UFC on ESPN 1: Ngannou vs. Velasquez - Fights to make

The UFC’s first card on ESPN was a reasonable success, at least for home viewers. Those who showed up live seemed to voice a much less glowing opinion throughout the evening. However, Vicente Luque and Bryan Barberena put on a war for the ages, Kron Gracie got a glowing debut, and while Cain Velasquez didn’t get to feed off his grand return, Francis Ngannou added to his resume and may have bought himself a return ticket to title town.

So, will DC really skip Stipe to fight the ‘Predator’? Is AlJo “in the mix” at bantamweight? And will Vicente Luque ever get a ranked opponent?

To answer all these questions – and many more – I’ll be using the classic Silva/Shelby method of fight booking. That…