It’s clear that Miocic will need to be fully focussed on Overeem to take out the legendary Dutch fighter who will be competing in his 57th professional fight at this weekend’s event.
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Miocic will likely try to utilize his wrestling if things don’t go his way on the feet, but Overeem has been training in Albuquerque for the past few years at the famed Jackson/Winklejohn gym with some of the best MMA wrestlers in the sport. Overeem tried to advance and secure a guillotine, but he was unable to.
Though the fight only lasted the first round, it was enough for Miocic to make a statement. Another big fight features former heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum taking on Travis Browne, who’s looking for redemption after his loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 200.
“The Reem”, who holds nine victories via guillotine choke, dropped the champ during their title bout, and immediately followed up with his vintage choke. Miocic wants to prove he deserves that belt and earn respect as a titleholder. Here, UFC bantamweight, Brad “One Punch” Pickett, shares his five picks to look out for this weekend.
Having just been battered into the realms of unconsciousness by Miocic, barely able to get back on his stool post-fight, the confused Dutchman was convinced he’d felt a tap from the champ early in the fight.
Hundreds showed up Friday to see more pre-event action including fighter weigh-ins. Unsurprisingly, Werdum took the unanimous decision when the cards were read.
There was a freaky moment in the fight where Browne essentially called a timeout over what appeared to be a dislocated finger. The referee didn’t see it and he didn’t jump in, so the fight continued.
We’ve talked a lot this week about CM Punk and his chances of picking up a UFC victory over the fellow inexperienced Mickey Gall. For example, I went to UFC 200, a great event in Vegas. He was quickly raining down blows on Punk from above and there was a furious scramble. He wasted no time attacking Punk, and even as he failed two times to lock in the rear-naked choke, the former WWE wrestler had no answer to Gall. It was a good win, but Calderwood demolished title challenger Valerie Letourneau in her last outting.
Earlier on in the evening, the prelim fights saw UFC veteran Nik Lentz win with a second-round KO of Michael McBride, a late stand-in for up and coming Chechen Mairbek Taisumov, who had to pull out because of problems with his visa. Coverage of this section of the card begins at 9am (AEST).
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One of the preliminary bouts on the undercard. meanwhile, was cancelled when CB Dollaway was injured riding in a hotel elevator.
