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UFC 300 is upon us!!!
OK, that intro may be a tad too dramatic, given we haven’t precisely been blessed with an earth-shattering most important occasion this Saturday. However 300 remains to be a hefty quantity for the UFC to have reached, and you may’t argue with the lineup. Is it the most effective, most hyped card in fight sports activities? Possibly not.
However you greatest imagine it’s the deepest.
We don’t must go over each champion, former champion, contender, and fan favourite on this card. However if you happen to can’t discover at the least 4 or 5 fights to like, then that’s a you downside. Knockout king Alex Pereira taking over the unflinchingly assured Jamahal Hill? Zhang Weili, the most effective feminine fighter on this planet, going through fellow Chinese language star Yan Xiaonan? Justin Gaethje and Max Holloway assembly in a dream match to find out simply who’s formally the baddest m***********? It’s all spectacular.
That’s not even mentioning former light-weight champion Charles Oliveira having to carry off younger juggernaut Arman Tsarukyan, and might’t-miss prospect Bo Nickal opening one of the vital extremely anticipated pay-per-views ever.
What are you ready for? Let’s dive into the principle card picks.
What: UFC 300
The place: T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas
When: Saturday, April 13. The cardboard begins with a four-fight early prelims portion on ESPN and ESPN+ at 6 p.m. ET, with persevering with protection of the four-fight prelim card additionally on ESPN and ESPN+ starting at 8 p.m. ET. The five-fight most important card begins at 10 p.m. ET and is obtainable solely on ESPN+ pay-per-view.
(Numbers in parentheses point out standing in MMA Fighting’s Global Rankings and Pound-for-Pound Rankings)
Alex Pereira (1, P4P-4) vs. Jamahal Hill (4)
It’s not Conor McGregor vs. whoever, like some individuals needed, however Alex Pereira vs. Jamahal Hill is one hell of a scrap to shut out a card of this magnitude. You’ve acquired the “champ-champ” vs. the champ that didn’t lose his belt within the cage, a excessive chance of somebody getting slept, and loads of dangerous blood relationship again to Hill retiring Pereira’s grasp, so to talk. You may’t ask for rather more than that.
Properly, you would ask for a 100% wholesome Hill. Coming off of an Achilles’ tear, Hill has mentioned all the appropriate issues about being absolutely recovered from the damage. He’s younger and in incredible form, so it’s completely attainable that with the most effective medical consideration, he’s able to be at his greatest come struggle night time. However as soon as he eats a few leg kicks from Pereira, we’re all going to be questioning if he made a mistake not pushing again a return to motion.
Even when Hill is at his greatest, it is a coin toss. Hill confirmed within the Glover Teixeira struggle that he can struggle a wise 5 rounds, and consulting Israel Adesanya on the right way to take care of the power-punching “Poatan” can solely assist him. He can do an inexpensive impression of what Adesanya did in his first UFC title struggle in opposition to Pereira, and that may be sufficient for Hill to win it.
It’s that one-pop stopping potential that makes it so tough to select in opposition to Pereira, even realizing Hill has simply as a lot potential to finish this one early. I see Hill having success early, benefiting from a gradual begin from Pereira, earlier than the champion catches him with a trademark flurry for the knockout win.
Decide: Pereira
Zhang Weili (1, P4P-1) vs. Yan Xiaonan (3, P4P-10)
Zhang Weili and Yan Xiaonan, two Chinese language UFC fighters competing for a title, ought to be competing for the strawweight belt of their house nation. However we’ve to accept T-Cell Enviornment in Las Vegas. Alas.
It’s a disgrace, as a result of I’m undecided how jazzed up the group might be to see Zhang win a lopsided struggle over Yan, which comes after a brutal “BMF” battle and precedes the ultimate struggle of the night time. As enjoyable as Zhang is to look at, she’s nonetheless under-appreciated by a lot of the fanbase, and that lack of recognition may rear its ugly head right here.
Too dangerous, as a result of the champ is about to place in work. On the toes, Zhang may face some dangerous moments, as Yan has among the greatest standup in any of the UFC’s three ladies’s divisions. Yan has discovered a wise stability between being aggressive and discovering the timing to land her stiff proper hand. If there’s to be an upset, it will likely be Yan outworking Zhang on the toes for 5 rounds.
