Are you an Affliction-wearing, beer-guzzling UFC fan who lives and dies by the action taking place in the heavyweight division?
If so, May got a whole lot more interesting over the past twenty-four hours.
The month kicks off at UFC on FOX 3 on May 5th, where Pat Barry and Lavar Johnson will meet to determine who can take the most punches to the head before falling flat on their face. That’s going to be an exciting fight, to be sure, but the real intriguing stuff happens later in the month.
More specifically, the heavyweight division could go through a sea change of sorts at UFC 146 on Memorial Day weekend.
Over the past twenty-four hours, the UFC revealed a series of three top-flight heavyweight bouts. All will take place at UFC 146 in Las Vegas.
Let’s take a deeper look at one of the heaviest-hitting cards in the history of the UFC.
Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem (UFC heavyweight championship)
These are the two best strikers in MMA‘s heavyweight division, and it’s going to be a blast watching them trade leather with terrifying power. Overeem is unquestionably the better overall striker, which is to say he’s much better at the kicking game. But Dos Santos is the best pure boxer in the game and has lights-out power in his hands.
Dos Santos allegedly has an outstanding ground game, though at this point I’m not sure if that’s the truth or if that’s one of the red herrings we in the media are often fed to hype up a fight. I don’t think it’ll matter in this fight, regardless.
Cain Velasquez vs. Frank Mir
How Frank Mir finds himself on the cusp of yet another UFC title run is beyond me, but here we are, just two months from a number one contender’s fight.
Yep, the winner of this bout will move on to face the winner of the Dos Santos/Overeem main event for the heavyweight championship, which means Mir could potentially be a UFC champion in 2012. I never would’ve seen that coming a year ago.
I don’t believe he gets that far. Velasquez, despite his quick loss to Dos Santos, is still the most technical and skilled heavyweight in the world. He’ll prove it here and in destructive fashion. Don’t expect Mir to make it past the second round.
Roy Nelson vs. Antonio Silva
Poor Roy Nelson. Dude just keeps getting tough fight after tough fight. There are no easy shortcuts for Big Country, not when he continually avoids any real attempts by Dana White to move him to the light heavyweight division.
This is a winnable fight for Nelson, but it’s going to be a tough one. I don’t think Silva will put him away because, let’s face it, nobody puts Big Country away. Nelson will need to endure what will likely be another horrific heavyweight beating, but he’s a better overall fighter than Silva and should be able to do enough to get the win.
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