FIGHT CLUB TRANSMISSION 1.18.2018 - BELLATOR VS UFC
Bellator goes up against the UFC this Saturday night, which one will you be tuning in on? Both cards are pretty compelling to a certain extent, but Bellator, being on a “free” network may actually edge out UFC 220 where despite featuring two title defenses offers a relatively light schedule of competitors for a pay-per-view.
The most intriguing match-up is Francis Ngannou versus Stipe Miocic. As the fight gets closer, the question mark gets bigger and bigger. Will experience and technique defeat raw power and ferocity? My opinion swings wildly from day to day. Two days out, I believe that Miocic will employ his wrestling and get the stoppage. The one absolute is that this fight will not go five rounds.
The only fighter that has beaten Daniel Cormier is the rogue Jon Jones. On paper, it’s unlikely that Volkan Oezdemir has much to offer HOWEVER, DC is coming off of a vicious knockout and there are certain intangibles that accompany this. The other weird thing is that this may be the first time a champion in any division is defending his title coming off of a KO loss! These are unquestionably interesting times. Let’s remember that Cormier defeated Anthony Johnson twice, who offers a similar skill set to Oezdemir. In a way, I can see this as the UFC sacrificing a compromised Daniel Cormier in an attempt to shake things up with the Light Heavyweights, a fairly shallow division. DC may be compromised after his head kick KO and this may be his Achilles head when going against a puncher like Oezdemir. I guess we’ll see. My money is still on DC to retain the title and hopefully retire. My Man is getting up there in age, has had an impressive career, is a great media guy and will probably never get the opportunity to demean his losses to Jon Jones.
Over at Bellator we have Welterweight champ Douglas Lima defending his title against former UFC contender Rory MacDonald who is riding his debut win over Paul Daly. This is a fight that I’ve been anticipating since it was announced. The UFC fucked-up by letting MacDonald go. Despite his war with Robbie Lawler and his loss to Stephan Thompson, he has a lot of life left in his career. Good for him, though; maybe he can achieve in Bellator and someday return to the UFC?
Saturday is also the first fight in the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix featuring old-timers Chael Sonnen and Quinton “Rampage” Jackson that will most likely be a yawner. Jackson’s last few fights haven’t offered much except for maybe a break to get another beer or take a piss, with all due respect. Additionally we have Michael Chandler versus Goiti Yamauchi and Henry Corrales versus Georgi Karakhanyan on the main card that will be exciting fights.
Hmm, what to do this Saturday? I’m going to try and tune in to both events. If I could bend time, this would be the order of radicalness that I’d like to watch the fights from most radical to least radical:
1. Stipe Miocic versus Francis Ngannou
2. Douglas Lima versus Rory Macdonald
3. Daniel Cormier versus Volkan Oezdemir
4. Michael Chandler versus Goiti Yamauchi
5. Chael Sonnen versus Rampage Jackson; probably won’t be that radical but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t curious about who would win
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