Friday 8 September 2017

UFC 215 Preview



DISCLAIMER: This article is previewing two fights from the main card ONLY.

(C) indicates current champion.

Even before the Octagon has been set up in Edmoton, Alberta, Canada, UFC 215 is a card that has taken several blows.

Former UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos was pulled by USADA (United States Anti-Doping Agency) from his scheduled fight with Francis Ngannou after he tested positive for hydrochlorothiazide.

The huge $100 price tag for the blockbuster Boxing fight between Floyd Mayweather Jr and Conor McGregor has significantly reduced the number of the US audience, that makes up the majority of the PPV number, that'll pay out for it.

Finally, UFC Flyweight challenger Ray Borg was pulled from his main event fight with champion Demetrious Johnson after UFC doctors deemed him unfit to fight.


Anyway, here's my UFC 215 preview.

Neil Magny vs Rafael dos Anjos (Welterweight Bout)

Rafael dos Anjos (26-9 MMA, 15-7 UFC) is on a new venture at 170 pounds.

After beating Tarec Saffiedine via unanimous decision in his welterweight debut back in June, Dos Anjos has clearly found his feet since his move up from lightweight.

The UFC clearly think the same as the former lightweight champion revealed on the MMA Hour that he was a back-up to face welterweight champion Tryon Woodley at UFC 214.
Whilst he might be fighting for the title yet, the Brazilian has a tough opponent in front of him in the form of Neil Magny (19-5 MMA, 12-4 UFC).

 The Illonis native is coming off a comfortable unanimous decision victory himself, having defeated Johny Hendricks back in December 2016.

Both will be looking to get a finish in order to jump up the rankings and earn a future title shot but I think that the pair will match each other for the 15 minutes.
PREDICTION: Dos Anjos via unanimous decision.


Amanda Nunes (C) vs Valentina Shevchenko (For the Women's Bantamweight Championship) 

 Back in March 2016, at UFC 196, Amanda Nunes (14-4 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and Valetina Shevchenko (14-2 MMA, 11-1 UFC) fought in a solid three round fight.

Nunes won the bout via unanimous decision and went on to capture the Women's Bantamweight championship from Miesha Tate in the main event of UFC 200.

She then followed this up by defeating Ronda Rousey in 48 seconds back at UFC 207.

Shevchenko bounced back from her loss to Nunes by defeating Holly Holm via unanimous decision and then won the chance to face the champion as she submitted Julianna Pena via a vicious armbar.

This fight was supposed to happen at UFC 213 but was cancelled after Nunes said she wasn't well enough to defend her title.

Now here we are with 25 minutes scheduled between the two.

Interestingly, as Dan Hardy pointed out when doing Inside the Octagon, Shevchenko was coming on strong at the end of the third round and when you factor in two more rounds, she'll be looking to get a boost in the latter rounds (if it gets that far).
PREDICTION: Shevchenko wins via third-round knockout.










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