Welcome back to another UFC article. This event is a showcase of the best the UFC has to offer in the heavyweight division, we’ll see two of the baddest men on the planet go to war. Honestly though apart from this mouth watering main event the rest of the card has fallen apart, several bouts have been cancelled due to Covid including a Featherweight championship bout. But if you can tough it out until the final few fights of the evening you’ll be in for an explosive finale.
…This time we’re going to focus on the main card. So let’s kick it off and start with the first bout.
Jamie Mullarkey vs Khama Worthy
Both of these fighters are fairly fresh faced in the UFC with both of them having their first UFC bouts in 2019. These fighters are looking to prove their worth and bounce back from defeats in their previous fights. These strikers will be looking to put on a show at this event.
Jamie Mullarkey hasn’t won a fight since he joined the organisation, his two losses in the UFC make up half of his total losses in his pro career. He’ll want to bring back his form which brought him into the UFC in the first place, this form consisted of four TKO’s in a row. Jamie will be looking to finish this fight and not leave this to the hands of the judge, something he has been unable to do so far in the UFC.
Khama Worthy is a mixed bag when it comes to the way he finishes his fights, he’s currently got a 56% finish rate via KO/TKO. I feel the UFC has pushed this fighter in the past and they’ll be hoping he beats Jamie, especially as he is on a two fight losing streak. Khama has gone on lengthy winning streaks in his career and I have no doubt he’ll be looking to regain his momentum in the UFC.
Prediction: Worthy via a TKO in Round 2
Gillian Robertson vs Miranda Maverick
This fight appears to have been added to the main card after originally being scheduled as a prelim, this is due to previously mentioned fight cancellations. However Gillian Robertson is always interesting, she definitely puts her heart into every battle she has. There are substantial differences in their UFC experiences.
Gillian Robertson is only 25 but she has been fighting in the UFC since 2017. This fight was supposed to take place last month, but GIllian had to pull out due to illness. She has now recovered and will want to employ her black belt in BJJ in the hopes to add another win to her column. The submission game is her strong point with a 67% finish rate in that area.
Miranda on the other hand is a newcomer to the UFC and only has one previous bout in the organisation, which was a win. Her pro record on paper would appear to be better overall compared to Gillian but she has not faced the level of competition that the UFC has to offer. Miranda only has a brown belt in Jiu Jitsu but she’ll be looking to prove herself over the experienced black belt at the weekend.
Prediction: Robertson via a Unanimous Decision
Now we’re reaching the tail end of the show and arguably the most exciting fights are still to come.
Sean O’Malley vs Thomas Almeida
This is going to be an exciting bout between two men looking to knock each other’s heads off. They both have a KO/TKO rate over 65%, so be ready for a technical and explosive bout on the feet.
Any UFC fan in the know will be aware that ‘Sugar’ Sean O’Malley is undefeated at 13-0 according to himself at least. He’s one of those people that you either love or hate as he’s an eccentric character. He didn’t fight for two years due to failed drug tests which was a shame but you can’t be failing drug tests and expect to get away with it, unless you’re JBJ and only ‘pictograms’ in your system. Sugar Sean was expected to win his last fight by many but a nasty foot injury sprang up in the first round which caused him to crumble under the punches of his opponent. Previous to that he was unbeaten and had an incredible one punch knockout in the bout before his loss.
Thomas Almeida is a seasoned fighter with 22 wins in total and only one of those was via a decision, he certainly won’t let up on Sean and if he has it his way this will not be reaching the judges. He was unbeaten with 21 straight wins until his last 5 fights in which he has only won 1. This is a real rough time for Almeida and he won’t want to make it 4 losses in a row. With a strong record of 17 wins via KO/TKO he’ll be looking to show Sean who has real knockout power in this one.
There is no way I see this bout reaching the judges let alone Round 3, this could be fight of the night.
Prediction: O’Malley via a KO in Round 2
Tyron Woodley vs Vicente Luque
In this bout we have a classic wrestler vs a striker match up. Former champ T-Wood is on a losing streak and there is speculation that he could be cut from the UFC if he loses this bout. Especially since he and UFC president Dana White do not see eye to eye. Vicente Luque has been a constant threat during his time at the UFC and has four times the amount of wins than losses in the organisation.
Tyron Woodley has spent more time rapping than fighting since losing the title. But he’ll be looking to live up to his nickname of ‘The Chosen One’ in this bout and show everyone why he was a champion in the first place. Unfortunately for him he is considered to be a boring fighter as he tends to sit against the cage and wait for counter attacks when standing and when he’s on the ground he’s looking to tire his opponent out so he can finish them later. Woodley has wins over some big names in the MMA community but since losing his belt he has not won a fight.
Vicente Luque has been fighting in the UFC since 2015 and was part of The Ultimate Fighter leading up to that bout. He’s a power puncher during stand up but he can also sink in a submission whilst on the ground. As long as he can escape Woodley’s wrestling game he has a great chance of winning in a stand up exchange.
Prediction: Luque via a Unanimous Decision
And now we move on to the final fight and we’re bringing out the two heaviest hitters…literally.
Stipe Miocic vs Francis Ngannou 2
First of all we have arguably the greatest Heavyweight of all time vs a man who has a world record for the hardest punch in the world. If the other fights don’t interest you then that’s fine but any true combat sports fan will not want to miss out on this one! This is the rematch we’ve all been waiting for.
First of all we have the Heavyweight G.O.A.T Stipe Miocic firefighter by day and fist fighter by night. This is his chance to cement his place as the greatest Heavyweight we’ve ever seen. Across his 20 professional wins he has 15 knockouts and 0 submission wins. So we know full well he’ll be looking to counter Francis when he comes in swinging. If Francis starts throwing haymakers like he did vs Rozenstruik, Stipe will be sure to land a counter and win the fight from there and if Francis clips him he will look to take him down so he can regain his composure.
Next we have officially the hardest hitting man in the world Francis Ngannou with a punch equivalent to 96 horsepower, this is the man you don’t want to piss off. He’s looking to become the third African champion that UFC has seen. Despite losing the first bout against Stipe everyone around Francis has said that he has been training for this rematch ever since and incorporating wrestling into his previous fight camps despite fighting against strikers predominantly. We all know Ngannou could end this fight in one punch, let’s wait and see if it happens.
Prediction: Miocic via a TKO in Round 4
It’s unfortunate that this card has had several cancelled fights but the Heavyweight bout at the end of the show should still have fans very excited, any punch in that fight could end it!
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