UFC 203: Will Miocic be another victim to the hometown curse?

 

Strike one. UFC 188: Mexico City, Mexico, Cardio Cain is contrastingly outworked by Fabricio 'Vai Cavalo' Werdum, and is eventually submitted much to the shock of his loyal Mexican followers.

Strike two. UFC 198: Curitiba, Brazil, the calculated, technical Vai Cavalo uncharacteristically runs hands down at Stipe Miocic, only to be knocked out stiff in front of his home faithful.

Strike three. UFC 203: Cleveland, Ohio, we wait for the consensus to be answered.

With a combined total of 56 MMA fights on his resume, and an impressive kickboxing career to match, Alistair Overeem is certainly not lacking in the experience aspect when he faces Stipe Miocic this Saturday, for the UFC heavyweight title. As usual, this title fight means much more than a gold belt to Overeem. Looking to become the first fighter ever to hold belt's in three different MMA organizations (Dream, Strikeforce and UFC) Overeem believes this fight will cement his legacy.

Miocic celebrates winning the UFC Heavyweight
title, after knocking out Fabricio Werdum.
Credit: @stipemiocicufc

Overeem's myriad of experience is not something in which Miocic (or most fighters in that case) can say they have under their belt. Being fairly new to the game, but winning the most prized assets of all so quickly, Miocic has dispatched some of the most seasoned UFC veterans on his pathway to becoming the champ. Most notably his effortless knockout of Fabricio Werdum, who also fights on this card, back at UFC 198 in May.

Well known for his durable wrestling, as shown in his five-round masterclass over Mark Hunt, Miocic's boxing is the foundation of his MMA game, and being a Golden Gloves champion, saying he shines in this aspect is an understatement. A great analysis by Dan Hardy, shows the acute angle, and minimal build-up Miocic's punches have, using his bodyweight in rhythm to generate devastating knock-out power. For Overeem, it is the tenacious kickboxing which catches your eye when he fights. Although with a plethora of his finishes coming from kicks and knees, Overeem is certainly comfortable when the fight hits the canvas too. Surprisingly, he has more submission wins then knockouts, and his guillotine has been a frequent feature of these wins.

Before Miocic and Overeem let fists fly, two men (who will be very interested in that headliner) square off in a re-match of a one-sided affair back in 2014. When Travis Browne came into his first fight with Werdum, he was a 2-to-1 favourite riding three consecutive knockouts over Josh Barnett, Gabriel Gonzaga and the man in the main event, Overeem! 

However, Werdum was not bothered by Browne's success. Thoroughly outclassing him in wherever the fight went, many say to date that was Werdum's best performance inside the octagon. Since that fight, it's been a rocky road for Browne. Troubles outside the octagon, and inconsistent performances inside, a win is crucial if Browne wants to make a serious run for that title. 

 

Werdum dominated Browne in all aspects in their first fight.
Credit: Bleacher Report

Having your first pro MMA bout on the main card of a UFC pay-per-view is something that no fighter can have to claim, that will no longer be the case this Saturday. CM Punk becomes only the second man to make the transition from WWE to MMA, as he takes a fellow UFC newcomer in Mickey Gall. When Lesnar made the same move as Punk, criticism was not as apparent due to Lesnar's freak appearance, and successful college wrestling background.

Due to Punk having no MMA experience whatsoever, he has been under the cosh from many big names in the UFC. Unphased by this, Punk will be making his highly-anticipated debut after almost two years of training at Roufusport in Milwaukee, with some of the UFC's biggest names, such as Anthony Pettis, and recently crowned welterweight champ, Tyron Woodley.

This card definitely has the potential to be a thrilling night of fights, from seasoned veterans, to noobie newcomers, UFC 203 will be worth the watch.

Stacked, sold out, set to samba! My UFC 198 Preview. 

From the early prelims, all the way to the main card, UFC 198 features a plethora of prosperous Brazilian fighters, each and every one of them hoping to put on a performance to remember in front of a sold out Curitiba crowd.

Maia and Brown square off ahead of their fight tonight.
Credit: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMvNU-orFio

Surprisingly, we will start off by focusing on the main event of the Fox Sports 1 preliminary fights, when the judicious Brazilian jiu-jitsu veteran Demian Maia takes on a destructive stand-up warrior in Matt Brown. Assuredly the best grappler in the UFC today, Maia's BJJ credentials are endless and this has been reinforced in his last three fights when he put an end to prosperous welterweights Ryan Laflare, Neil Magny and Gunnar Nelson's winning streaks. Possibly the most impressive of them all dating back to UFC 190 in his native country of Brazil when he submitted the high-flying 170-pound contender Magny via rear-naked choke in the second round.

Standing in his way this Saturday will be the man with a heart of stone, "The Immortal" Matt Brown. For the number 8 ranked welterweight contender, the last decade has been a roller-coaster with many twists and turns to say the least. "Clinically dead for over a minute" after overdosing on heroin, (which gained him his nickname, The Immortal) Brown bounced back exponentially to gain a title shot versus Robbie Lawler, in which he lost via unanimous decision, after acquiring a seven fight win streak. Brown's trump card in this bout is his explosive aggression and never-giving up mentality. How Maia will counter the razor-sharp Muay Thai of ‘The Immortal’ will be puzzle that remains to be solved, which proves why this match-up is the perfect beginning of a wild night of fights.

Cyborg weighed in at 139 pounds, 6 pounds under
her usual weight class.

