Tag: Preview/Prediction

The Complete Guide to UFC 200: Jones vs. Cormier 2

UFC 200 goes down on Saturday, and it’s the most stacked event of the year and possibly in the entire history of the promotion.
A big-name grudge match headlines the card. In the main event, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier meet to unify the light heavywei…

UFC 200 goes down on Saturday, and it’s the most stacked event of the year and possibly in the entire history of the promotion.

A big-name grudge match headlines the card. In the main event, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier meet to unify the light heavyweight title that Jones never lost. Cormier’s one and only defeat came at Jones’ hands in January 2015, and the current champion gets a chance to avenge that loss against his nemesis.

The rest of the event is just as stacked with talent. The lineup features an absurd nine current and former champions and too many post-fight bonus winners to count.

In the co-main event, former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar returns from a four-year hiatus to add some star power against perennial contender Mark Hunt.

Women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate defends her belt against the rising Amanda Nunes in yet another compelling matchup, while Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar will meet for a second time to fight for the interim featherweight title. The main card opens with a heavyweight bout between former champion Cain Velasquez and Travis Browne. 

Even the preliminary card is full of great fights. Former title challenger Cat Zingano takes on hot prospect Julianna Pena in the Fox Sports 1 headliner, while former welterweight champ Johny Hendricks meets Kelvin Gastelum. Sage Northcutt opens the proceedings on television, while on Fight Pass, Diego Sanchez and Joe Lauzon meet in a battle of veteran action fighters.

It’s impossible to overstate how good this card is. Every single fight carries both the potential for action and serious narrative value.

Let’s take a look at each matchup.

Begin Slideshow

The Complete Guide to UFC 200: Jones vs. Cormier 2

UFC 200 goes down on Saturday, and it’s the most stacked event of the year and possibly in the entire history of the promotion.
A big-name grudge match headlines the card. In the main event, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier meet to unify the light heavywei…

UFC 200 goes down on Saturday, and it’s the most stacked event of the year and possibly in the entire history of the promotion.

A big-name grudge match headlines the card. In the main event, Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier meet to unify the light heavyweight title that Jones never lost. Cormier’s one and only defeat came at Jones’ hands in January 2015, and the current champion gets a chance to avenge that loss against his nemesis.

The rest of the event is just as stacked with talent. The lineup features an absurd nine current and former champions and too many post-fight bonus winners to count.

In the co-main event, former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar returns from a four-year hiatus to add some star power against perennial contender Mark Hunt.

Women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate defends her belt against the rising Amanda Nunes in yet another compelling matchup, while Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar will meet for a second time to fight for the interim featherweight title. The main card opens with a heavyweight bout between former champion Cain Velasquez and Travis Browne. 

Even the preliminary card is full of great fights. Former title challenger Cat Zingano takes on hot prospect Julianna Pena in the Fox Sports 1 headliner, while former welterweight champ Johny Hendricks meets Kelvin Gastelum. Sage Northcutt opens the proceedings on television, while on Fight Pass, Diego Sanchez and Joe Lauzon meet in a battle of veteran action fighters.

It’s impossible to overstate how good this card is. Every single fight carries both the potential for action and serious narrative value.

Let’s take a look at each matchup.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 200: The Definitive Timeline of the Jon Jones-Daniel Cormier Beef

Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier really don’t seem to like each other. That one thing you must remember, or nothing that follows will seem wondrous.
Jones, the best fighter in the world, and Cormier, the UFC light heavyweight champion and best non-Jones li…

Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier really don’t seem to like each other. That one thing you must remember, or nothing that follows will seem wondrous.

Jones, the best fighter in the world, and Cormier, the UFC light heavyweight champion and best non-Jones light heavyweight in the world, will face off July 9 to culminate the blockbuster UFC 200. It’s a rematch of their fight from January of last year, which Jones won by decision. 

But you know all that already. You know about the heat between them. You know about that scuffle on the media podium. You know about “you still there?” and “you think I’m just going to let you kill me?” and one thousand and one other neatly tweetable media clips that fluctuate, like many things in MMA, between the ridiculous and the terrifying.

Before we shoot down the chute of a packed event calendar that ends in Jones-Cormier 2, why don’t we now take a moment to remember how we got here? Why, exactly, do Jones and Cormier share what seems to be a mutual, visceral hatred? Why are they trying so hard to get inside the other’s metaphorical head? And what keeps their actual physical matchup—because, yes, cage fighting is still a part of MMA—so compelling?

Let us now recount the history of this rivalry. There are video clips. There are still photographs. There are text blocks. Please enjoy.

Begin Slideshow

UFC 200 Betting Preview: Lesnar vs. Hunt Odds, Analysis, Trends

Love him or hate him, former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (5-3) will be a huge draw against Mark Hunt (12-10-1) in the co-main event at UFC 200 in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Despite not entering the Octagon in nearly five years, Lesnar is listed as on…

Love him or hate him, former heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (5-3) will be a huge draw against Mark Hunt (12-10-1) in the co-main event at UFC 200 in Las Vegas on Saturday.

Despite not entering the Octagon in nearly five years, Lesnar is listed as only a small +140 underdog (bet $100 to win $140) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

The 38-year-old WWE star returned to the world of wrestling following his last loss to Alistair Overeem via first-round TKO at UFC 141 on December 30, 2011. He also suffered from diverticulitis, a digestive disease that played a role in his retirement from MMA.

