Dear Dana,
Earlier this year, you had me worried. PPV cards weren’t brining in the PPV buys, TV cards were shallow, and it seemed like the number of events being put on was watering down every card.
Now, we look forward to the rest of 2014, and boy are there events that I’m pumped for!
Upcoming UFC Events
A Stacked UFC 178
So far, the most stacked card of 2014, and the one most fans are excited for. It’s sad to see that the main event, a rematch of Jon Jones and Alexander Gustafsson, had to be switched due to injury. The substitute for the fight, Daniel Cormier, has been pumping out the insults, and makes for a very interesting and legitimate threat to Jones’ title.
The rest of the fights are not matchups that would main event other PPV’s, but are either very exciting fights, or feature well known fighters. The returns of Dominick Cruz and Cat Zingano. The exciting battle between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor. Tim Kennedy vs Yoel Romero, Patrick Cote vs Stephen “Wonderboy” Thompson, and Bobby Green vs. Jorge Masvidal round out the card nicely.
This event should be the highest performing PPV of 2014, unless the final PPV of the year can upstage it.
The Potential of UFC 181
Right now only one fight has been announced for the event in Vegas on December 6th. Chris Weidman vs. Vitor Belfort is the biggest fight of the year due to all of the build-up, the drug testing, and the unanswered questions.
How will Belfort do without TRT? How different will he look on fight night? Will he continue his knockout streak? Is Weidman legitimate? Will he stop Belfort like he did Silva twice? Who will be at the top of the most exciting division in the UFC at the end of the year?
Then there’s the rumored bouts for the card. So far the lightweight title fight between Anthony Pettis and Gilbert Melendez has yet to find a home, but was rumored earlier to be for UFC 181. That would give the PPV two extremely exciting title fights, with a possible 3rd title on the line as well.
Ronda Rousey vs. Gina Carano is the fight fans would love to see, but that many would hate to see happen. In no way does Carano deserve the fight, but if the fight was put on the 181 PPV, we would see an event with three amazing title fights.
Fight Night Cards
We have had some pretty good free cards this year in the UFC. Of course with these events, we don’t know how well the card will go until the fights have concluded. That being said, we have some cards that have potential to be excellent TV cards.
The most stacked Fight Night event is headlined by Jacare Souza and Gegard Mousasi. The winner of the five-round title fight could be next in line for a middleweight title shot if Weidman soundly defeats Belfort.
For the co-main event, Alistair Overeem faces Ben Rothwell, in what should be Overeem displaying his new talents courtesy of Team Jackson-Winkeljohn. Joe Lauzon and Michael Chiesa are on the main card along with Matt Mitrione vs Derrick Lewis, and Nik Lentz vs Charles Olivera. The undercard also includes names like John Moraga, Al Iaquinta, Chris Camozzi, Dustin Kimura, and Andre Fili.
In September we will be given the most stacked Fight Pass card to date. Mark Hunt and Roy Nelson will throw down in an epic heavyweight main event. Also on the card are fights like Urijah Faber vs Masanori Kanehara, Yoshihira Akiyama vs Kyle Noke, Myles Jury vs Takanori Gomi, and Miesha Tate vs Rin Nakai.
There are a lot of Fight Night cards I’m not too excited for (Bader vs St. Preux, and Bisping vs. Le) but the majority of the rest all have some intriguing fights and hot prospects.
So hopefully Dana, for the sake of the UFC, and most importantly, the fans, all of those fight cards will stay intact, and the injury bug will hibernate from now until the end of the year. Keep up the good work Dana, and keep on making cards that fans are excited for.
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