With three Aussies fighting on the main card of UFC 225, it’s as good a time as any to be an Australian MMA fan.
Here’s a quick rundown of the match-ups.
Robert Whittaker versus Yoel Romero
Middleweight title
Australian Whittaker is set to defend his title against Romero in a rematch from July 2017. It is the first fight for Whittaker after winning the title, due to missing his fight at UFC 221 with a staph infection.
Whittaker fought the last fight against Romero with a medial knee injury, yet still managed to take a decision win, after gassing Romero out with repeated attacks to the body, and avoiding his opponent’s takedowns for most of the fight.
Whittaker and his team are amazing at gameplanning for specific opponents, but can he repeat his last performance?
Rafael Dos Anjos versus Colby Covington
Interim Welterweight title
Former lightweight champ Dos Anjos is on a three-fight win streak at welterweight, with his most recent win being a dominant, five-round beatdown of former champ Robbie Lawler.
Covington has won his last five, with his most recent being a decision over former title contender Demian Maia. Covington’s striking looked quite sloppy in his previous fight, so he could be in trouble against someone as dangerous on the feet as Dos Anjos.
It’s hard to see a path to victory for Covington; RDA will keep the pressure on walking Covington down, not allowing him a chance to score a TD. Even if he is to take him down, Dos Anjos is no stranger to grappling himself.
Holly Holm versus Megan Anderson
Women’s Featherweight
A notoriously thin division (the UFC doesn’t even have rankings), Aussie Anderson makes her UFC debut on a four-fight win streak, all by TKO.
Holm, on the other hand – whose last fight was for the featherweight title – has one win out of her last five.
The UFC is obviously looking to build up Anderson for a fight against featherweight champ Cris Cyborg. If Holm gets the W though, they may have just killed that prospect.
Holly Holm has performed poorly since beating Ronda Rousey. (AAP Image/Joe Castro)
Andrei Arlovski versus Tai Tuivasa
Heavyweight
The heavyweight division is ageing badly, and needs some young blood. Enter Tai Tuivasa.
The undefeated Aussie’s seven wins have all come by first-round KO, and with his hilarious post-fight interviews, it’s easy to see why the UFC wants to promote this man.
Arlovski, while at the tail-end of his career, seems to be having a slight return to form. After losing a title fight to current champion Stipe Miocic, back in 2016, Arlovski lost five more and it looked like that’d be the end for him, but after lacing together two strong decision victories, he might be back on track.
We’ve never seen Tuivasa’s gas tank tested after the first round, so Arlovski will need to avoid the big shot early if he wants to continue this streak. This will be Tuivasa’s biggest test yet.
Phil Brooks (CM Punk) versus Mike Jackson
Brooks returns to the Octagon after losing his debut, in late 2016, to fight fellow 0-1 ‘veteran’ Mike Jackson.
More of a ‘freakshow’ fight than anything else, Punk is chasing his dreams; trying to answer the question of ‘if you had access to the best coaches in the world and no other commitments, could you become a professional fighter with no previous experience in just a few years?’ His first fight showed that no, you definitely cannot. Here’s to hoping that another year of training has improved him drastically.
And that’s just the main card! With a plethora of amazing match-ups on the preliminary card as well (former title contender Alistair Overeem versus upcoming heavyweight star Curtis Blaydes, former strawweight title contender Claudia Gadelha versus former Strawweight champ Carla Esparza, exciting featherweight prospect Mirsad Bektic versus former featherweight title contender Ricardo Lamas, and Rashad Evans returning to light heavyweight), it’ll be an exciting night.
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