This card is stacked. Top contenders competing. Three title fights. Champion vs Champion. This will go down as one of the most iconic UFC PPV’s of all time.
Thiago Santos vs Aleksandar Rakic – Light Heavyweight Division
Santos comes into this bout 21-8 in his MMA career so far. He’s a muay thai black belt and has the ability to put anyone to sleep at anytime. Santos was probably the closest to beating Jon Jones for the Light Heavyweight Championship, if not Dominick Reyes. Rakic is a kickboxer who comes into this bout 13-2 in his career so far. He has a solid wrestling foundation to back up that kickboxing ability. For me, Santos has 15 minutes to put Rakic to sleep, which is extremely possible. However, I expect Rakic to use that kickboxing to his advantage, attack Santos’ legs and for him to control distance with his leg reach advantage. He could even implement some grappling to tire out the arms of Santos. This is a tough one. If Rakic wins, it’s probably by decision. If Santos wins it’s probably by KO. I’m gonna side with Santos. KO in round 2.
Islam Makhachev vs Drew Dober – Lightweight Division
Islam comes into this fight 7-1 in the UFC. Like most Russians, he specialises in wrestling. A lot of fans are trying to compare Islam to Khabib. I’d say Islam isn’t as good on the ground as the former champion, yet on the feet, they’re pretty equal. Drew Dober is 9-5 in the UFC. Drew is a boxer who has decent grappling, however against a man like Islam, there’s no point of him attempting him to use that. We have the typical, wrestler vs boxer fight here and as much as I love Dober, I’ve got to side with Islam. I’m taking the Russian by submission in round 2.
Petr Yan (c) vs Aljamain Sterling – Bantamweight Championship
The first of three title fights and we have Petr Yan, who comes into this fight 15-1 in his MMA career and 7-0 in the UFC. He’s a muay thai striker coming into his first title defence. Sterling is a hybrid between wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. In this fight, Aljo will look to take the Russian down and look for a choke like he did to Cory Sandhagen a few months ago. Yan will want to keep it standing. My only problem with Yan’s game against a man like Sterling is that Yan likes to keep his opponents close to him and he’s not very elusive with his movement so he’s susceptible for the takedown. If Yan is able to stop the takedown then he’s good for the win but that’s a huge if. I’m taking Sterling by decision.
Amanda Nunes (c) vs Megan Anderson – Women’s Featherweight Championship
This fight could be the end of the Women’s Featherweight division if Nunes wins. She’s cleared the whole field and Megan is the last one left and still hasn’t received a contract yet. What I do like about this fight is that Megan is the much bigger fighter, 6ft compared to 5’8, so what she lacks in skill she makes up in size. Nunes is much better everywhere the fight goes, hence why she’s the greatest of all time, but I’m not expecting a Nunes blitz or even a domination for 25 minutes. I think that simply due to the size advantage and a history in wrestling Megan can compete for a round or two. However, I never have and never will go against Nunes. I think she’ll win by decision.
Yan Blachowicz (c) vs Israel Adesanya (c) – Light Heavyweight Championship
Main event time and we have Israel Adesanya moving up from Middleweight to Light Heavyweight to fight Jan Blachowicz for the title. This is going to be good. Jan has undergone a huge career resurgence over the last few years and has looked very impressive since losing to Thiago Santos in February 2019. To put it simply, he’s powerhouse who can wrestle as well. Adesanya, is the best middleweight on the planet, his fight IQ is next to none and his striking is unmatched in the UFC. The constant switching of stances and the ability to be so elusive with his movement is incredible. Jan no doubt in my mind has the ability to drop Adesanya and he only needs one punch to do so. Furthermore, he has more power than anyone Izzy has faced in the UFC simply because he’s a 205lber. I’m really intrigued to see how much Izzy weighs coming into this fight as well. He said he wouldn’t bulk up, so I wonder if he’ll come in around 200lbs or maybe even at 195. This will be both fighters toughest test so far. However, I’m going with Izzy for the win. I’ve never gone against him and I can see him picking Jan apart the same way he picked apart Costa with the leg kicks. If I could compare this fight to any other Izzy fight, it would be Gastelum. Jan is a huge puncher with good wrestling but will he be able to wrestle or touch Izzy as much as he wants. I don’t think so. Izzy becomes a double champ in my eyes by decision.
I just wanted to say before I close off, I wish Khamzat Chimaev the best with his recovery. I hope we see him fight again, it’s a shame health reasons will take away the career of a future championship contender.
Thanks for reading, and have a good day!
TheWrestlingFallacy 