Fresh off the back of three consecutive UFC events, the UFC have decided we need more fights in our life.
This time it’s a fight night event headlined by John Lineker vs. Michael McDonald at bantamweight. Lineker is looking to continue his good form since moving to 135lbs, with a fight against an opponent who only returned to MMA at the start of the year, following a three-year absence with injuries. Prior to his absence, McDonald was one of the top bantamweights in the world and is known to possess knockout power in abundance, an attribute he shares with John Lineker. Be prepared to watch two fighters look to land the one punch KO at every opportunity in this one, which, despite them not being the biggest names in MMA, should at least make this fight entertaining.
Tony Ferguson faces Landon Vannata in the co-main event of the night after Michael Chiesa, Ferguson’s original opponent, withdrew from the fight through injury. Expect nothing less than a beating from Ferguson who continues his winning streak at 155lbs and stakes another claim for a shot at the title.
Tim Boetsch is looking to snap a three-fight losing streak when he faces Josh Samman – who himself is coming into this fight on the back of a loss (to Tamdan McCrory) – in a middleweight fight which could see Boetsch receive his pink slip should he lose. Whilst Boetsch is a game fighter who can have entertaining fights, Samman is well rounded and can finish the fight on the feet or in the grappling exchanges. The question is: with his UFC future in doubt, can Boetsch put in the performance needed to beat a very tough Samman?
Two of the craftier submission fighters in the heavyweight division meet when Oleksiy Oliynyk and Daniel Omielańczuk face each other on Wednesday night. If history is anything to go by, both fighters will look to utilise their grappling to win this one, and with both fighters coming in to the bout on winning streaks, expect confidence to be high from both camps, which will hopefully result in a highlight reel submission finish.
Wily veteran Kyle Noke gets a chance to return to winning ways with a welterweight fight against Keita Nakamura, although with Nakamura looking to bounce back from a loss of his own, it’ll be easier said than done. Nakamura is more well known for his crafty ground game than his stand-up skills, so expect Noke to look to keep this fight standing and dominate the exchanges on the feet, although he may find it hard to finish Nakamura, who is notoriously durable.
Two super talented and tough flyweights meet in the opening bout of the main card as Louis Smolka takes on Ben Nguyen. Both fighters are coming into this fight having blown through their last three opponents with relative ease. Whilst Nguyen likes to finish his fights via submission, Smolka is a hard hitting flyweight, so expect these two to battle over where the fight takes place or, to put it bluntly, expect lots of clinch and cage work from these two but the chances of this going three rounds is slim at best.
Fight to watch on the undercard: Rani Yahya vs. Matthew Lopez
