2. Stipe Miocic
This is the "out of left field" call. It's hard to tell where Stipe Miocic really is in the heavyweight division. Forget the rankings, those aren't really that helpful. See, Miocic has wins over Gabriel Gonzaga, Roy Nelson, and... Fabio Maldonado. One of those things is not like the other. Maldonado was a last minute replacement for Junior Dos Santos at the TUF Brazil 3 finale. He's a light heavyweight, and went up in weight for the fight. He got knocked out quickly for his troubles, which is exactly what should have happened. Had he even managed to draw the fight out, it would have reflected poorly on Miocic. The Nelson fight was a legit win, but it should be noted that Big Country took that fight on two week's notice to help out a struggling card. The Gonzaga fight was a legit win as well, but Gonzaga isn't even a top ten heavyweight at the moment. Arlovski would be a great test for Miocic, and vice versa. Frankly, we don't need to see Dos Santos vs. Velasquez again, so if the UFC wanted to nix the planned pairing with Miocic (which isn't set in stone since their original fight had to be cancelled), Arlovski vs. Miocic could suddenly become a title eliminator.