Zhang’s wrestling is what tilts the chances significantly in her favor. We noticed what Carla Esparza did to Yan and, frankly, if Mackenzie Dern had one dependable takedown entry, she most likely would have beat Yan, too. If Zhang will get Yan to the mat, she’s both punishing her en path to a 10-8, or discovering a end. Yan is hard, and she or he’ll grasp in there so long as she will, however this doesn’t go previous the third.
Decide: Zhang
Justin Gaethje (3, P4P-T14) vs. Max Holloway (FW-3, P4P-T18)
The way you view Max Holloway’s 2019 rematch with Dustin Poirier will inform you numerous about what you need to anticipate to see when he returns to light-weight in opposition to Justin Gaethje.
Positives: Holloway has the type of hanging output that has foiled Gaethje up to now. The important thing to placing Gaethje down (assuming you’re not simply Khabib Nurmagomedov) is to hassle him from a wide range of angles to open up his defenses and press the benefit late. Holloway landed a ton of strikes in his traditional five-rounder with Poirier, and if he can replicate that in opposition to Gaethje, the door is open for a late end or a choice win.
Negatives: Holloway will get hit lots! This has been true all through his profession, which is unavoidable while you’re often buying and selling punches with the likes of Alexander Volkanovski, Jose Aldo, and Frankie Edgar. However he’s ceaselessly been capable of energy by way of these conditions. He depends lots on his unassailable chin, which isn’t a sustainable technique in opposition to Gaethje. I’m skeptical that Holloway’s protection is strong sufficient to keep away from Gaethje’s heaviest punches and leg kicks.
Anticipate yet one more traditional to be added to each males’s catalogues, with Gaethje’s measurement and energy being the distinction on the scorecards.
Decide: Gaethje
Charles Oliveira (2, P4P-6) vs. Arman Tsarukyan (4)
Arman Tsarukyan is so near getting his likelihood to show that he’s the person to steer the subsequent era of lightweights. He’s simply not going by way of Charles Oliveira to do it.
“Do Bronx” has been the most effective light-weight on this planet not named Khabib or Islam up to now few years, so there’s no disgrace in Tsarukyan shedding to him. This can be a traditional light-weight banger on paper, and Oliveira simply doesn’t lose these. You need to outsmart him, you need to out-technique him? High-quality. You need to go in there and go straight at him to make a reputation for your self? Unhealthy transfer, hotshot.
Tsarukyan is a to date above the second tier of lightweights that it’s straightforward to see why he’ll be champion sometime. However Oliveira is a substantial step above anybody that he’s crushed up to now. He hasn’t had anybody put the warmth on him like Oliveira can. I’m fascinated to see how this one performs out, as a result of regardless of my confidence in Oliveira, Tsarukyan making the leap wouldn’t shock me within the slightest. Each these guys rule, I’m torn!
Sigh. Oliveira by submission.
Decide: Oliveira
Bo Nickal vs. Cody Brundage
All indicators level to a Bo Nickal showcase efficiency.
You may’t utterly low cost the potential for a Cody Brundage upset, nevertheless. That is fight sports activities. Brundage has the makings of a correct underdog, too. You get the sense he isn’t shaken one bit by the place he’s been put in, and he has a knack for pulling finishes out of nowhere. If Nickal have been the sort to take his opponents flippantly, I’d be anxious.
However one factor Nickal has proven in his transient MMA profession is respect for the craft, so you may wager he’s taking Brundage as severely as any of the elite wrestlers he confronted in school. It simply so occurs that Brundage’s base is wrestling, but when he makes an attempt to shoot on Nickal, he’s getting suplexed. That implies that at worst, Nickal might be pressured to face, a state of affairs he’s been greater than comfy with to date.
Nickal’s explosiveness goes to be an excessive amount of for Brundage, who has a behavior of letting his opponents set the tone. That performs precisely into Nickal’s arms, as he’ll fortunately set a tempo that leaves Brundage within the mud effectively earlier than the top of Spherical 1.
Decide: Nickal
Preliminaries (try full preliminary predictions here)
Jiri Prochazka def. Aleksandar Rakic
Calvin Kattar def. Aljamain Sterling
Holly Holm def. Kayla Harrison
Diego Lopes def. Sodiq Yusuff
Renato Moicano def. Jalin Turner
Marina Rodriguez def. Jessica Andrade
Bobby Green def. Jim Miller
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