Unfortunately for New York’s own, Jimmie Rivera, his first UFC main event this past Saturday did not go as he had hoped.

Suffering only the second loss of his career in 23 fights, Rivera was finished via head kick and punches in just 33 seconds by his opponent, Marlon Moraes.

With the only damage done to Rivera being the one head kick and punches that followed, ESPN’s Brett Okamoto is reporting that he wants to get back in there sooner rather than later and the UFC has an opponent in mind for him.

UFC bantamweight Jimmie Rivera is looking for a quick turnaround after last Friday's 33-second loss to Marlon Moraes (his first L in 21 fights), according to sources. UFC is interested in pairing him with John Dodson in September. Nothing official yet, but it's being discussed.

— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) June 7, 2018

UFC bantamweight Jimmie Rivera is looking for a quick turnaround after last Friday’s 33-second loss to Marlon Moraes (his first L in 21 fights), according to sources. UFC is interested in pairing him with John Dodson in September. Nothing official yet, but it’s being discussed.

John Dodson is also a recent victim of Moraes’ but he was able to battle to a split decision loss.

The former two-time flyweight title challenger and Ultimate Fighter season 14 winner, Dodson has defeated Pedro Munhoz since losing to Moraes and just recently received a new UFC contract.

Dodson’s last six outings have seen a back and forth type of pattern with him alternating wins and losses in each fight to go 3-3 in those last six. The one to kick it off was his second career loss to Demetrious Johnson before moving back up to bantamweight.

For Rivera, his loss to Moraes snapped a crazy 20 fight winning streak that consisted of wins over Urijah Faber, Thomas Almeida, Brian Kelleher, Pedro Munhoz and Marcus Brimage.

 

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 6/7/2018.