Where next for Bendo?

So a good win for Benson Henderson on Sat night - his first finish in the UFC, I believe. He certainly seemed to enjoy it in the aftermath. Kudos to Khabilov though, I thought he looked good, and will be worrying the top ten soon enough.

The big question for me though, is who does Smooth need to beat to get another shot at Pettis? It's like Bantamweight was (before TJ's brilliant showing) where Faber was head and shoulders above the rest, but consistently not good enough to beat Barao. I guess you could say the same at HW too, with Cigano and Cain.

I think the biggest fight would be Khabib (whom Benson apparently thought he'd signed to fight this time!), which would work. Bendo's never said no to a fight, afaik, and no-one else seems to want to fight Khabib. It's possibly the highest profile scalp in LW outside of Pettis or Melendez, and they're slated to fight each other (and Henderson's beaten Melendez relatively recently, lest we forget).

Are there any other options? Cerrone? Miller? Both legit fights, but would either of them carry the same cache as Nurmagomedov?

I agree Khabib should be his next fight with the winner fighting the winner of Pettis/Melendez.

Would also love to see a fight between him and Cerrone.

Was absolutely disgusted with the decision in the Pearson/Sanchez fight - i gave Pearson all 3 rounds - and for one judge to give Sanchez all 3 rounds was ridiculous and he should never ever be allowed to judge another MMA fight.

Shocking decision

Agreed about Bendo, Khabib makes the most sense. Bendo is stuck like JDS where he already has two losses against the champ so will have to put together another 2 solid wins against top opposition to get another shot.

Sanchez has been gifted a few wins now but this takes the crown. This was the last fight on Pearson's UFC deal so will go the negotiating table with a 'loss' and NC in his last two fights.

Agree on the Sanchez thing, Valero. Utterly unbelievable decision. At least Dana White (for what it's worth) has said that the UFC will be looking on it as a win - which is good news for Ross.

He'll get a "L" on his record, but everyone knows it should be a "W", and he'll get a better fight next up. Hadn't realised it was the last fight on his deal - fingers crossed Dana's words carry weight at the negotiating table!

Yeah, saw that Rinsure. Dana has paid Pierson's win bonus so won't suffer financially but will maybe with his new deal.