I am here today because although UFC 300 is about less than 3 months away, I am kind of upset with the amount of little announcements coming from Dana about their biggest card in a long time. So let's go ahead and guess what I believe their card will become to be.
Prelim Headliner
Jiri Prochazka vs Aleksandar Rakic - This was a fight that was already announced and seeing how Dana was saying that we are going to see fights that are going to question him on why they are on the prelims, I could only assume this is one of the fights he would be referring to, this and the Cody vs Figgy fight and maybe the Aljo/Kattar fight., 4 former champs all on the prelims? Kind of crazy.
Main Card Opener
Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan - This is kind of self explanatory, UFC has already booked the fight for 300 and Charles is already a star himself, having Arman becoming a upcoming star is also definitely a possibility, even at the young age of only 27. This is a good main card opener for 300 as the young prospect and eager contender takes on the tough but loved veteran and fan favorite Charles Oliveira.
2nd Main Card spot.
Weili Zhang vs Yan Xiaonan - Now I know when the fight was first announced, many people were upset at the fight being on the card, me included a bit. Only reason in my case is because Dana made me stay up for about 3 hours past the time he said he was going to announce a fight just for it to be this. In Hindsight, it is not a bad fight whatsoever, it's actually a very entertaining one on paper that features 2 women who are always exciting to watch so don't get me wrong there, it's going to be a banger in that aspect, UFC 300 worthy? Not sure about that but definitely will be on the main card as they push the narrative of stacking the main card for title fights.
Featured Fight.
Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway - Probably the best fight of the card... for the BMF title.. (disgusting). Having this on the UFC 300 card had to be a given, 2 stars of the sport that casual fans already know, needed to be on the card. These 2 will do their part in bringing people to watch the card, such a great fight and not much else to really say.
Co Main Event .
Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad 2 - I know... unfortunate but how you can not expect them to do this.. As boring as Belal is and his fighting style, he deserves the title shot finally and he does have a weird personality that will go to the presser and he will no doubt try to talk trash to Leon, even if it is corny in every aspect, and Leon who just defended his belt against Colby has a ton of people watching his fight after the presser of UFC 296 and the comments Colby made about Leon's father. This fight will no doubt be on this card, it's going to more than likely be the Co-Main as I don't really see them putting Justin vs Max over a actual title fight.
Main Event Honorable Mentions
Sean Strickland vs Dricus Du Plessis 2 - After such a close and razor fight between the 2 of these warriors, I could see the UFC running this back at UFC 300, is it main event worthy for UFC 300? I wouldn't say so but as a last option I mean... I wouldn't hate the idea.... Sean has already became a star among the MMA community and has definitely attracted headlines of social media influencers trying to cancel his fight because of stuff he says and DPP has won the belt and has attracted a bit of fame from that, although he was known by casuals as soon as Izzy came into the octagon at UFC 290... ifykyk.
Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill / Magomed - Looking at it now, I just don't see how Alex can be on this card if he defends the belt against Magomed, it just isn't main event worthy of such a big card that people are expecting to be the most stacked card of all time. Magomed no doubt deserves a title shot don't get me wrong, just not at 300, maybe 301 in Brazil would fit these 2 better.
When it comes to Hill vs Alex, this isn't too far out of possibility, I do worry about this for a couple of reasons, that is Hill's legal troubles that he had with him and his brother and also his Torn Achilles that he suffered last year and had to give up the belt after injury, not sure if he is going to be 100 percent after that terrible injury, and for better reasons, if he's possibly rushing back into a title shot with a lingering injury that more than likely isn't 100 percent against one of the most dangerous Kick boxers in the sport, who is no doubt going to eat that leg up.
Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesanya 3 - This is a fight that I was no doubt thinking the UFC was going to go with about a month ago, with Alex calling Izzy out at 205 and Izzy trolling the idea, I thought it was almost practically a done deal. As of recent I kind of trend away from this idea seeing how other things have come along, this isn't a bad fight to headline 300 as lots of fans do enjoy the fights these 2 put on and Izzy winning knockout of the year over Alex at UFC 287 to steal his belt back in speculator fashion. Like I said, do not mind this to headline 300, is it worthy? I do think so but seeing how other things popped up in the division for the UFC, I think they trend away from this idea but keep it in their back pocket.
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My Prediction of who the UFC goes with to headline UFC 300
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Israel Adesanya vs Dricus Du Plessis | Middleweight Championship of the World | - I know... not to many people would be happy about this fight being made but seeing how the UFC loves drama and seeing how it builds the card tremendously, why wouldn't they put this fight to headline 300? It has all the back story with Dricus claiming he his the first real African Champ and Israel doing anything he can to say otherwise. These 2 met in the UFC 290 octagon after DPP put up an amazing performance against Bobby Knuckles by finishing him in round 2 by TKO and got him a title shot against Israel Adesanya... so we thought. DPP claimed that he had an ankle injury and couldn't make the event of UFC 293 so the UFC called Sean Strickland up and the rest is history.... Although may I just add that a lot of the MMA world was actually upset at DPP for not being able to fight 6 weeks away at another PPV after just having a pretty competitive fight against a former champion within his division, hell, even Dana didn't like DPP for a while at some of the media pressers. I just don't see how the UFC passes this up or does any other fight, this is the biggest fight they can make right now for UFC 300 and we know how much UFC loves big fights, especially with big names.
