EVEN WHEN HE’S not on the card, Conor McGregor is often the main talking point of UFC events these days.
Tonight’s card in Orlando is one such example. According to McGregor’s coach John Kavanagh, the newly-crowned featherweight champion will face the winner of this evening’s main event between Rafael dos Anjos and Donald Cerrone, which will see dos Anjos making his first defence of the lightweight title he won last March.
Cerrone has been hugely impressive in the last two years, winning eight fights on the trot — a run which includes victories against Benson Henderson, Eddie Alvarez and Edson Barboza. But his last taste of defeat was dished out by tonight’s opponent.
Since losing to Khabib Nurmagomedov, dos Anjos has won four in succession — the last of which saw him dethrone Anthony Pettis. Many questioned the Brazilian’s claims for a title shot, but he responded emphatically by dominating Pettis en route to a unanimous-decision victory at UFC 185 in Dallas.
Cerrone’s defeat to dos Anjos in August 2013 was a significant upset at the time, but with the belt around his waist this time, dos Anjos enters tonight’s contest as the 1/2 favourite, with Cerrone available at 13/8 to win his first UFC title bout and set up a meeting — expected to be in April 2016 — with McGregor.
With his kickboxing background, Cerrone is most comfortable on the feet. However, in spite of his Brazilian jiu-jitsu base, dos Anjos was surprisingly able to edge an advantage in the striking department in their previous meeting, taking the result on 29-28 scores across the board.
It may not be a pay-per event, but tonight’s card is pretty stacked and what’s more is that it’s on at a relatively reasonable hour for fans in this part of the world. The prelims kick off on Fight Pass at 8.30pm, with the main card due for a 1am start on BT Sport 2.
Potential highlights include the co-main event between heavyweight contenders Junior dos Santos and Alistair Overeem, the return of Nate Diaz to face Michael Johnson, plus the meeting of Charles Oliveira and Myles Jury.
Keep an eye also on the first TV prelim on BT Sport 2 at 10pm, which involves two men who were both scheduled to face Conor McGregor in the past — Cole Miller and former Cage Warriors champion Jim Alers.
UFC Orlando
Main card — BT Sport 2 (1am)
Rafael dos Anjos vs. Donald Cerrone
Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem
Michael Johnson vs. Nate Diaz
Randa Markos vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz
TV prelims — BT Sport 2 (10pm)
Charles Oliveira vs. Myles Jury
CB Dollaway vs. Nate Marquardt
Sarah Kaufman vs. Valentina Shevchenko
Josh Samman vs. Tamdan McCrory
Nik Lentz vs. Danny Castillo
Cole Miller vs. Jim Alers
Early prelims — Fight Pass (8.30pm)
Kamaru Usman vs. Leon Edwards
Hayder Hassan vs. Vicente Luque
Francis Ngannou vs. Luis Henrique