Lesnar originally became the UFC heavyweight champion with a second-round TKO of Randy Couture at UFC 91 in 2008 and had the same result versus Frank Mir when they headlined UFC 100 the following year.

He defended the title one more time against Shane Carwin with a second-round submission victory via arm-triangle choke before falling to Cain Velasquez by first-round TKO at UFC 121 in October of 2010.

Hunt’s overall record is not much better, although he too has been a crowd favorite due to his heavy hands, which have led to nine knockout wins among his 12 overall. In fact, his last five fights have all been decided by KO or TKO, with him winning three of them.

Hunt’s first-round KO of Mir at UFC Fight Night 85 in Brisbane, Australia, on March 20 earned him a Performance of the Night bonus. The 42-year-old New Zealander’s last three losses have all come against opponents who have won the heavyweight title belt.

Despite being four years older and five inches shorter and giving up a sizable reach advantage (seven inches), Hunt is a -170 favorite (bet $170 to win $100), according to oddsmakers for UFC 200.

He has obviously been more active than Lesnar, with nine UFC bouts since Lesnar last fought in the organization. Knocking out bigger men has not been a problem for Hunt recently and probably will not be a problem here unless he gets caught with a surprise shot. Mir and Silva are both at least as tall as Lesnar, and they were dropped.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 200 Odds Preview: Aldo vs. Edgar Betting Lines, Analysis, Trends

The last time Frankie Edgar (20-4-1) squared off with Jose Aldo (25-2), they fought for the featherweight championship more than three years ago at UFC 156 in Las Vegas.
They will meet again on Saturday at UFC 200 with the interim title belt on the lin…

The last time Frankie Edgar (20-4-1) squared off with Jose Aldo (25-2), they fought for the featherweight championship more than three years ago at UFC 156 in Las Vegas.

They will meet again on Saturday at UFC 200 with the interim title belt on the line when Edgar attempts to hand the former champion Aldo his second consecutive loss as a slight -125 favorite (bet $125 to win $100) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Aldo is a -105 underdog and lost his championship belt to Conor McGregor via a stunning 13-second knockout at UFC 194 last December 12. McGregor then focused on conquering other weight classes, eventually settling on a welterweight matchup with Nate Diaz before losing to him.

That cleared the way for Aldo and Edgar to fight for the interim belt and a chance to hand McGregor another loss in a title unification bout.

Until then, both men have their eyes on the prize and are focused on the task at hand.

Since losing to Aldo by unanimous decision in his featherweight debut, Edgar has won five in a row against some of the top contenders in the division. The former lightweight champ dropped down from 155 to 145 following back-to-back losses to Benson Henderson and has been one of the UFC’s most impressive fighters the last two years in defeating B.J. Penn, Cub Swanson, Urijah Faber and Chad Mendes.

Before falling to McGregor, Aldo had not lost in more than a decade, riding an 18-bout winning streak into that championship fight. He earned UD wins over Mendes and Ricardo Lamas following a fourth-round TKO victory against Chan Sung Jung after the first meeting with Edgar.

His previous loss came versus Luciano Azevedo via second-round rear-naked choke submission at Jungle Fight 5 back in November 2005.

The first fight between them was fairly close, with Aldo continuously frustrating Edgar with leg kicks and keeping his opponent from taking him to the ground. One of the judges scored it 48-47, with the other two going with 49-46.

Edgar would love to use his wrestling skills to get Aldo down at UFC 200, because the stand-up game favors the underdog.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 200 Odds Preview: Cormier vs. Jones Betting Lines, Analysis, Trends

A rematch that light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier (17-1) has been thinking about for more than a year will finally take place in the main event at UFC 200 in Las Vegas on Saturday, as he battles interim champ Jon “Bones” Jones (22-1)…

A rematch that light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier (17-1) has been thinking about for more than a year will finally take place in the main event at UFC 200 in Las Vegas on Saturday, as he battles interim champ Jon “Bones” Jones (22-1) to unify the two title belts.

Cormier was on the wrong end of a unanimous decision in favor of Jones the last time they met at UFC 182 in January 2015. This time, he’s listed as a +230 underdog (bet $100 to win $230) at sportsbooks monitored by Odds Shark.

Jones is a -300 favorite (bet $300 to win $100). He was originally slated to meet Cormier at UFC 197 on April 23, but a foot injury for the latter prevented that from happening.

Instead, Jones faced Ovince Saint Preux in his return from a 15-month absence and earned a UD victory—his third in a row since scoring a TKO win over Chael Sonnen at UFC 159.

Jones defended the light heavyweight title eight times before he was stripped of the belt following a hit-and-run incident that took place in April 2015.

Cormier stepped up and won Jones’ belt with a dominant performance against Anthony “Rumble” Johnson via a third-round rear-naked choke submission at UFC 187. He then defended the title in an epic split-decision victory against Alexander Gustafsson at UFC 192 before waiting for Jones to return to the Octagon.

Cormier is probably still best known for winning the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament as an injury replacement four years ago by beating Jeff Monson, Antonio Silva and Josh Barnett.

The two fighters could not be any more different stylistically and personality-wise, setting up one of the most highly anticipated rematches ever on the biggest UFC card of all-time at UFC 200.

A former Olympic-level wrestler, the 37-year-old Cormier crushed Johnson by taking him to the ground and punishing him. That was something he could not do versus the 28-year-old Jones the first time around.

Jones is a freakish athlete who has rarely been challenged. With Conor McGregor and Ronda Rousey both losing their air of invincibility with losses over the past year, Jones has become the face of the organization again.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com