UFC 236 will make history as the first pay-per-view event to have two interim title fights decided on the same night.
After a two week hiatus, the world leader in MMA is back with a fun night of fights. The State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Georgia will play host to the action this weekend.
There is a lot to like about this 13-fight card. Let’s take a deeper look at some of the fighters and match ups scheduled for Saturday (April 13, 2019) night.
Max Holloway vs. Dustin Poirier II
The Holloway vs Poirier fight build-up has been a breath of fresh air on so many levels. For starters, both men are real martial artists and let their actions inside the Octagon dictate their tough persona. That’s not to say either fighter can’t talk some trash. They just haven’t felt the need to in order to hype this fight.
Holloway, already the featherweight champion, will look to become the interim lightweight champion and the newest “champ-champ” in the process. “The Diamond” will have something to say about that, as he already holds a victory over the Hawaiian from seven years ago.
“Blessed” has a ridiculous 83% takedown defense in the Octagon. Poirier averages nearly two takedowns a fight (per 15 minutes). Something’s gotta give.
Max Griffin vs. Zelim Imadaev
Taking a look at the UFC 236 prelims and the welterweight scrap between Griffin and Imadaev jumps off the page.
Griffin is a pressure fighter who is always moving forward. He has great cardio and he is a real technician when it comes to his striking. Although he is on a two-fight skid, both of those losses were very questionable decisions.
Imadaev, 24, is an unbeaten Russian fighter who will make his promotional debut on Saturday night. However, he and Griffin have crossed paths before as they are former training partners at Extreme Couture in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Eryk Anders vs. Khalil Rountree
Often times in MMA, analysts and media alike will hype a fight by saying ‘this fight has to end in a knock out’. While I’m not a fan of the hyperbole, this fight has to end in a knock out.
Anders and Rountree have a combined 13 TKO/KO finishes. That number becomes even more impressive when you realize the men have a combined 18 wins. That means 72% of the time this fight should end with a knock out.
Kelvin Gastelum vs. Israel Adesanya
It’s a throwback back to the early days of the UFC. Gastelum, the grappler, will look to overcome a staggering nine-inch reach advantage that Adesanya, the striker, posses.
There really is no secret as to what each fighter wants to do in this fight. Gastelum wants to use his superior wrestling to get the fight to the canvas and “Stylebender” will do his best to keep the fight on the feet. He has been successful 85% of the time when it comes to his takedown defense inside the Octagon.
The more important question is which fighter will be able to implement their strategy. And for that answer, you must tune in.
This article first appeared on BJPENN.COM on 4/11/2019.
Daniel Cormier believes he knows the deciding factor in how Colby Covington recovers from suffering back-to-back losses.
Covington stepped inside the Octagon for the final UFC event and fight of 2024. He went one-on-one with surging welterweight contender Joaquin Buckley. Covington’s chin was certainly on display and he ate some hard shots from Buckley, who was as crisp as ever in the standup. While “Chaos” found a little bit of success with his grappling in round two, the damage from “New Mansa” was evident.
One former UFC titleholder believes Khamzat Chimaev would be able to dethrone the current light heavyweight champion Alex Pereira.
Rumors have been swirling since Pereira took to social media to claim that Magomed Ankalaev will not be his next title challenger. Some have speculated that Chimaev will move up from 185 pounds to challenge Pereira for the gold at light heavyweight.
UFC star Conor McGregor has mocked Logan Paul in a recent social media post as talk of a boxing match between them intensifies.
Nobody ever truly knows what Conor McGregor is going to do next. The Irishman is an absolute enigma in the world of mixed martial arts, and that’ll likely continue to be the case for as long as he’s involved in the fight game. Recently, he’s been teasing the idea of a blockbuster boxing match between himself and Logan Paul.
UFC legend Jon Jones has teased what he could end up doing when he eventually retires from mixed martial arts.
As we know, Jon Jones is widely considered to be the greatest of all time in mixed martial arts. At this point, there are very few fans and pundits who dispute that. At the same time, he’s also the UFC heavyweight champion, and seems to have his eyes set on continuing his historic run next year.
Gilbert Burns has responded to Colby Covington’s callout.
After Burns leaked Chael Sonnen’s phone number, who is now Covington’s coach, ‘Chaos’ called out the Brazilian for his next fight. Covington said he wanted to get payback for Sonnen and felt like that fight also made sense.
UFC welterweight contender Colby Covington wants to fight Gilbert Burns on Chael Sonnen’s behalf.
‘Chaos’ is fresh off his return to the octagon in the main event of UFC Tampa last Saturday night. Back for the first time since a loss to Leon Edwards last year, Colby Covington stepped up on short notice to face Joaquin Buckley. ‘New Mansa’ entered the bout riding a wave of momentum, last scoring a knockout win over Stephen Thompson in October.
Despite his loss to Alexandre Pantoja, Kai Asakura remains confident that he’ll become UFC flyweight champion.
The former RIZIN bantamweight champion is fresh off his UFC debut earlier this month in Las Vegas. Back for the first time since a knockout win over Juan Archuleta in December, Kai Asakura faced Alexandre Pantoja. The Japanese star got a rare title shot in his promotional debut, given the champion’s dominance over the flyweight division.
Former UFC welterweight champion Kamaru Usman is interested in fighting Jack Della Maddalena.
‘The Nigerian Nightmare’ hasn’t been seen in the octagon in over a year. He last appeared in the cage at UFC 294 last October, stepping up on short notice for a middleweight showdown with Khamzat Chimaev. Ultimately, ‘Borz’ handed Kamaru Usman his third loss in a row, this time by majority decision.
