What’s next for UFC Chicago’s Felice Herrig?

After over a year away from the cage, Felice Herrig (11-6) returned to action this past Saturday night against a young and hungry competitor in Kailin Curran (4-3) to kick off the main card portion of UFC on FOX 20.

An ultra focused “Lil’ Bulldog” was given a warm welcome on her home turf and she go out and reward them by fighting the perfect fight, finishing Curran in just under two minutes via rear-naked choke. From the word go, Herrig put the pressure on Curran before ultimately taking her back and forcing the Hawaiian to make the decision to tap before going out cold.

Felice Herrig clamps down on a rear naked choke and gives it that anaconda squeeze until Curran taps! #UFCChicago https://t.co/XAjib2VJ3n

— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) July 24, 2016

Herrig’s finish of Curran goes down as the 2nd fastest finish in the history of the strawweight division behind Maryna Moroz’s 1:30 armbar finish over Joanne Calderwood last spring in Poland. Herrig admitted in a post fight interview that if she had lost she would’ve likely announced her retirement from the sport. Instead, she took home an extra $50K for a performance bonus and likely even got a spot in the official UFC rankings (which have yet to be released as of this writing).

Coming off such a flawless performance in Chicago, a relatively quick turnaround for Herrig could be in order after her year plus extended layoff before the fight. The aforementioned Maryna Moroz (7-1) is currently without an opponent for August 6th in Salt Lake City with Justine Kish falling off the card due to injury. If Herrig really wants to make a splash, taking that fight on under 2 weeks notice against the #8 fighter in the world would get a lot of folks talking.

There’s also Cortney “Cast Iron” Casey (5-3), another tough Hawaiian who has had quite the entertaining UFC career thus far. Albeit in defeat, Casey collected two consecutive fight of the night bonus checks in her first two fights against Joanne Calderwood and Seo Hee Ham, respectively. She would earn her first UFC win at Fight Night 91 earlier this month with a statement making ground and pound finish of Cristina Stanciu in the very first round.

What a beatdown! Cortney Casey gets a huge 1st round TKO win with some nasty ground and pound! #UFCSiouxFalls https://t.co/UqI024NThi

— FOX Sports: UFC (@UFCONFOX) July 13, 2016

Herrig vs. Casey is a tussle more than worthy of main card status on any PPV or Fight Night and would increase the odds of yet another bonus check for one or both competitors to cap off their night.

image credit – Michelle Keim