The UFC will continue its tradition of putting on an awesome card every Fourth of July weekend with UFC 162 on Saturday, which is headlined by Anderson Silva and Chris Weidman.
The excellent matchmaking doesn’t just stop at the main event. Joe Silva and Dana White have put together a stacked card from top to bottom that should entertain fans throughout the night.
Here’s a look at the full fight card.
Fight Card
Main Card (Pay-Per-View at 10 p.m. ET)
Middleweight: Anderson Silva vs. Chris Weidman for the UFC Middleweight Championship
Featherweight: Frankie Edgar vs. Charles Oliveira
Middleweight: Tim Kennedy vs. Roger Gracie
Middleweight: Tim Boetsch vs. Mark Munoz
Featherweight: Cub Swanson vs. Dennis Siver
Preliminary Card (FX at 8 p.m. ET)
Middleweight: Chris Leben vs. Andrew Craig
Lightweight: Norman Parke vs. Kazuki Tokudome
Heavyweight: Dave Herman vs. Gabriel Gonzaga
Lightweight: Edson Barboza vs. Rafaello Oliveira
Facebook Prelims (7 p.m. ET)
Welterweight: Seth Baczynski vs. Brian Melancon
Welterweight: Mike Pierce vs. David Mitchell
Fight of the Night Contenders
A few fights have the potential to provide fireworks, which means the competition for Fight of the Night honors is going to be tough. Here are the early favorites based on styles and relative competitiveness.
Cub Swanson vs. Dennis Siver
If you’re not a fan of high level striking and high pace fighting, then go ahead and flip the channel when the opening bell for Cub Swanson and Dennis Siver rings. This one isn’t for you.
Swanson and Siver should deliver one of the best fights of the night. Both men are adept at striking—Siver comes from an extensive kickboxing background, while Swanson has proved his stand-up game is better than most in the division with his knockout power. He has knocked out three of his last four opponents.
Both Siver and Swanson have won Fight of the Night honors before. Siver has done it twice with two additional awards for Knockout of the Night, while Swanson was a three-time Fight of the Night winner in the WEC.
These two should put on an intense striking display pitting Swanson’s power against Siver‘s technique. It should be an intriguing contrast.
Tim Boetsch vs. Mark Munoz
It’s been awhile since UFC fans have seen either of these guys in the Octagon, but the fighters won’t waste much time in reacquainting themselves with the audience. Boetsch and Munoz are two powerful and explosive middleweights who should put on a great fight.
The intriguing thing here is their similarities.
Boetsch is a massive middleweight. He fought six times in the UFC as a light heavyweight before discovering that he was much better as a powerhouse middleweight than just another 205er. Now he’s 4-1 in the division with impressive wins over Yushin Okami and Hector Lombard.
Munoz is another big middleweight who started his career as a light heavyweight. He has used his punching power to earn a 7-2 record in the 185-lb division. Munoz is a high level wrestler but prefers to use his improving striking to set up knockouts.
This one should be fun while it lasts.
Chris Weidman vs. Anderson Silva
Anytime “The Spider” is on a card, he’s automatically a contender for some post-fight award. After all, he has 12 awards in 16 career UFC fights.
Usually he’s the odds-on favorite for Knockout of the Night, but his matchup with Chris Weidman is more likely to be a Fight of the Night candidate. This fight will end in one of two ways:
- Weidman falls into Silva’s trap by being tentative long enough for Silva to unleash one of his signature highlight-reel knockouts; or
- Weidman brings the fight to Silva by using his wrestling to challenge him like only Chael Sonnen was able to do at UFC 117.
Either way, the fighters will treat the fans to something memorable. Every MMA fan can enjoy Silva’s mastery of the striking game, whether he’s a fan of The Spider or not. By the same token, an underdog like Weidman pushing Silva to his limits isn’t a bad alternative.
The main event should deliver as one of the most entertaining bouts of the evening.
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