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.

UFC Orlando Review: Rafael Dos Anjos makes light work of Donald Cerrone to defend his belt for the first time ever.

Although he was not in attendance, Conor McGregor was the name on most people's mind at UFC Orlando.

Dos Anjos finished Cerrone in just 66 seconds to defend his belt.

There were many accusations directed towards Rafael Dos Anjos leading up to his title fight against Donald Cerrone on Saturday, but too him, they acted as motivators as he was determined to shut his critics up. Cerrone, who is often labelled as a slow starter in fights, came out apprehensive as expected. Dos Anjos landed a vicious hard knee to the liver of Cerrone, which was ultimately the beginning of the end for "Cowboy." After landing a body kick which hurt Cerrone badly, Dos Anjos showed no mercy by landing a barrage of brutal punches on the injured Cerrone, who impressively stayed on his feet and circled back into the centre of the octagon. However, Dos Anjos did not think twice about letting the dazed Cerrone recover. An attempted takedown from Cerrone allowed "RDA" to take his back, and from there he hammered away at his head and although "Cowboy" was attempting to defend himself, it was clearly not enough and Herb Dean stopped the fight.

Another win for RDA means that his unbeaten streak is now extended to five and his first title defence has proven to many doubters that he is a force to be reckoned with. A perfectly executed game plan to pressure the slow starting Cerrone straight from the off was the key to his victory. So, what's next for Dos Anjos and Cerrone? Well, Dos Anjos was just one of several fighters at UFC Orlando to call out the recently crowned featherweight champion, Conor McGregor, in his octagon interview. McGregor, who is extremely keen on moving up to 155 and becoming a duo-weight champion, has caught the eye of many fighters in the lightweight division, including RDA. "This is my division" claimed Dos Anjos, also stating he would fight McGregor "In Brazil, in Ireland, or wherever he wants." For Cerrone, a potential fight with rising star Tony Ferguson is one that is looking very promising. 

Overeem landing a hard left body kick.

Junior Dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem was a fight that should have happened three and a half years ago, but for many endless reasons, it didn't. However, it finally did last Saturday night and it was somewhat of an anti-climax of what everyone expected. Two of the most entertaining heavyweights in the whole sport were finally going to face off, and the stage was set for a compelling match-up. However, a dull start from both fighters, with very few strikes thrown lead to quite a boring first round. Considering the knockout power of both men though, it was quite to hard too blame them for both being hesitant. The second round was more lively though, with Overeem landing a lot of kicks, and with JDS not really throwing anything, it looked like Overeem was about to secure himself another round. Eventually Dos Santos did find an opening and pinned Overeem up against the fence after landing some good punches, but "The Demolition Man" calmly circled back to the centre. Just a few moments later, Overeem unleashed a picture perfect left hook which sent JDS to the canvas and allowed Overeem to follow up with some ground and pound to finish the fight.

A somewhat "boring" first round was the key to Overeem's win, as his patience in this round allowed him to read Dos Santos, and to never let him close the distance. It was a smart game plan once again from Team Jacksonwink, and it lead Overeem to gain his fortieth professional MMA win. This was Overeem's last fight on his UFC contract, which now means he is taking the road that Benson Henderson took in becoming a free agent to play the market. It will be interesting to see where Overeem goes from here, as a win over a top contender like JDS means he could certainly be in line for a title shot, or a number one contender's fight. For Dos Santos, he has never quite looked the same after his most recent to Velasquez, so it will be interesting to see who and when his next fight is against, and to see if he can bounce back from this poor performance.

UFC on FOX 17 Preview: Dos Anjos vs. Cerrone 2

It was the night of August the 28th, 2013 when Rafael Dos Anjos cruised to a unanimous decision victory of Donald "Cowboy" Cerrone. The two will meet again tomorrow night but this time, the lightweight belt will be on the line as Cerrone seeks revenge whilst Dos Anjos looks to defend his belt for this time.

Dos Anjos embracing his title win at UFC 185.

Cerrone, has already fought three times this year, two of those being in the space of fifteen days all the way back in January. Successful in all three, Cerrone looks to make that four as he enters his first UFC title fight ever. For Dos Anjos, only once has he stepped inside the octagon this year, nine months ago back in March when he dominated the former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis for five rounds to secure UFC gold. Often overshadowed by the Jon Jones incident which occurred a few weeks later, many people have forgotten about Dos Anjos' flawless performance that night against a man who had previously only lost once in the UFC before. It has been a great year for Dos Anjos's training camp, Kings MMA, who not only have a new champion in Rafael, but also a new champion in heavyweight Fabricio Werdum, who defeated Cain Velasquez at UFC 188 in Mexico City to secure the second lot of UFC gold for Kings. 

It's not been a bad year for Cerrone's camp either. Training at Jacksonwink MMA in Albuquerque, New Mexico, they have had great success through recently new UFC women's bantamweight champion Holly Holm, who took gold back to Albuquerque last month when she put an end to Ronda Rousey's reign in magnificent fashion. Cerrone will be looking to top off an excellent year for Jacksonwink, and take home his first ever piece of MMA gold in the process.

Finally, JDS and Overeem will fight on Saturday.

Another man who will be looking to put the icing on the cake for Jacksonwink is experienced kickboxer Alistair Overeem, who finally faces Junior Dos Santos in the co-main event of the evening on Saturday. The two heavyweights where originally planned to fight three and a half years ago, at UFC 146 for the heavyweight belt.  However, Overeem failed his pre-fight drug test due to his testosterone levels proving to be too high. Frank Mir who stepped in to replace Overeem in the main event, and it was Dos Santos who would go on to win by knockout in the second round and defend his belt in the process. The two were then planned to meet at UFC 160, in a heavyweight bout which determine the #1 contender as Dos Santos had by then lost his belt to Cain Velasquez back at UFC 155. Once again the fight did not take place, but luckily for Overeem, the reason was different this time. A leg injury meant that he had to pull out, so Mark Hunt filled in for him. The same outcome as UFC 146, Overeem's replacement was knocked out by Dos Santos, however it was a picture perfect spinning hook kick which sealed this time. And now, we are here. Finally, this highly anticipated match-up which was supposed to occur years ago, will take place tomorrow to most likely determine who will be next in line for a heavyweight title shot.