An idiot's guide to UFC 259
- The Sports Burrito
- Mar 4, 2021
- 4 min read
March 6th sees the return of the UFC PPV and arguably the most stacked card of the year, with 3 titles on the line.
Now I know what you’re thinking: “I don’t care enough about anything to wake up at 3am, let alone to watch MMA.” A fair point, but if you have a BT sport subscription here in the UK you can have the whole card at your fingertips on Sunday morning, allowing you to watch the carnage unfold while lying in bed with a bacon sarnie and a cuppa. You can even skip the rambling story pieces and just catch up with the fights.
To help you prepare for the weekend, here is a bit of background (and a load of great highlights) on all 3 title fights.
MAIN EVENT:
“The Last Stylebender” Israel Adesanya (C) vs Jan Blachowicz (C) for the Light Heavyweight Championship
Israel Adesanya rose from relative unknown to middleweight champion in just a 2-year period, having jumped over to MMA from kickboxing. The Nigerian-born New Zealander has never lost inside an MMA cage (20W-0L) and is famed for his top-tier striking and more recently his flashy walkouts. You’ve got to be pretty special to do a choreographed routine with your dance troupe before fighting another man in a cage - and Stylebender has the skills to back it all up. In this fight, he is moving up in weight to face Jan Blachowicz, hunting for that coveted Champ Champ status.
Top vids for the new fan:
1. Stylebender’s crazy walkout infront of 57,000 in Marvel Stadium, Melbourne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sV6dN1i63E
2. Adesanya’s skill just too much for Paulo Costa
3. Adesanya wins the belt in absolute war with Kelvin Gastelum - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0YvEDe-1P04
His opponent, Jan Blachowicz (27W-8L) is the current Light Heavyweight champ. With a very different record inside the cage to Adesanya, Jan is a grizzled veteran, having been fighting in the UFC since 2014. He’s on a 4 fight win streak which culminated in starching betting favourite Dominic Reyes for the belt last September. His ‘Legendary Polish Power’ ™ annihilated Luke Rockhold, a previous middleweight champion who moved up in weight in 2019 and he’s hoping to do the same to Izzy this time around. To be honest everyone enjoyed seeing legitimate Ralph Lauren model Rockhold have something go against him.
Adesanya has a slight edge in this intriguing matchup between two champions, having dominated another powerhouse in his last outing, but all it takes in 1 shot from Blachowicz to send Adesanya to sleep and back down to the relative safety of the middleweight division.
Blachowicz’s best bits:
1. Blachowicz sleeps ‘arrogant’ Luke Rockhold
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X98WkpMJkqI (skip to 4 minutes to see the knockout)
2. Jan Blachowicz’s ‘Legendary Polish Power’ ™ wins him the light heavyweight championship
Adesanya has his arms raised after dominating Paulo Costa
Co-main event: Amanda Nunes (C)(C) vs Megan Anderson for the Featherweight Championship
The Co-main event sees the return of the consensus female MMA GOAT, Amanda Nunes (20W – 4L), the woman who boasts KO victories over Ronda Rousey, Chris Cyborg and Holly Holm (arguably all top 5). One of the few ‘good people’ in MMA, 'The Lioness' as she is known is the first openly lesbian champion (and double champion) and she’s looking to extend her winning streak to 12 over her next challenger, the Australian Megan Anderson (11W – 4L).
Anderson is a former champion in Invicta (An all-female MMA organisation separate to the UFC) and at 6ft tall, she poses a new challenge for Nunes. That being said, her last 2 wins have come over opponents without Wikipedia pages, and she lost her last fight against a ‘Wikipedia verified’ opponent in the first round (Felicia Spencer - whom Nunes pulverised over 5 rounds last June). It will be interesting to see if Anderson’s size will make up for the skillset gap - but I can’t see any other outcome than another a masterclass from the double champ.
Amanda Nunes appreciation vids
1. Wild first round between Cris Cyborg and Amanda Nunes ends with KO https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7mybcHbhUA
2. Nunes obliterates Ronda Rousey in the first round
Petr Yan (C) vs Aljamain Sterling for the Bantamweight championship
The third title fight on the card is the Bantamweight championship matchup between Jamican descended Aljo ‘Funk Master’ Sterling (19W-3L) and the Russian Petr ‘No Mercy’ Yan (15W-1L). Historically, the little guys (135lbs or 61kg) don’t draw as much attention as the heavy hitters higher up the weight pyramid, but this fight has been bubbling under since July last year when Yan won the belt vs José Aldo (the all-time great unfortunately most famous for his 14s loss to Conor McGregor). This is a 50/50 pick ‘em between two streaking fighters in a classic striker vs wrestler matchup. Yan is going to want this fight to stay on the feet, while Funk Master is going to try to drag him down to the matt at any opportunity. If I had to pick a winner, Sterling’s demolition of Sandhagen last time out probably just gives him the edge.
Last time out for both Yan and Aljo
1. Petr Yan becomes UFC champ after breaking down José Aldo
2. Aljo Sterling runs through Corey Sandhagen in under 90 seconds
Instructions unclear. Bought a Fight Pass membership and watched over 1000 hours of UFC in preparation.