UFC 226 promises to be worth the money mixed-martial arts fans are going to pay to see the main-card fights. It’s the big boys who are the main attraction in this event with Stipe Miocic looking to defend his heavyweight title against Daniel Cormier. Read on for a breakdown of each of the fights in the main card.
Miocic has had a stranglehold of the heavyweight title for quite some time now. Since wresting the title with a win over Fabricio Werdum in 2016. Miocic has successfully defended the title against the likes of Alistair Overeem, Junior Dos Santos, and Francis Ngannou. Those are all quality opponents whom Miocic each left in shambles. Miocic’s blend of power and speed has been a huge problem for opponents, and it’s now up to Cormier to solve it. Cormier took down Volkan Oezdemir with a knockout win back in January. He has nine wins by way of knockouts and four via submissions. Miocic is going to enjoy a big eight-inch reach advantage, though, Cormier has a longer leg reach by two inches.
Holloway will look to extend his defense of his featherweight title to four-straight matches this coming Saturday against Ortega. In his last successful defense of the belt, Holloway handed Jose Aldo a knockout loss in December. Holloway is a busy and aggressive striker with 6.2 strikes average per minute. He’s also accurate, having landed 43.9 percent of his stand-up blows to his opponents. He’s gone 12-0 in his last 12 fights with nine fights not reaching the distance. Ortega is capable of ending that unbeaten streak of Holloway. The No.1 challenger in the division. Ortega has won all of his past six matches, including his vicious first-round knockout win over former champion Frankie Edgar.
Writer’s prediction:
Holloway keeps his title with a split decision win over Ortega.
How would you like a heavyweight meeting between the man they call “The Predator” and another dude who goes by the moniker “The Black Beast?” Ngannou v. Lewis has the potential to win Fight of the Night, as the two are among the most feared and heaviest hitters in the sport. Ngannou, who is ranked No. 1 in the division, has gone the distance just once, and that was during his title match loss to Stipe Miocic earlier this year. He has finished seven fights inside the first round and earned six of his last seven wins by way of knockouts. As for Lewis, he’s also looking to put his opponent to sleep. He averages 3.11 strikes per minute with a 52 percent conversion success. In his last fight, he defeated Marcin Tybura via a round 3 TKO triumph.
Writer’s prediction:
It’s Ngannou who’s going to send his opponent to sleep with a round-two knockout win over Lewis.
This fight was originally scheduled for UFC 223 but the infamous Conor McGregor Fiasco and a pre-fight injury to Chiesa because of McGregor’s antics caused for the match to be deferred. Chiesa is looking bounce back following a first-round loss via submission at the hands of Kevin Lee in June of last year. Chiesa had a nice three-fight win streak prior to that including a submission win over Beneil Dariush in April of 2016. He’s a dangerous fighter on the ground with 10 wins by way of submissions. Pettis, meanwhile, was at the receiving end of a knockout loss to Dustin Poirier back in November. Pettis has dropped five of his past seven matches, but he remains a potent fighter, who was 10 wins via knockouts and six submission victories.
This fight is possibly going to be mayhem inside the octagon. Saki and Rountree are two no-nonsense strikers who have zero intentions of hearing the final bell of the final match. Both are looking for knockouts here. Saki hasn’t been into MMA for long, but he’s a kickboxing legend that boasts of an insane 83-12 kickboxing record after failing in his first try at MMA back in 2004. He made his UFC debut in September in a fight that saw him knock Henrique da Silva out in the first round. As for Rountree, he is looking get back on track after seeing his two-fight winning record end in December with a unanimous decision loss to Michal Oleksiejczuk.
