Check out Bloody Elbow’s pre-fight coverage for the Saturday, September 10th UFC 203 pay-per-view event in Cleveland, Ohio, headlined by heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic against Alistair Overeem. Fabricio Werdum fights Travis Browne in the co-main, while CM Punk makes his MMA debut against Mickey Gall.
UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic won the title in enemy territory against Fabricio Werdum, now he gets to defend his belt in his home state of Ohio. Miocic will take on Alistair Overeem in the UFC 203 main event at the Quickens Loan Arena in Cleveland, as Overeem seeks to fully turn his UFC career around from disappointment to championship success.
The co-main event was supposed to be Werdum against Ben Rothwell, but Rothwell is hurt, so in steps Travis Browne for a rematch of a fight he soundly lost two years ago. CM Punk makes his MMA debut against Mickey Gall, Urijah Faber takes on Jimmie Rivera in Faber’s first fight after his latest loss to Dominick Cruz, and strawweights Jessica Andrade and Joanne Calderwood kick off the PPV main card.
It’s a good show all-around and I’m looking forward to it. September 10th is a busy combat sports day, as Gennady Golovkin vs. Kell Brook is going to be running concurrently with the start of the UFC 203 prelims, unless Golovkin sparks Brook out within 3 rounds.
Here’s next week’s fight card (noting that Damir Hadzovic vs. Yusuke Kasuya has been moved to UFC Manila due to visa issues for Hadzovic):
Main Card (PPV, 10 PM ET)
Stipe Miocic vs. Alistair Overeem
Travis Browne vs. Fabricio Werdum
Mickey Gall vs. CM Punk
Urijah Faber vs. Jimmie Rivera
Jessica Andrade vs. Joanne Calderwood
Preliminary Card (FS1, 8 PM ET)
Bethe Correia vs. Jessica Eye
Michael McBride vs. Nik Lentz
Caio Magalhaes vs. Brad Tavares
Ray Borg vs. Ian McCall
Preliminary Card (Fight Pass, 6:30 PM ET)
Yancy Medeiros vs. Sean Spencer
C.B. Dollaway vs. Francimar Barroso
Drew Dober vs. Jason Gonzalez