Let's be honest by now, whether you are a fight fan or not chances are you know about UFC 200. You probably know Jon "Bones" Jones and Daniel "DC" Cormier are the main event. You may even know that the return of the "Beast" Brock Lesnar coming back to fight Mark "The Super Samoan" Hunt as well. What most you probably do not know is how stacked this card is from bottom to top. Dana White has to be given a hand for this fight card, what some may fail to understand is every fight on the main card (the Pay-Per-View event) is a potential headliner fight in any other card.
But let us talk about the main card for UFC 200 and my predictions for this fight card
Cain Velazquez vs Travis Browne
This is an epic battle between two giant heavyweights. Cain has so much speed on his side with his ground game, his take downs are smooth and he has the ability to KO fighters with out a second guess:
He is fast and furious but, he is also coming off of a two year lay off and his most recent fight he was submitted and lost his title.
Cain is battling against a much taller fighter in Travis Browne. Travis has the size and speed to match Cain, with Travis having one X factor. Travis' fight IQ and chin make him ridiculously tough to knockout. Also Travis has no fear in throwing any kind of attack, if it means that he can score the KO. Remember Struve?
I see this fight going one of two ways: 1. It becomes and early night for one of these two heavyweights with a massive KO or 2. Cain Velazquez goes back to what he knows and utilizes his wrestling to grind out the fight for 3 rounds.
I have to go with my gut and hope to see some serious bombs thrown but I am going to take Travis "Hapa" Browne via KO.
Jose Aldo vs Frankie Edgar
Talk about two unbelievable strikers getting to fight it out on a huge card. Frankie who's boxing continues to improve as well as his footwork, and Jose Aldo who is known for throwing serious bombs on people. The last time I remember seeing a fight similar to this, it was Frankie Edgar vs Gary Maynard I. Two guys who just continually threw bombs at each other hoping to score the KO.
Jose Aldo is fast, has good wrestling take downs and a knack to finish the fight. He has come off a recent lose to Conor McGregor. That was a well timed punch by McGregor, I think had the fight gone on longer Aldo may have found a way to win that fight. Aldo is known for KO'ing fighters and having heavy hands.
However even with all the power behind those hands. Aldo is facing a person who has great wrestling, fast feet, and excellent striking in Frankie Edgar. Frankie is coming off a huge win over Chad Mendes and is looking to ride that momentum to a title shot with McGregor. Frankie is the type of fighter to look and pick his openings, he dominated an once untouchable BJ Penn and continued to do so on two more occasions. With Frankie it will more than likely come down to his boxing and his wrestling to finish his fight versus Aldo. If Frankie lands one of his bombs it could spell and early exit for Aldo.
With this fight and two momentum it has with it, I expect to see Jose Aldo preform at his best. Aldo is known for showing up in the spotlight and this fight should be no different. I am going to take Aldo in this fight but it is not a confident call for me. I think Edgar has so much in the tank but Aldo wants to get back in the win column so bad to avenge his lose. Aldo, decision.
Miesha Tate vs Amanda Nunes
Here is my sleeper fight for the night. I think this fight has a huge potential to showcase how the women fighters are going to be, expect huge bombs to be thrown from both women. They understand they are on the top fight card and are ready to make things happen.
Amanda has only one lose on her record since being in the UFC (Cat Zingano, who is also fighting on the card as well). Amanda is known for having heavy hands and loving to throw huge bombs. When I watched her recent fight against Valentina Shevchenko, she displayed beautiful hand movements. She did however have a tendency to leave herself open and was countered a few times. But when she fought Sarah McMann she took the fight to her landing gorgeous counters, which resulted in her getting the submission win.
The crazy things about the champ Miesha Tate is, she was losing the fight to Holly Holms for the first four rounds! She was being hit left and right as if Holly was Babe Ruth calling his home run shot. However that also brings me to another great point, Tate has one of the toughest chins in the UFC. With all the punches that were landing at will Tate whether the storm and ultimately got the victory and the championship. Tate has amazing wrestling and good striking, she still needs a lot of work on her counter game. But Tate has shown time and time again how much pain she can take and is willing to ride the storm till the end.
This is going to be a tough fight to call, Tate is going to have to utilize her ground game and wrestling to win this fight. Amanda will be tough to take down but I believe the champ will come out victorious in this match up, though I secretly will be pulling for Amanda Nunes to win the fight. Tate, TKO.
