A UFC 288 pay-per-view event is happening this weekend in Newark — and honestly, it’s easy to miss.
The UFC promoted two PPV events in March, and both look like featured events. UFC 285 features the long-awaited heavyweight debut of Jon Joneswhile UFC 286 sees the third chapter of the showdown between Leon Edwards And Kamaru Usman (in the perfect setting of London, nothing more, nothing less).
Last month, the UFC returned to Miami for the first time in 20 years and brought with it the King of Miami, Jorge Masvidaland is one of the biggest stars of sports in Israel Adesanya for UFC287.
There is no doubt that UFC 288 (Sat. 10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV) offers a solid main card lineup — but it may lack the clear storylines of its three predecessors. At least on the surface. This tag is extremely important for many departments. In the next few months or years, we can look back and say that this card played an important role in several stories.
So let’s have a little fun and rank the five main card fights in terms of predictability to take place at UFC 288.
I’ve said this before, but it’s worth repeating: Henry Cejudo will probably be the boxer of the year in 2023. His track record is overlooked — because of the “King of Cringe” gimmick he used. love to show off — but this man was at the peak of the sport when he retired in 2020. If he stays at that level, anything is possible.
What if Cejudo beat Sterling, which he currently loves betting on, despite being out of action for 3 years? What if he then goes and defeats Sean O’Malley, who told me he would attend on Saturday? What if the UFC then allows him to lift the weight division up to 145 pounds, which I believe they will, to challenge the featherweight champion? Alexander Volkanovski?
Considering all the factors at play, if Cejudo can get through that round, it could be the greatest year in UFC history. That’s the level of fulfillment we’re talking about here.
Sterling, meanwhile, seems to be finally satisfied with his position in the sport. He felt the need to explain after he won the championship by removing Petr Yan in March 2021, but since then, he has gone on to beat Yan in a rematch and completely eliminated TJ Dillashaw. He still has his criticisms but he really doesn’t seem to care, which is a sane place.
If Sterling beats Cejudo, I believe his year will be set up similarly to Cejudo. Defeat O’Malley. Featherweight belt stroke. And the only reason his year has been a little less impressive than Cejudo’s historically is that Cejudo will be competing to be the unprecedented three-category UFC champion. However, whoever it is, the winner is well on his way to becoming the potential boxer of the year.
I won’t repeat the details behind this two weeks notice of co-main event, as I did last weekend, but in short, it’s amazing how this fight has come together, under the circumstances. And the fact that these two are willing to risk their positions to cement a title fight in their next appearance is admirable.
outside story As for how this war comes together, what will we see when it begins? It’s fascinating. Muhammad went from not having a match booked at all to preparing for a five-round set of essentially two weeks. He is cutting more than half the weight he normally would for a regular match. And his style weaponizes speed. Will that weapon be there?
The winner will be fighting for the welterweight title the next time we see him – depending on the circumstances, late 2023 or early 2024. Possibly in March 2024, if the UFC keeps the same schedule of visits. London recently in that month. Whenever that happens, we’ll talk about the winner of this fight as the championship contender for the rest of the year.
There’s a plot here that some people may not be aware of. These two were scheduled to fight in December, but Evloev was forced to withdraw due to injury.
That led to Mitchell taking to social media to post a video in which he said he had “never been harassed like this” in his life, as Evloev had repeatedly urged him to accept a fight and even, in Mitchell’s words, sent him smiling selfies. behind the scenes, challenge him to a match.
Mitchell is said to face Jonathan Pearce about this card, but Pearce withdrew due to injury. Evloev has been healthy for a while and is looking for a fight date, but the UFC is having a hard time getting him signed up. After what happened in December, some in Evloev’s camp didn’t expect Mitchell to accept him as an opponent. Instead, Mitchell took it straight away and told ESPN he’s pleased with how things turned out.
Evloev was the one sleeping to win the featherweight championship at some point. He flies relatively under the radar thanks to his consistent, honed style — all six of his wins in the UFC have come by decision — but there’s no question his talent. If he wins here, this could be the fight that pushes him to a position where the more advanced fighters are Have to face him.
A bit of enthusiasm and stakes in this 145-pound bout, between two men still in search of their first UFC title.
Gracie, ADCC wrestling champion and son of Rickson Gracie, there hasn’t been much news about MMA in the past four years. He won his UFC debut in 2019 by sending Alex Caceres (who, by the way, rose to 15th in featherweight), but then suffered a crushing defeat when he lost Swanson cubs. When the UFC announced this fight, they were really surprised.
And honestly, that accounts for most of the appeal to this one. Secret. Gracie’s level of grappling submission represents an ace in any department, but the loss to Swanson four years ago showed his lack of overall skill and ability to connect with the rest of the game. play. That was protected? Or is this exactly the Gracie we saw four years ago?
The selection of opponents is extremely interesting, where Jourdain is known for entertaining fights. He’s only won Fight of the Night once in the UFC, but he’s been on the short list of contenders for the award multiple times. How will that translate into Gracie’s style – as it is safe to say, will Gracie find a way to take him down or at least stick to him in some way?
The plot here is really in Andrade, because it’s fair to question which version of her we’ll see. Andrade, at her best, is of unrivaled caliber. She held the belt for a short time in 2019 and fought to win it in multiple weight classes. This is already her third appearance in 2023. She looked amazing in January, beat Lauren Murphy — and very average in February, lose Erin Blanchfield.
Andrade is on a new contract (thanks to her willingness to fight Blanchfield shortly), and that can sometimes lead to a bit of complacency. This is not negative talk, it is just fact. When a boxer has held the belt, fought for the belt many times, and then is rewarded with a lucrative contract, the questions surrounding desire and improvement can revolve around this issue. Based on her final performance, there is some question as to how much Andrade still craves the belt.
She’s rare in that she’s legally considered a title challenger in multiple weight classes at once, but that pales if she doesn’t look good here. And remember, “look good” is the right expression. Even if she wins but looks unimpressive against Yan, there won’t be much hype around Andrade. She will be in a strong position, but hype can matter in the sport.
Full UFC 287 Fight Card
GAME + PPV, 10:00 p.m. Eastern time
Men’s bantamweight champion: Aljamain Sterling (c) vs. Henry Cejudo
Middleweight: Belal Muhammad vs. Gilbert Burns
Women’s straw class: Jessica Andrade vs. Yan Xiaonan
Men’s featherweight: Movsar Evloev vs. Bryce Mitchell
Men’s Featherweight: Kron Gracie vs. Charles Jourdain
GAMES, GAME+, 8 p.m. Eastern time
Light: Draw Dober compare to Matt Frevola
Light weight: Kennedy Nzechukwu compare to Devin Clark
Welding weight: Khao Williams compare to Rolando Bedoya
Women’s straw class: Marina Rodríguez compare to Virna Jandiroba
GAMES, GAME+, 6 pm
heavyweight: Braxton Smith compare to parker porter
medium: Phil Hawes compare to Ikram Aliskerov
Male fly class: Rafael Estevam compare to Zhalgas Zhumagulov
medium: Joseph Holmes compare to Claudio Ribeiro
Men’s bantamweight: Daniel Santos compare to Johnny Munoz
(c) = defending champion
