Merging 2 cards would make UFC 213 the year's best PPV

UFC 213 was looking like one of the most stacked events in recent memory before a reported injury to Donald Cerrone ruined what promised to be a classic slugfest with Robbie Lawler.

The remaining bouts are still strong, but it feels like removing that one key fight has damaged the overall structure of the card with a less appealing matchup likely to take its place on the main card, which would also diminish the preliminaries.

What if that didn't have to be the case?

The UFC is also holding "The Ultimate Fighter 25 Finale" next week, an event headlined by an exciting lightweight bout between Michael Johnson and former World Series of Fighting champion Justin Gaethje.

Champions.co's Kel Dansby suggested simply transplanting that fight to UFC 213 to replace the Cerrone-Lawler bout. So piggybacking off that idea, let's imagine how the July 8 show could remain the best pay-per-view of the year so far if the UFC was actually able to scrap the TUF 25 Finale entirely for spare parts.

Michael Johnson vs. Justin Gaethje

Did someone order a barnburner?

Johnson and Gaethje are a fine fit to headline a free card, but the level of violence they're likely to reach is worthy of PPV. Slotting them into the Cerrone-Lawler spot would go a long way towards helping fans get over the disappointment of losing that one.

The striking of Johnson has improved by leaps and bounds since he finished as a runner-up on TUF 12 back in 2010, as evidenced by a first-round knockout of Dustin Poirier last September. He'll have a willing standup partner in Gaethje, a brawler who has earned a reputation as one of the hardest hitters at 155 pounds.

Problem solved.

The TUF 25 tournament final

It might seem like a demotion to move the climactic battle of TUF 25 from Friday's co-main event to Saturday's preliminaries, but what's actually happening is that it would become the UFC 213 preliminary headliner on FOX Sports 1.

As of this writing, we don't know who is going to be in the finals yet (the remaining contestants are Dhiego Lima, Tom Gallicchio, James Krause, and Jesse Taylor). However, what's being sold is not the participants but the "redemption" theme of the season.

That narrative is enough to make the finals a more compelling affair than the potentially ugly heavyweight bout between Travis Browne and Aleksei Oleinik that is currently scheduled to close out the preliminaries.

Tecia Torres vs. Juliana Lima

With Amanda Nunes appearing in her third UFC main event, it's only fitting that another pair of female fighters get some shine.

Tecia Torres and Juliana Lima are set to open the Fight Pass prelims of the TUF 25 Finale, which is absurd considering that Torres is currently No. 5 in her division and Lima has won three of her past four fights.

At the very least these two deserve a plum spot on the televised portion of the card if not the PPV itself. Torres in particular is exactly the kind of star the UFC should be promoting, a well-rounded fighter and human being who recently received her Masters Degree in criminology while also finding the time to train for a win over Bec Rawlings this past February.

As for the rest of the TUF 25 fights, the matchmakers would surely find a way to re-book them on one of the hundred or so events remaining in 2017. For now, it's fun to imagine how the UFC's events could look if its roster wasn't always spread so thin.

(Photos courtesy: Action Images)