Up and onwards to the main card, the fights continue to fuel the night's fire. And justifiably so, as finally, to all MMA fans satisfaction, Cristiane "Cyborg" Justino makes her UFC debut at long last when she faces tough competitor Leslie Smith at a catch-weight of 140 pounds. Unbeaten for over a decade, Cyborg’s fights have been ephemeral to say the least. 9 first round finishes are an astonishing figure when you realise she only has 15 wins, however many MMA fans have debated about the lack of competition she has received when fighting in the likes of Invicta and Strikeforce. Undoubtedly, Justino's striking and explosiveness is what marginalises her from all other fighters in her weight class. Now, if she can carry this abnormal power over to the most competitive MMA promotion in the world, it will certainly lay out a strong marker that Cyborg is one of (if not the) greatest female MMA fighter of all time.

Once again, like Maia, Cyborg will have her hands full in Curitiba this Saturday night when she debuts against tenacious Gracie fighter Leslie Smith. Even though a coterie of fans are backing Smith to come out victorious in this bout, that will by no means leave her disheartened. This match-up oozes many similarities to McGregor vs Diaz at UFC 196. A stand-up powerhouse, with relentless knockout power, who eradicates anyone in its way, against a fearless, huge-hearted, diverse fighter who has never been knocked out and is comfortable wherever the fight may go.

The main event of the evening is the culminate of a fantastic fight card. Newly crowned heavyweight champion of the world, Fabricio "Vai Cavalo" Werdum defends his gold for the first time against #2 ranked hard-hitter Stipe Miocic. So what is Werdum's key perk in this title fight to kick-start his reign as heavyweight champ, and what does Miocic have to do to in order to prevent that? Well, as the charismatic, energetic MMA analyst Robin Black said, for Miocic the canvas is "Hotlava! Hot lava! Hot lava!" However, the Cleveland born Miocic views on this contradict Black's as he feels he can be triumph regardless of where the fight ends up. Could Miocic prove his doubters wrong? That he will not fall into the same trap as the likes Velasquez and Fedor. Or, will 'Vai Cavalo' make Miocic yet another fallen victim to Werdum's pedant jiu-jitsu? As, Black said "Do not miss this fight!"

UFC 195 Review: Could Condit become the first new champion of 2016? Or, will Lawler retain welterweight gold.

Lawler vs MacDonald 2 was 2015's Fight of the Year.

"Beautiful Violence" was the word used by John Gooden in the UFC 195 episode of Inside the Octagon to describe the first title fight of 2016 between "Ruthless" Robbie Lawler and Carlos "The Natural Born Killer" Condit. It certainly seems like a suitable description. Two of the most talented strikers in the welterweight division will come toe-to-toe this Saturday, which makes it seem like it's going to be one hell of a fight. Lawler (26-10) last fought against Rory MacDonald at UFC 189 in July, which won this 2015's Fight of the Year award by MMAFighting after a bloody, messy, end-to-end four round fight was eventually finished off early in the fifth by Robbie. Condit on the other hand has had a 7-month break from the octagon, with his last fight being a TKO win over Thiago Alves in May. The fight was stopped by a doctor after some brutal elbows from Condit caused too much damage to Alves' nose for the fight too continue.

This fight has endless potential to be a great one, as Lawler always "brings it" and the crisp technical striking ability of Condit paints a picture in our head that this fight will be a stand-up war. However, we shouldn't get ahead of ourselves. Following Lawler's last fight against MacDonald, he has already said that he is "not hoping" for another fight like that last one anytime soon, and who can blame him. Meanwhile, the last southpaw that Condit faced was a fight where he was heavily criticised by many, and lost a lot of fans. 3 years ago Condit faced Nick Diaz for the interim welterweight championship, in which he won by a controversial unanimous decision. Many people thought Condit threw "petty" kicks, and ran from Diaz the whole fight, avoiding any real exchanges and not fighting the way he usually fought. Condit went on to fight GSP for the legitimate welterweight belt, but fell short via a unanimous decision. So in regards to Saturday's title fight, I can see it going one of two ways. A stand up war, although a bit less violent compared to Lawler vs. MacDonald 2, in which I think Lawler will be the victor. Or, Condit fighting the same way he did vs Diaz, and edging a unanimous decision victory. I just hope it's the first option which comes true!

Duffy has looked great in his first two UFC fights.

Now, I usually would focus on the co-main event for the second part of my reviews, or if not, a fight a bit lower down on the main-card that has huge potential. However, that is not going to be the case for this review. A fight which was scheduled to headline UFC Dublin back in October at the 3Arena, is now being placed on the early prelims of UFC 195. Poirier vs. Duffy. Personally, I found this decision quite shocking. 

When you look at the main card of Saturday night's show, apart from the co-main and the main event, nothing really throws you off the edge of your seat. I was extremely surprised that this fight was not placed on the main card. but oh well, at least it is going to happen this time regardless of what time! Duffy has only two fights in the UFC, both against guys who are not even ranked in the top 15 at lightweight. However, he looked extremely impressive in both of those fights, showing off his versatile skillset by finishing both opponents in the first round, one by submission, one by TKO. Following Poirier's loss at featherweight to Conor McGregor, he made the decision to move up to 155 and has never looked back since. 

Like Duffy, Poirier's last two fights have both been round one finishes in impressive fashion. Many fans are curious to who has the advantage on the ground in this bout. With Poirier being a brown belt in BJJ, and Duffy being a black belt in traditional Japanese Jiu-jitsu, it will be interesting to see who attemmpts to take this fight to the ground first. We both know that Poirier and Duffy's stand-up are both very strong, so they may just "bang it out" on the feet. Either way, this fight is certainly going to be a good one, and I feel it is more than worthy of a main card place.