Fans will flock to UFC 196 to watch Conor McGregor, but they just might find there’s plenty more entertainment to be had by watching the fights that precede the main event.
The card is a fairly fun one, with the co-main event between Holly Holm and Miesha Tate for the women’s bantamweight title highlighting the non-McGregor action.
Sure, the impending kerfuffle between Diaz and McGregor is an interesting scrap. Two of the best trash-talkers in MMA meeting in the Octagon was a surefire way to sell tickets after losing Rafael dos Anjos, but plenty of quality fighters have the ability to steal some of The Notorious’ shine in Vegas on Saturday night.
Prelim and pay-per-view live stream available via UFC Fight Pass.
Fighters to Watch
Valentina Shevchenko
In a division as thin as the women’s bantamweight class, it doesn’t take long to rise to the top.
Just a few months ago, Valentina Shevchenko was a complete unknown commodity in the UFC. Now, she’s taking on the No. 4 fighter in the UFC rankings in Amanda Nunes.
It’s the kind of quick advancement up the ladder when a fighter wins her UFC debut against the likes of Sarah Kaufman on short notice. Shevchenko took on the former Strikeforce champion with just over a week’s notice and came away with a split-decision victory.
The win itself wasn’t impressive. She only held a 32-27 significant strike advantage and lost the fight by one scorecard, per FightMetric. But the ability for someone with professional kickboxing and Muay Thai experience to take Kaufman down four times showcases a diverse skill set that makes her an intriguing contender.
Shevchenko isn’t afraid to make her intentions of fighting for the title known, either.
“Yes, I want to fight for the title as soon as possible,” she said, per Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com. “That is why I will do my best to show a beautiful fight and win it.”
Nunes will be a tall task. The 27-year-old has won both of her most recent fights in the first round. However, if Shevchenko can pick up her second win in the Octagon, she’s most likely headed for a top-five spot in the division.
Corey Anderson
The main card features a quartet of mid-tier light heavyweights in Corey Anderson vs. Tom Lawlor and Gian Villante vs. Ilir Latifi. Of all the fighters on the card with an opportunity to break into contender status, Corey Anderson is the most likely.
The reason is simple. Anderson still has room for growth. At only 26, the former Ultimate Fighter winner is a relatively young prospect in a division that suffers from a dearth of new talent.
Bleacher Report Senior MMA Analyst Patrick Wyman commented on the growth of the former collegiate wrestler leading up to this fight:
Anderson is a serious talent with a great deal of room to grow. The former wrestler is improving rapidly as a striker under the tutelage of Mark Henry, Frankie Edgar’s longtime boxing coach, and it shows in his smooth circular movement and quick-paced punch-kick combinations. Volume is his strongest suit, and he works head, body and legs together in a single sequence.
For Anderson, his bout against Tom Lawlor is a great platform to show he’s grown since his loss to Villante. Anderson was knocked out by his fellow UFC 196 combatant.
As Reed Kuhn of Fightnomics notes, Lawlor is one of the heaviest hitters in the division:
Anderson continues to improve every time, and he’s won two fights since his knockout loss to Villante. This bout should give him the opportunity to prove that he can win by pressuring a seasoned veteran without suffering another loss to a heavy-handed opponent.
Holly Holm
If anyone can steal some of McGregor’s thunder on Saturday, it’s Holly Holm. After all, she is the only one on the card who is defending a championship belt.
Holm pulled off one of the bigger upsets in recent MMA history to become the champion against Ronda Rousey. Now it’s time to show whether she’s the next big thing or simply the Buster Douglas of women’s MMA.
Defeating Tate is a slightly different task than defeating Rousey. “Cupcake” will look to take the fight to the ground like Rousey but has a more traditional wrestling approach to doing so. Looking at the Uber Tale of the Tape from Kuhn, Tate holds her own in the striking department as well:
What Tate lacks in the technical aspects of striking she makes up for in determination and durability. She’s not afraid to absorb punishment on the way in if it means closing the distance and setting up strikes of her own or takedowns.
She’s only been finished by strikes once in the UFC, and even then it was after 60 total strikes in the round that Tate was stopped, per FightMetric.
If Holm can get a win over Tate, she’s clearly the best women’s bantamweight in the world. It’s also going to set up a potentially massive rematch with Rousey down the road if the former champion decides to come back to the Octagon.
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