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UFC fight night 88 which is set to happen in Las Vegas may feature as its highlight fight, a matchup between two bantamweight fighters that are both undefeated. The fight, if it happens, will also considerably affect the title race.

A trustworthy source that has always delivered legitimate news before it being officially announced by the MMA has in fact confirmed that the fight has been booked and that it will indeed happen on May 29^th at Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

Both fighters are undoubtedly supremely talented. Thomas Almeida has a record of 20 wins and no losses in the MMA and 4 wins and no losses in the UFC. On the other hand, Cody Garbrandt also has a very impressive 8 wins to no losses in the MMA and 3 wins to no losses in the UFC.

The event and this fight, it is being said, will be telecasted live on FOX sports 1 and can also be watched via live streaming on UFC fight pass. Another exciting prospect of UFC fight night 88 which, unlike Almeida vs Garbrandt, is already official is the fight in which Renan Barao takes on Jeremy Stephens.

Barao is the ex-bantamweight champion and is now moving to the featherweight weight division.

Coming back to Almeida vs. Garbrandt, even though it is seems like it will be a very closely contested fight on paper, we would put our money on Almeida considering the ease and fashion in which his wins have come and the confidence that he exudes in the octagon. The undefeated Brazilian only signed in 2014 and in his first ever fight for the promotion, he was awarded fight of the night when he beat Tim Gorman. Since that fight, he went on to face Yves Jabouin, Brad Pickett and Anthony Birchak and won fight of the night for all three fights in UFC fight night 186, 189 and 77 respectively.

Garbrandt’s most recent victory came against Augusto Mendes in a first round technical knockout. Mendes was not able to make weight after taking up the fight on short notice.

Ever since the early days of the UFC, the heavyweight belt is something that no fighter has been able to successfully defend over two times. Starting with Ken Shamrock in 1995 and now running all the way down to when Miocic won the belt after beating Fabricio Werdum in front of 45,000 cheering fans, not a single fighter has been able to hang on to the title by defending it successfully in a title match more than twice.

Now, all eyes are on Miocic as he looks to become the first fighter who can break the curse of the heavyweight title and hold on to it after the third title defense fight which is now just around the corner. Miocic obviously is very well aware that the statistics are strongly against his favor, and it will be playing on the back of his mind no matter how much he denies being bothered by it.

Big names such as Randy Couture, Tim Sylvia, Brock Lesnar, Velasquez and Werdum have tried and fallen attempting to defend the heavyweight title for a third time in a row.

Werdum, the most recent one to have failed at this task seemed the most promising of the lot. He was confident and had won eight of his previous nine fights. However, it was not long after the fight started that he charged wildly at Miocic and was knocked out by short right hand from Miocic, who to his credit, remained composed and vigilant throughout the brief duration of the fight unlike Werdum.

If the trend in the history book continue, we will see Miocic beaten his opponent and the talk will then be all about whether the new champion will be the one to break the deadlock or curse of the heavyweight title. However, Miocic has already surprised us and himself by becoming champion and who says he cannot surprise us once more?

We will have to wait and see who his opponent will be. It could be Alistair Overeem, Werdum, Velasquez or Dos Satos. Any which way, it is going to be a very interesting fight that will be difficult to call.

Cole Miller has gotten an unexpected call to action and will be headed to Inglewood to feature in UFC fight night 199 as replacement for the injured Dennis Siver. Miller will be facing off against B.J. Penn and it promises to be a closely contested fight which may go either way.

B.J Penn is a UFC Hall of Famer and we don’t need any reminders of what he is capable of.

Dennis Siver seemed like the ideal candidate to give B.J. Penn a run for his money but has now been forced out due to an undisclosed emergency and Cole Miller has some big shoes to fill, but we believe he is up for the challenge. Cole Miller’s records are pretty impressive 21 wins and 9 losses in the MMA and 10 wins to 7 losses in the UFC and in all fairness, this is exactly as good as Siver’s record so we cannot say that Miller is not deserving of this opportunity.

However, Miller’s recent form has not been great and his last victory was over two years ago in January of 2014 when he won against Sam Sicilla and was awarded “submission of the night” in that fight.

UFC 199 is scheduled to take place on June 4^th and the venue is The Forum in Los Angeles. The fight will be televised and broadcasted on a pay per view basis on FOX Sports 1 and UFC Fight Pass.

On the other hand, B.J. Penn does not look as invincible as he once did and if there is ever a time to take him down, it would be now! B.J Penn had gone ahead and announced retirement just for this fight has not fought professionally or competitively in over two years. His return was supposed to have already happened but was stalled and post poned due to a private investigation amidst allegations of sexual assault. Charges were not filed and hence he still remains in the UFC 199 lineup. Having not fought in two years, all eyes will be on B.J. Penn, will he be as sharp and nimble as he once was? Or will the long lay off show in the octagon?

Penn’s latest fight was in July of 2014 and it was a loss to Frankie Edgar in a third round technical knock out.

