two brutal fights defined as much by the violence that took place inside the cage as the vitriol that was spewed outside it, there is still no resolution. Varner and Cerrone are tied 1-1 and are more than capable of delivering another co-main event bout of supreme quality.

After all, if the sheer hatred Cerrone feels for Varner was enough to get him work on his wrestling, just imagine what a third bout would bring out of both men.

Miguel Torres vs. Brad Pickett

The man with MMA’s very best mullet is in a unique position. Torres is a former champion with a considerable following and obvious world-class skills. However, he has yet to prove he can beat the top-flight converted wrestlers currently strangling the division.

Pickett isn’t quite in the upper echelon of bantamweight takedown monsters, but his wrestling has grown by leaps and bounds since training with American Top Team. Combined with his already fearsome front headlock skills, he poses many of the same stylistic issues that Joseph Benavidez used to slash and tap the Mexican-American hero.

Of course, they could both indulge their shared masochistic tendencies and resolve matters standing. Either way, you’re looking at a burner of a fight and one that would help clear up a cloudy bantamweight division.

Mark Hominick vs. Diego Nunes

From here on out, anyone being built towards a featherweight title shot has to be exposed to as many challenging opponents as possible. It’s the only way to have any modicum of preparation for the human buzzsaw that is Aldo.

Hominick and Nunes are building title shot-worthy resumes, but are a long way away from proving that they have the bulletproof game to be anything more than a human sacrifice to Aldo. Matching them against each other gives Hominick a chance to prove that he can stop a competent wrestler with real grappling skills -- a poisonous style clash for him in the past.

Should Hominick stuff those shots however, seeing how Nunes handles himself on the feet against “The Machine” would be compelling to say the least. Sooner or later, someone has to fight Aldo. It’s up to the WEC to make sure that someone is ready.

Mike Thomas Brown vs. George Roop

After proving that the best way to kill a zombie is with a clean headshot, Roop deserves to take on a next level featherweight. Few match that description like Brown, a former 145-pound champion with versatility to spare and the kind of punching power that borders on unfair. This is the kind of fight that makes itself and fits in perfectly with the WEC’s ongoing narrative.

Demetrious Johnson vs. Charlie Valencia

Johnson and Valencia should both be fighting in the flyweight division. If this bout is made as a bantamweight encounter so be it, but it should be a 125-pound fight. Justice is a rare element in MMA; let’s hope the WEC tilts the scales by giving these guys the right stage for their talents.

Follow Tomas Rios on Twitter for his hourly flyweight division temper tantrums at www.twitter.com/Tomas_Rios