Man what an exciting week it has been! The build up to UFC 259 has been phenomenal and what a treat for the fans!
Rarely does this happen, but when it does, the fans are in for an absolute treat – THREE title fights in one night.
Landmark events such as UFC 217 (Bisping vs GSP), UFC 245 (Usman vs Colby), UFC 251 (Usman vs Masvidal) are some of the rarest of rare times when the UFC puts out such a stacked card.
However, the big daddy of all of them is what we are here to expect – UFC 259! A card that has 4 champions in 3 title fights. One of which is a super fight.
(A super fight is when a fighter moves up or down a weight category to challenge the champion of that particular weight division).
This card is so good that people have forgotten Thiago Santos and Alexander Rakic are opening the main card!
Let’s see what the main card looks like:
Weight Class Light Heavyweight
Jan Błachowicz (c)
vs
Israel Adesanya
Women’s Featherweight
Amanda Nunes (c)
vs
Megan Anderson
Bantamweight
Petr Yan (c)
vs
Aljamain Sterling
Lightweight
Islam Makhachev
vs
Drew Dober
Light Heavyweight
Thiago Santos
vs
Aleksandar Rakić Let’s take a sneak peak into the championship fights on this card.
Petr Yan vs Aljamain Sterling
The challenger for the bantamweight title (135 lbs) Aljamain Sterling is typically the fighter that has to earn each and every cookie he fights for. The talks of Sterling fighting for the belt have been doing the rounds since almost 2 years, but the UFC never managed to offer him a shot that materialized. He’s on a 5 fight win streak against some of the top contenders in the division such as Sandhagen, Jimmie Rivera, Pedro Munhoz etc and has rightly earned this title shot. In his corner will be the legendary coach and former UFC welterweight champion Matt Serra who is super high on confidence and feels his student, Aljamain Sterling has all the skills to put it in there and get the title home.
Opposite Sterling is the stone cold Russian, Petr Yan. Yan has often spoken about his deprived childhood and his current state being a culmination of his hard work and dedication. He background has been in Boxing & Sambo and Yan outperformed every fighter that came in his way in Russia. He knew that to get to the World Title, he needed to displace himself and look for greener pastures. Yan moved to Thailand to up his game, travelled to Brazil to work on his jiu-jitsu and for this fight versus Sterling, he found a new camp and home with the American Top Team in Florida.
The coaches at ATT have said it multiple times that they have never seen someone with so much grit, determination and hard work. Something that comes from within and is not forced upon.
Crystal Ball Prediction:
This is going to be an extremely close fight and it’s difficult to predict the winner. My gut instinct says the belt won’t change hands and Petr Yan will remain champion.
This brings us to the co-main event of the evening. A double champ (135 lbs and 145 lbs) Amanda Nunes putting her 145 lbs (featherweight) title on the line.
The challenger, Australia’s Megan Anderson, a 6 footer legit 145 pounder with long limbs has accepted to face the Lioness when most would have avoided the storm.
The former Invicta FC featherweight champion Megan Anderson has shown tremendous improvement in her striking and grappling and poses a threat for the reigning, defending champion of the world.
The two division champ is also considered the greatest of all time and Amanda Nunes has spoken very highly of her next opponent. She feels that Megan has the skills and it seems she isn’t taking her lightly. The birth of her daughter has made Amanda even more focused, which could prove costly for Megan. It should be a good contest if Megan can manage to keep it on the ground and work her wrestling and jiu jitsu.
Crystal Ball Prediction:
Amanda Nunes knocks out Anderson within 2 rounds and remains champion.
And now… it’s time for the Super Fight. The main event of the evening.
The current middleweight (185 lbs) champion of the world, Israel Adesanya moves up a weight category to challenge Light heavyweight (205 lbs) champion of the world, Jan Blachowicz.
The uber confident Adesanya has displayed some intense skills inside the octagon with absolute wars with Kelvin Gastelum, Robert Whitaker etc. He probably is chasing the greatest of all time, Jon Jones. Just when Adesanya and Jones were trading words, Jones decides to announce his move up to Heavyweight (from light heavyweight) subsequently followed by Adesanya moving up to Light Heavyweight. It’s an extremely exciting time for the fighting world to keep a close eye on the UFC as there are a lot of surprises and upsets lined up. Adesanya is looking to shock the world by having his team by his side and his coach cum father like figure Eugene Bareman cornering him yet again for this one.
On the opposite side of the octagon stands a true light heavyweight contender, Jan Blachowicz. A Polish powerhouse that had a difficult time between 2015 and 2017 where he lost 4 out of his 5 fights and was possibly going to get the pink slip from the UFC.
The Polish powerhouse Jan reinvented himself, went back to his old coach and had a complete change in mindset… and performance. He went on to win the next 8 fights out of 9 grabbing 5 bonuses in those. He beat some top contenders in Jacare Souza, Luke Rockhold, Corey Anderson etc and finally became champ when he beat Dominik Reyes for the vacant Light Heavyweight championship.
We are going to see renewed energy from Jan Blachowicz and an ever intense yet focused Israel Adesanya go head to head for the 205 lbs championship belt.
I personally cannot wait for this one!
Crystal Ball Prediction:
It’s very difficult for me to choose a side here. My heart says Jan should take it for all the work he has put in. However, my mind says Adesanya will be crowned the new Light Heavyweight champion. About the author Somesh Kamra is a professional mixed martial artist specializing in Muay Thai. He has designed many effective training programs for Superhuman Gym and the Police Academy. His knowledge of hand to hand combat is unbeaten and has been a success story for many students. Somesh Kamra is educated from the University of Gold’s Gym in the field of physical fitness that includes strength training, plyometrics & cardiovascular training for muscular conditioning. He works closely with the UFC for India and serves as the panelist for the TV Show – The Ultimate Guide to UFC and Pit Stop on Sony Sports Network. Instagram: Somesh.Kamra Twitter: Somesh_Kamra