The upcoming event by the UFC is scheduled to take place at their home turf in Las Vegas at the APEX Centre. Serving as a perfect location during the pandemic, the UFC APEX provides a safe, controlled environment for the staff and fighters to continue showcasing their skills and providing for themselves and their respective families.
The Fight Night scheduled on 14th March 2021 was originally headlined by Khamzat Chimaev and Leon Edwards in the welterweight (170 lbs) division.
The pair has been smack talking for a while and their match ups have been cancelled twice in the past due to Covid issues.
On Feb 11th, Khamzat had to pull out of the fight due to side effects of Covid and the fight was cancelled for the third time.
That brought in a very difficult situation for the UFC to get a last minute replacement versus a very tough opponent. Fortunately for them, Palestine’s own – Belal Muhammed stepped in to save the main event.
Palestine born, Chicago based Belal Muhammed is on a 4 fight win streak and is looking to upset the confident Leon Edwards.
The rounds have been made that the winner of Khamzat-Edwards would be fighting for the title next versus Kamaru Usman. That puts Belal on the upper hand as he does not have too much to lose in this battle. A win over Edwards would sky rocket him to possibly a title shot.
Overall, a great contest to watch out for.
Crystal Ball Prediction:
Leon Edwards gets his hand raised.
Weight class Welterweight
Leon Edwards
vs
Belal Muhammad Light Heavyweight
Misha Cirkunov
vs
Ryan Spann Featherweight
Dan Ige
vs
Gavin Tucker Bantamweight
Jonathan Martinez
vs
Davey Grant Flyweight
Matheus Nicolau
vs
Manel Kape Middleweight
Eryk Anders
vs
Darren Stewart The second fight I would like to focus on is the co-main event of the evening – Misha Cirkunov vs Ryan Spann.
The fight was originally supposed to happen in Dec 2020 but Misha Cirkunov had an injury. The contest was left intact and is due to take place on 14th March 2021.
Spann was on a 8 fight win streak from 2017 till 2020 till his last vicious fight with Johnny Walker where he got knocked out in Round 1. Spann’s coach Saud Sayif has mentioned multiple times that Spann is a different beast right now and cannot be taken lightly.
On the flip side, Latvia’s pride Misha Cirkunov has beaten the man that knocked Spann out. Cirkunov has had a series of super tough fights in the UFC (Cutelaba, Oezdemir, Glover Teixeira, Johnny Walker etc). Even though he’s on a win-loss streak, Cirkunov brings the violence to the octagon and it will be a tough test for Spann to clear. If Spann manages to clear this, he clearly breaks into the top bracket and is a few fights away from a title shot.
Crystal Ball Prediction:
Cirkunov gets his hand raised.
Hopefully you enjoyed my article at SPOGO. I look forward to speaking with all of you at 5 pm on 14th March only on the Sony Sports India Facebook page. Tune in to my post fight analysis right here on SPOGO news or hear me every Wednesday on my podcast – The Fighting GOAT only on the IVM Podcast Network. 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. Somesh runs India’s first combat podcast – The Fighting G.O.A.T produced exclusively by the IVM Podcast Network. Instagram: Somesh.Kamra Twitter: Somesh_Kamra