New Year’s Eve might be the night when the amateurs come out to party. but this weekend’s action is going to get started a day early with UFC 207 on Friday night.
This event, of course, marks the return of MMA sensation Ronda Rousey, who will be fighting Amanda Nunes for the Women’s Bantamweight title. It’s been over a year since Rousey has fought in the UFC, and her return is naturally the headlining.
However, the Rousey-Nunes fight isn’t the only quality bout that will be featured on the pay-per-view event. Four other fights are featured on the main card, including a Bantamweight Championship match between Dominick Cruz and challenger Cody Garbrandt.
Today, we’re going to take an in-depth look at UFC 207, the latest odds—courtesy of OddsShark.com, and some of the top storylines heading into the event.
UFC 207
Where: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas
When: Friday, December 30
Time: 10 p.m. ET
TV: UFC Pay-Per-View
Preliminary Cards: Fight Pass, Fox Sports 1 (FS1)
Main Card, Odds and Predictions
Latest Buzz
Rousey Is All Business
In the months before last year’s loss to Holly Holm, Rousey was as much a celebrity as she was a combat sports master. She was the face of the UFC, a budding movie star and a regular on the media circuit.
Perhaps Rousey was spending too much time focusing on things outside to Octagon. Perhaps she wasn’t focused enough on Holm and overlooked the skilled striker’s dangerous potential.
Whether or not this was the case with Rousey’s last fight, it hasn’t been the case with this one. Rousey has spent seemingly all of her time training and out of the spotlight.
“I will never put my body at risk for money and views ever again. What makes me happy is winning and being the best in the world, and that’s it,” Rousey said, per Ramona Shelburne of ESPN The Magazine.
Rousey has, for the most part, veered away from public appearances and interviews leading up to UFC 207. However, she has taken time to personally show off her pre-fight physique on Instagram. If she isn’t actually in the best shape of her life, Rousey seems to feel like she is.
How Rousey feels coming into Friday could be key. Plenty of folks have wondered about her psyche in the months after her aura of invincibility was broken by Holm. Any sense of hesitation or self-doubt could cause her to fall short on Friday.
Is Rousey’s Media Absence Fair?
While Rousey’s uncharacteristic distance from the media may help her focus on fighting Nunes, it also raises a fair question.
Is the UFC giving the MMA star preferential treatment?
It appears this is the case, especially when you recall the fiasco involving Conor McGregor and UFC 200.
McGregor, arguably the other face of the UFC, was essentially pulled because he didn’t want to participate in pre-fight media events.
“I respect Conor as a fighter, and I like him as a person, but you can’t decide not to show up to these things,” UFC President Dana White explained to ESPN (h/t MMA Fighting).
Rousey, though, hasn’t been held to the same media obligations and hasn’t faced any sort of discipline for her relative silence. She wasn’t part of the media festivities during Thursday’s weigh-ins and has done little real promotion for the event before it.
It doesn’t help the general perception of preferential treatment that Rousey is represented by WME-IMG, the company that purchased the UFC over the summer.
“I think the UFC is messing up by letting it happen,” UFC 207 participant T.J. Dillashaw said, per George Willis of the New York Post. “Dana [White] has always said no UFC fighter will ever be bigger than the promotion. But we’re seeing that happen.”
Perhaps this is a sign of how the new incarnation of the UFC is going to operate. It’s going to be more difficult for the company to enforce media obligations moving forward.
Borg Misses Weight
There seems to be a recent trend of main card participants failing to make weight for UFC PPV events. Earlier this month, Anthony Pettis failed to make weight for his main-event fight against Max Holloway at UFC 206. This time around, Ray Borg came in overweight.
Fortunately (for fans anyway), Borg’s failure to make weight won’t have any impact on a title fight like Pettis’ did.
Pettis lost to Max Holloway anyway, but had he won at 206, he wouldn’t have been eligible to win the interim featherweight belt.
Borg’s 207 opponent, Louis Smolka, appears ready to take on Borg, despite the weight disadvantage.
“It does seem like a pretty big deal,” Smolka told TMZ Sports. “But the more you think about it, it’s like, we’re here to be fighters, right? I don’t really have any pressure on my shoulders. I can just kind of go out there and do my best and put on a show.”
Former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, who will appear on the FS1 preliminary card, also failed to make weight.
According to MMAWeekly.com, Hendricks will surrender 20 percent of his fight purse to opponent Neil Magny,, while 30 percent of Borg’s purse will go to Smolka.
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