Prelim Headliner
Jiri Prochazka vs Aleksandar Rakic - This was a fight that was already announced and seeing how Dana was saying that we are going to see fights that are going to question him on why they are on the prelims, I could only assume this is one of the fights he would be referring to, this and the Cody vs Figgy fight and maybe the Aljo/Kattar fight., 4 former champs all on the prelims? Kind of crazy.
Main Card Opener
Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan - This is kind of self explanatory, UFC has already booked the fight for 300 and Charles is already a star himself, having Arman becoming a upcoming star is also definitely a possibility, even at the young age of only 27. This is a good main card opener for 300 as the young prospect and eager contender takes on the tough but loved veteran and fan favorite Charles Oliveira.
2nd Main Card spot.
Weili Zhang vs Yan Xiaonan - Now I know when the fight was first announced, many people were upset at the fight being on the card, me included a bit. Only reason in my case is because Dana made me stay up for about 3 hours past the time he said he was going to announce a fight just for it to be this. In Hindsight, it is not a bad fight whatsoever, it's actually a very entertaining one on paper that features 2 women who are always exciting to watch so don't get me wrong there, it's going to be a banger in that aspect, UFC 300 worthy? Not sure about that but definitely will be on the main card as they push the narrative of stacking the main card for title fights.
Featured Fight.
Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway - Probably the best fight of the card... for the BMF title.. (disgusting). Having this on the UFC 300 card had to be a given, 2 stars of the sport that casual fans already know, needed to be on the card. These 2 will do their part in bringing people to watch the card, such a great fight and not much else to really say.
Co Main Event .
Leon Edwards vs Belal Muhammad 2 - I know... unfortunate but how you can not expect them to do this.. As boring as Belal is and his fighting style, he deserves the title shot finally and he does have a weird personality that will go to the presser and he will no doubt try to talk trash to Leon, even if it is corny in every aspect, and Leon who just defended his belt against Colby has a ton of people watching his fight after the presser of UFC 296 and the comments Colby made about Leon's father. This fight will no doubt be on this card, it's going to more than likely be the Co-Main as I don't really see them putting Justin vs Max over a actual title fight.
Main Event Honorable Mentions
Sean Strickland vs Dricus Du Plessis 2 - After such a close and razor fight between the 2 of these warriors, I could see the UFC running this back at UFC 300, is it main event worthy for UFC 300? I wouldn't say so but as a last option I mean... I wouldn't hate the idea.... Sean has already became a star among the MMA community and has definitely attracted headlines of social media influencers trying to cancel his fight because of stuff he says and DPP has won the belt and has attracted a bit of fame from that, although he was known by casuals as soon as Izzy came into the octagon at UFC 290... ifykyk.
Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill / Magomed - Looking at it now, I just don't see how Alex can be on this card if he defends the belt against Magomed, it just isn't main event worthy of such a big card that people are expecting to be the most stacked card of all time. Magomed no doubt deserves a title shot don't get me wrong, just not at 300, maybe 301 in Brazil would fit these 2 better.
When it comes to Hill vs Alex, this isn't too far out of possibility, I do worry about this for a couple of reasons, that is Hill's legal troubles that he had with him and his brother and also his Torn Achilles that he suffered last year and had to give up the belt after injury, not sure if he is going to be 100 percent after that terrible injury, and for better reasons, if he's possibly rushing back into a title shot with a lingering injury that more than likely isn't 100 percent against one of the most dangerous Kick boxers in the sport, who is no doubt going to eat that leg up.
Alex Pereira vs Israel Adesanya 3 - This is a fight that I was no doubt thinking the UFC was going to go with about a month ago, with Alex calling Izzy out at 205 and Izzy trolling the idea, I thought it was almost practically a done deal. As of recent I kind of trend away from this idea seeing how other things have come along, this isn't a bad fight to headline 300 as lots of fans do enjoy the fights these 2 put on and Izzy winning knockout of the year over Alex at UFC 287 to steal his belt back in speculator fashion. Like I said, do not mind this to headline 300, is it worthy? I do think so but seeing how other things popped up in the division for the UFC, I think they trend away from this idea but keep it in their back pocket.
===================================================
My Prediction of who the UFC goes with to headline UFC 300
==================================================
Israel Adesanya vs Dricus Du Plessis | Middleweight Championship of the World | - I know... not to many people would be happy about this fight being made but seeing how the UFC loves drama and seeing how it builds the card tremendously, why wouldn't they put this fight to headline 300? It has all the back story with Dricus claiming he his the first real African Champ and Israel doing anything he can to say otherwise. These 2 met in the UFC 290 octagon after DPP put up an amazing performance against Bobby Knuckles by finishing him in round 2 by TKO and got him a title shot against Israel Adesanya... so we thought. DPP claimed that he had an ankle injury and couldn't make the event of UFC 293 so the UFC called Sean Strickland up and the rest is history.... Although may I just add that a lot of the MMA world was actually upset at DPP for not being able to fight 6 weeks away at another PPV after just having a pretty competitive fight against a former champion within his division, hell, even Dana didn't like DPP for a while at some of the media pressers. I just don't see how the UFC passes this up or does any other fight, this is the biggest fight they can make right now for UFC 300 and we know how much UFC loves big fights, especially with big names.