Despite earning his first crack at MMA’s top heavyweight crown with a pair of convincing knockout victories over feared strikers Mark Hunt and Andrei Arlovski, Miocic entered his matchup against the hottest heavyweight in the business as a relatively unknown underdog to casual Octagon addicts, while numerous sport’s more seasoned supporters saw him as someone who had little hope of leaving Brazil with the belt. Alistair Overeem on the other hand, has been groomed to be the UFC champ but was derailed a few times due to his questionable conditioning and chin, some of his losses were fights he was dominating but he later slept on and got lazy.
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Browne has struggled recently but has still managed to stay among the top 10 of the division. Miocic absorbs about three and a half significant strikes per minute, while Overeem eats less than two. Since Ronda Rousey’s first career loss last November, Werdum, Jose Aldo, Chris Weidman, T.J. Dillashaw, Robbie Lawler, Holly Holm, Miesha Tate, Luke Rockhold and Rafael dos Anjos have all lost their UFC titles. The Dutchman has been fighting for a long time and has almost as many submission victories (19) and knockouts (18).
Faber is coming off a decision loss to UFC Bantamweight Champion Dominick Cruz.
No word if the UFC will add a bout to the lineup this late in the game or leave the fight card as is. He has UFC wins over Marcus Brimage, Pedro Munhoz, Iuri Alcantara.
Among the talk of the town in the MMA world today is the formation of a fighter’s union which basically aims to protect the rights of the fighters. A win for either fighter will put them in the bantamweight title picture.
Jessica Andrade: The strawweight strikers will have a scrap. We are going to get that championship belt.
The prelims for UFC 203 will also feature a couple of important match-ups.
Eye has only won one of her last five and is on a three-fight losing streak.
“In my career, 22 years of training and competing, I’ve fought in front of hostile Russian crowds, Japanese crowds where no one knew me, all kinds of audiences”, he said. She must win on Saturday if she hopes to keep her spot on the UFC roster.
McCall has not fought since January 2015.
Sidenote: there have also been five instances where the champion didn’t actually lose the belt in competition as well – Randy Couture was stripped of the title when he left the UFC; Bas Rutten relinquished the belt and ultimately retired; Josh Barnett and Tim Sylvia were stripped after testing positive for banned substances; and Frank Mir was stripped following his horrific motorcycle accident. McCall and Johnson fought to a draw in 2012.
Here is the complete UFC 203 schedule.
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Punk meets Mickey Gall in his Octagon debut in the third-from-the-top bout scheduled for this Saturday’s UFC 203 PPV at the Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio.
