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UFC 226 was set to see two title fights, however featherweight champion Max Holloway was ruled out of his championship defence against Brian Ortega earlier in the week.
The main is still on though and it’s set to be one of the biggest fights in mixed martial arts history.
Daniel Cormier will be looking to become the second man after Conor McGregor to hold two UFC championships at the same time.
The light heavyweight champion has established himself as one of the best fighters of this generation, but at the age of 39 even he has admitted that his illustrious career will come to end sooner rather than later.
Cormier’s only loss comes via decision to Jon Jones back in Janurary 2015. Jones has proven to be his achilles heel, knocking Cormier out a year ago to win his title back.
However, Jones tested positive for a performance-enchancing substance after the fight and the result was overturned to a no-contest, meaning Cormier retained his title.
The knockout didn’t slow Cormier down however, coming back at start of the year to knock out Volkan Oezdemir in the second round.
It was Cormier’s third title defence and now he looks to move up a weight class to take on perhaps the greatest heavyweight champion of all time.
Cormier is smaller than your traditional heavyweight however it was at that weight class where Cormier started his mixed martial arts career.
He fought 13 times at heavyweight before making his light heavyweight debut, and during his time at the weight class he won the Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix.
He has decisively beaten the likes of Roy Nelson, Frank Mir Josh Barnett and Antonio Silva at heavyweight, but has been at 205 pounds but hasn’t moved back up since beating Nelson in 2013.
Cormier is one of the greatest wrestlers the UFC has ever seen but Stipe Miocic will certainly give him a run for his money in that department.
Miocic has proven himself to be the baddest man on the planet and one of the greatest heavyweight champions in history – he is the only man to successfully defend the heavyweight title three times.
He has won his past six fights and five of those were via knockout.
He’s coming off a dominant decision win over Francis Ngannou – the man who many were picking to be the next big thing in the sport.
Miocic has only lost twice in his career and has fought at heavyweight the whole time. In a weight class where one punch can end a fight at any time, he has managed to stay healthy, consistent and minimise the damage he has taken.
Miocic is going into the fight as a slight favourite, but Cormier, even at 39, is quick, smart, agile and has proven himself at multiple weight classes.
We could been for one of the fights of the ages.
Prediction: Daniel Cormier via split decision.
(L.E. Baskow/Las Vegas Sun via AP, File)
The co-main event looks like it will provide the winner of Miocic-Cormier with their first challenger.
Number-one ranked Ngannou is coming of a decison loss to Miocic and he will be itching for another chance to fight for the title.
It was also his first loss in the UFC, but each of his 12 wins – both in and outside of the oragnisation – have ended in stoppages.
Ngannou’s one-punch knockout of Alistair Overeem is considered one of the brutal in the sport’s history, but his opponent has shown he can hit just as hard.
Derrick Lewis has won 19 fights in his MMA career, and 18 of those have come via stoppage.
He is coming off a brutal knockout win over Marcin Tybura where he won performance of the night honours and has stopped the likes of Trvais Browne and Gabriel Gonzaga during his UFC tenure.
Both men hit incredibly hard and are remarkarbly durable. However Ngannou is the more athletic and technical of the two. Expect him to earn another shot at the title.
Prediction: Francis Ngannou via unanimous decision
UFC 226 also sees Paul Felder take on Mike Perry in a potential fight of the night contender, while former lightweight champ Anthony Pettis looks to get back to winning ways when he takes on Michael Chiesa – who returns after being declared unfit to fight due to McGrgeor’s bus incident.
In the undercard Aussie-based prospect Dan Hooker looks for his fourth win a row since returning to lightweight. He takes on Gilbert Burns.
* = pick to win
Main card
Heavyweight championship: (C) Stipe Miocic vs (C-LHW) Daniel Cormier*
Heavyweight: No.1 Francis Ngannou* vs No.5 Derrick Lewis
Welterweight: No.14 Paul Felder vs Mike Perry*
Lightweight: No.4 Michael Cheisa* vs No.12 Anthony Pettis
Light Heavyweight: Gokhan Saki* vs. Khalil Rountree junior
Prelims
Middleweight: No.9 Uriah Hall* vs No.10 Paulo Costa
Bantamweight: No.3 Raphael Assuncao* vs No.11 Rob Font
Lightweight: Lando Vannata* vs Drakkar Klose
Welterweight: Curtis Millender vs Max Griffin*
Early prelims
Lightweight: Dan Hooker vs Gilbert Burns
Women’s Strawweight: Jamie Moyle vs Emily Whitmire
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