Even for the length of an outbreak, without gain admission to to the everyday levels of roaring crowds, there’s nothing quite love a Conor McGregor battle week. The Irish strive towards megastar will originate his return on Saturday when he rematches Dustin Poirier in the mild-weight major tournament of UFC 257 from Fight Island in Abu Dhabi.
The battle is mandatory for the arrangement in which forward for the mild-weight division as the championship remains in flux. UFC president Dana White insists that he will gain Khabib Nurmagomedov to battle one more time, nonetheless the champion has remained agency on his stance to retire after his possess in October and the death of his father.
There is more to this card than merely the important tournament. Any other well-known mild-weight contest is determined for the co-major tournament when mild Bellator MMA champion Michael Chandler takes on Dan Hooker. With questions surrounding most new champ Khabib Nurmagomedov — although he has been vehement in his resolution to quit retired after the death of his father — a possess for both on this place aside of dwelling might perchance presumably additionally attach them correct into a place aside of dwelling to battle for the title subsequent. Plus, rising strawweight Amanda Ribas is inspire to kick off the PPV card when she takes on Marina Rodriguez.
Let’s possess a have a study each and each battle on the important card, which streams on ESPN+ pay-per-seek. All odds are offered thru William Hill Sportsbook.
Amanda Ribas -310 vs. Marina Rodriguez +250, ladies’s strawweights: Ribas (10-1) will enter the Octagon as the heavy popular towards Rodriguez (12-1-2), and it be now not disturbing to achieve why. Ribas is on the most effective dawdle of her expert occupation, riding a 5-battle possess run that includes wins over Mackenzie Dern, Randa Markos and Paige VanZant in her three most most new fights. Ribas will seemingly be a finisher, having fully considered the judges’ scorecards in three of her 11 occupation fights. Rodriguez has by no manner been stopped, nonetheless after a hit her first 10 fights, she has struggled to build up consistency towards stiffer opponents. In her 5 most most new fights, Rodriguez has wins over Tecia Torres and Jessica Aguilar, nonetheless also has a pair of attracts besides to a loss in her most most new battle, a atomize up resolution defeat to Carla Esparza. Ribas is on the total having a look to raise the battle to the flooring where she has proven to be the more terrible of the two warring parties, with four submission victories to Rodriguez’s one.
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Ottman Azaitar -155 vs. Matt Frevola +130, lightweights: Azaitar (13-0) has been spectacular up to now in his expert occupation, nonetheless in fact made a issue in his first two journeys to the Octagon. He picked up wins over Teemu Packalen and Khama Powerful, each and each by knockout and each and each in the important spherical. That ran Azaitar’s occupation knockout total to 10. Simplest one fighter has been ready to raise Azaitar to the scorecards. Frevola (8-1-1) has more UFC experience with four journeys to the Octagon — alongside with an appearance on Dana White’s Contender Sequence — on his resume. Frevola used to be executed in one minute by Polo Reyes in his UFC debut, nonetheless has rebounded by battling Lando Vannata to a plan after which picking up a pair of resolution victories. Frevola is now not as terrible of a finisher as Azaitar, having fully executed half of of his eight wins.
Joanne Calderwood -120 vs. Jessica Understand +100, ladies’s flyweight: Calderwood (14-5) is coming off the disastrous resolution to now not await an already booked battle with flyweight champion Valentina Shevchenko after the champ withdrew from their common date. Calderwood as an alternative chose to raise a quit busy battle towards Jennifer Maia and used to be blown out, losing by armbar in the important spherical. She can now must battle mild title contender Understand (15-8) to raise a have a study to work her arrangement inspire to a place aside of dwelling to battle for the belt. After starting up her UFC occupation 1-5, Understand moved to the flyweight division and gave her occupation new life. She obtained three straight to gain a shot at Shevchenko. Understand suffered a brutal knockout in that battle and has long gone 1-1 since. This battle will seemingly mosey the gap as Calderwood and Understand have a blended 10 stoppage wins in 29 victories.
Dan Hooker -120 vs. Michael Chandler +100, lightweights: Hooker (20-9) has emerged as a prime contender in the mild-weight division by regularly making improvements to in each and each day out. The Kiwi has rebounded from losses and shown toughness in fights corresponding to his most most new-day out, a Fight of the Yr contender with Dustin Poirier that he lost nonetheless landed and survived massive strikes for the length of. With 17 of 20 wins coming by stoppage, Hooker is a menace to total any battle at any 2nd, a treasured skillset in a deep, terrible division. Chandler (21-5) will seemingly be making his UFC debut, nonetheless has competed in gargantuan fights sooner than, having held the Bellator mild-weight championship Thrice and keeping wins over mild UFC mild-weight champions Eddie Alvarez and Benson Henderson. Admire Hooker, Chandler is a finisher, with 16 stoppage wins in 21 occupation victories, making this a skill Fight of the Night on paper whereas also shifting one man nearer to a skill title shot.
Conor McGregor -330 vs. Dustin Poirier +260, lightweights: McGregor (22-4) did now not gain to be a megastar on persona and trash discuss on my own. He has precise elite skills as a striker, and extremely few men had been ready to push him into deep waters to examine his cardio or possess him to the mat to uncover his questionable grappling skills. One among the greatest questions coming into the battle is how McGregor will take care of shifting inspire to mild-weight. He has now not fought on the burden since being dominated by Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018 and has now not obtained at mild-weight since November 2016 — which used to be also his fully mild-weight victory in the UFC. McGregor did gift he’s mute an explosive finisher in his return to the Octagon final twelve months, when he executed Donald Cerrone in precisely 40 seconds in a welterweight clash.
Poirier (26-6) has come a in fact perfect distance since the important battle with McGregor. Returning to mild-weight has been merely one segment of Poirier placing the pieces collectively to change into the fighter he frequently had the doable to be. Poirier is 6-1 since 2017, the lone loss coming to Nurmagomedov. In that identical span, McGregor is 1-1. Poirier’s mutter and luxury at mild-weight might perchance presumably additionally be a boost to his chances in the rematch with McGregor. However the advance in Poirier’s mental sport will seemingly be well-known as he has wired his maturation as a human being in most new years, citing he learned the most effective approach to gain out of his absorb head to step up his sport total.
Who will possess McGregor vs. Poirier 2, and how will each and each battle pause? Check with SportsLine now to gain detailed picks on each and each battle at UFC 257, all from the incomparable professional who’s up more than $22,000 on MMA previously 23 months, and accumulate out.
