LAS VEGAS, NV - JULY 08: Eddie Alvarez poses for a picture after defeating Rafael Dos Anjos of Brazil in their lightweight championship bout during the UFC Fight Night event inside the MGM Grand Garden Arena on July 8, 2016 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by Brandon Magnus/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images)
Eddie Alvarez scored a stunning, first-round TKO victory over Rafael dos Anjos on Thursday night to take home the UFC lightweight title.
Following the win, Alvarez was already looking ahead to his first title defense, calling out the likes of Conor McGregor and setting up a few intriguing matchups at the top of the lightweight division.
Here are five options for Alvarez's first fight as UFC lightweight king.
Tony Ferguson has won seven straight fights since 2013 and has only seen the judges twice in that span. "El Cucuy" is 10-1 overall in the UFC and is an action-fighter who has taken home a Performance of the Night bonus in three consecutive fights.
Ferguson has a bout against short-notice replacement Lando Vannata on July 13. Another impressive finish should all but guarantee him the next shot.
Khabib Nurmagomedov, currently the No. 1 contender in the lightweight division, has deserved a title shot for a while now, but injuries have prevented him from being as active as other top fighters in the division.
Nurmagomdeov is a perfect 23-0 and is coming off a second-round finish of Darrell Horcher at UFC Tampa, where he was originally supposed to fight Tony Ferguson. "The Eagle" looked great against Horcher but it was his first fight since 2014, a convincing win over Rafael dos Anjos.
Eddie Alvarez is 3-1 in the UFC, with wins over former champions Gilbert Melendez and Anthony Pettis. His lone loss, however, came in a lopsided fight against Donald Cerrone in his UFC debut in 2014.
Surely, Alvarez wants to get that one back, and Cerrone might be tempted to jump back to lightweight for a title shot against a man he's already beaten.
It's hard to justify an immediate rematch after losing the way Rafael dos Anjos did on Thursday night, but there is no doubt that he's still one of the best lightweights in the world.
Dos Anjos completely dominated Anthony Pettis to win the belt in 2015 and then went on to starch Donald Cerrone inside of one round in his first title defense. Before being champ he scored impressive wins against Nate Diaz and Benson Henderson.
His name should be in the conversation, but a title eliminator fight with a guy like Nurmagomedov is probably more likely.
Nate Diaz and Conor McGregor square in a welterweight rematch at UFC 202 and the winner could be rewarded with a lightweight title fight.
Diaz has won three of his last four fights and a second consecutive win over McGregor could allow him to dictate what he wants to do next.
McGregor said at the UFC 202 on-sale press conference that he intends on going back to featherweight after his bout with Diaz, but now that Alvarez has called him out, things could change. McGregor was supposed to challenge RDA for the lightweight belt before the Brazilian withdrew from the event with a broken foot and was replaced by Diaz.
A win at UFC 202 could re-ignite his pursuit of two belts.
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