After defeat of John Dodson, Jimmie Rivera calls out Dominick Cruz, Cody Garbrandt

Last weekend, on the main card of the action-packed UFC 228 card in Dallas, Texas, Jimmie Rivera rebounded from a tough knockout loss to Marlon Moraes with an impressive decision defeat of John Dodson.

Unsurprisingly, the bantamweight contender is excited to have returned to winning ways.

“He’s a tough opponent – he has a huge win over the current champ, a knockout over TJ Dillashaw who is our champ right now,” Rivera said at the UFC 228 post-fight press conference (via MMAjunkie). “To go in there and to beat him, and I believe it was a unanimous decision, it’s a big deal.

“It feels good to be back on the horse, feels good to be back in the win column, and it’s a huge win over John Dodson.”

Having returned to the win column, Jimmie Rivera is now looking to the future. While he would love to leap right into a title shot with reigning bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw, he understands that the champ is likely to fight somebody else first. Given this reality, he’s hoping for fights with either former champion Dominick Cruz, who he was booked to fight previously to no avail, or former champion Cody Garbrandt.

“Obviously my ideal [situation] is always to fight TJ [Dillashaw for the title],” Rivera said. “I know he might be in the works for a fight, or the Henry [Cejudo] fight might happen. Other than that, Cruz. He said he was hurt last time [we were booked to fight]; he ducked me. Get in there.”

“I beat [Urijah] Faber and I would love to beat someone else from Team Alpha Male,” he added. “I would love to fight Cody Garbrandt. I just want to keep moving forward.”

Who do you want to see Jimmie Rivera fight next? How do you think he would fare against former champions Dominick Cruz and Cody Garbrandt? Join the conversation in the comments section below.

This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 9/12/2018.