Brock Lesnar vs Mark Hunt
This is going to be a fun but quick fight, Mark has no patience with Brock and I am sure the feeling is mutual. These two heavyweights are going to throw down and want to end the fight early.
Brock is coming off of almost a five year lay off. If you do not think ring rust is going to play a factor in this match, I got something to tell you. Aside from the recent victory from Jon Jones, most fighters that come off long lay overs do not fair well in the return to the Octagon. Sure Brock has a lot of speed, power, and amazing wrestling as far as the UFC goes. But being in the WWE and trying to return to real combative sport may not fair to well for him. Sure he could probably take this fight to the ground and grind out Hunt, but Brock is going to come back with something to prove. He is going to want to throw at first, take the fight to the ground, and ground and pound it out. Could he do it? Sure, anything is possible, just like I never thought I would see a person get hit so hard they do a backwards roll into the cage (right Heath):
Mark is coming off a huge win for himself defeating Frank Mir at UFC Fight Night: Mir vs Hunt. Mark does not have much of a ground game as he loves to stay on his feet to knock people out. Aside from a submission lose and a draw to Mark Hunt it is either KO or be KO'd. He does not like to be on his back and does not like to be taken down. His strike game is amazing and it will be interesting to see him utilize it on a fighter like Brock Lesnar. There is no doubt that Mark is going to look for the KO ask anyone he has fought:
This fight could go 1 of 2 ways: 1. Brock wants to grind the fight and continue taking Hunt down at will, which would be the best way for him to win the fight, or 2. These two juggernauts go into battle against each other and slug it out (which I believe favors Mark). I have to think Brock is going to be smart and take this fight to the ground as he is getting ready to head to Summerslam next month for the WWE, and will take this fight to the ground. I see Brock winning this fight by taking Mark down for three rounds and grinding the energy out of him. What I want to see happen is another walk off win by Mark Hunt. Lesnar, Decision.
Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier
The fight everyone has been looking forward to. The talking for this fight is about to end, and we will see who is going to be victorious in a fight round bout for the ages. These two guys no doubt hate one another, the are always bickering about anything to get the headway. Whether they are calling each other out or just talking about referees. Either way I have been looking forward to this fight for a long time and it is about time, we get to see these two guys go head to head in the octagon.
Jon Jones is coming off a victory against OSP, there was definitely a lot of ring rust and though he said there was not, he even admitted there were kicks that he normal would land that did not. Jones has yet to be beat in the Octagon other than his DQ against Matt Hamill. Jon is looking to use his unorthodox methods to throw off DC and possibly land as many shot to DC while trying to finish the fight. He took down DC several times in their last bout, and I think the fight with OSP only helped sharpen Jones for this fight against DC. Jones loves to throw his spinning back elbow so expect to see that this fight once again:
Daniel Cormier has not fought since October of 2015. Expect that ring rust will be involved in this fight as well. I think has Daniel fought back in February or March of this year, we could be talking about a who new level of fight. However, DC is the champ and he has been training waiting for Jones to come back to prove to the world that he is good enough to beat Bones Jones. DC has a great wrestling game and showed it off when he fought Dan Henderson, beat the Roman-Greco wrestler down and leading to the submission victory. He is going to try and take Jones to the ground and grind his fight out much as he tried in the first meeting. DC has said he is better than what he was the first time they had met, so I am interested to see how much better DC has gotten. With good hands that lead to great take downs, I think DC has what it takes to grind the fight out on paper against Jones.
Ring rust has to come into play in this fight, and I think with the champ being off for so long, Jones may unite these two titles. Jones as I mentioned took down DC numerous times in their previous meeting and I think for five rounds DC is going to go back through buzzsaw called Bones Jones. With the hatred these two fighters have for each other, it will be amazing to see where they are mentally in this fight. I am sure the first person to score the knockdown, will be ready to talk the most trash during the fight. I am going to take Jon "Bones" Jones in decision for this fight, and expect DC to be humbled by this defeat looking for the next challenge to come his way.
That is my predictions for the fight, let me know what you all think in the comments I can not wait to hear from you, and if you want to talk to me during the fights you can find me on twitter at cm_miller85, I will be around all night from the start of the fight card with Jim Miller and Takanori Gomi to the final fight with Jon Jones versus Daniel Cormier.
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