Looking to make some moolah this UFC fight night 198? We might just have the fight and the bet or you. Finally the long awaited debut of Cris ‘Cyborg’ Justino against Leslie Smith in the 140lbs division will unfold on UFC fight night.

If you are going to put your money on someone, then it should without a question of a doubt be on the Cyborg. Her track record speaks for itself, of her 16 career fights she was won 13 by technical knockout’s and eight of them have come right in the first round. This goes to show her dominance and sheer confidence.

Cyborg has trained tirelessly under the formidable Rafael Cordeiro to polish her already excellent Muay Thai skills and has mixed it with her natural aggression to become one of the most potent finishers in women’s MMA currently.

In fact, the only criticism of Cyborg is that her competition has not been strong enough, but who are we kidding? That simply is not something we can blame on her.

Sadly, we are afraid the competition might be lacking this time too especially with Lesile Smith being her opponent. Smith does have some wins under her belt, but she is not going to be a match for the Cyborg.

Shogun Rua vs Corey Anderson

The opening of the main card on UFC fight night 198 will come courtesy of Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua and Corey Anderson.

Shogun is the former light heavy weight champion and is a seasoned fighter that we expect will be too much for Anderson to handle right off the bat. Shogun’s forte? His hands and his punches! He is renowned as one of the great power punchers in MMA history and the numbers prove it. 19 of his 23 victories are thanks to technical knock outs.

Furthermore, Shogun will have the advantage of home support since UFC fight night 198 will happen in Brazil.

Anderson on the other hand shows promising potential but lacks in the experience department, this is only his tenth professional MMA fight.

Not a lot of people forecasted that Fabricio Werdum would be where he today, right at the top of the heavyweight ranks. It was only 2008 when things looked bleak for him and he left the UFC after having gone 2-2 in a promotion, but now the Brazilian is back with a vengeance and is looking confident thanks to his impeccable seven fight winning streak as he is scheduled to defend his title for the very first time in UFC fight night 198.

Weldrum also has the support of the home crowd and is one of the few local favorites along with Vitor Belfort, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, and Demian Maia.

Coming to our three best bets as promised

Fabricio Werdum vs Stipe Miocic

As already mentioned, Werdum is a strong favorite here and it is really hard to see the fight ending any other way apart from a Werdum victory. He is coming fresh out seven consequent wins and will be looking to capitalize and make that 8 successive wins come UFC fight night 198. One of Werdum’s strong areas is on the floor and he knows how to get his opponents down there and he will then proceed to insidiously tire them out before snapping them into a body bending submission and getting them to tap out.

Our suggested bet – Fabricio Werdum to beat Stipe Miocic via submission.

Ronaldo Souza vs Vitor Belfort

Souza was unbeaten for eight straight fights before losing to Yoel Romero in a rather controversial split decision that he clearly is not very happy about, especially since Romero failed a post-fight drug test. Souza will be looking for justice and Belfort we feel will face his wrath.

Our suggested bet – Souza to beat Belfort via submission

Demian Maia vs Matt Brown

2015 was a good year for Maiaand now seems closer than ever to that welterweight title shot. The only thing standing in between him and the title shot is Matt Brown and we expect Maia to clinch this one comfortably.

Our suggested bet – Demian Maia to beat Matt Brown via submission.

UFC fight night 87 which is scheduled to happen next month in Rotterdam, Netherlands just got a whole lot more interesting thanks to confirmations that Paddy Holohan Vs Willie Gates is a fight that will feature in the event and also the headline act will feature none other than Alistair Overeem.

Paddy Holohan has an impressive MMA record of 12 wins, 2 ties and just one loss and he has three wins and two losses to his name as far as the UFC is concerned. Holohan’s opponent come UFC fight night 87 will be Willie Gates who also has a decent MMA record of 12 wins and 6 losses and 1 win and 2 losses in the UFC.

Paddy Holohan vs Willie Gates will be the 13^th fight slated for UFC fight night 87 and is sure to draw in a lot of pay per views and bets. UFC fight night will happen on May 8^th in a venue called Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands. This particular card will be telecasted on FOX sports 1 even though the bout order has not yet been confirmed.

Alistair Overeem has confirmed that he will headline UFC fight night 87 which occurs in his adopted home soil. Overeem has only recently re-signed with the UFC. Shortly after tweeting out a picture of his resigning papers he also tweeted out saying that he would headline UFC Rotterdam.

UFC fight night 87 will be the debut of UFC in Netherlands. Overeem was originally born in London but the 7^th ranked fighter (As per MMAjunkie MMA heavyweight rankings) moved to the Netherlands when he was only 5 years old and began his kickboxing training in Amsterdam.

This fight in Rotterdam is an excellent opportunity for Overeem to establish himself in the sport again after a period of inactivity. However, his championship plans have certainly taken a blow as the title race has now become a much more crowded rat race than what it was when he was last involved.