Christmas is coming early for fight fans as the top three promotions will be airing events on November 15th. UFC 180 on November 15th has been cursed and should be on broadcast TV at this point, but I still think Mark Hunt vs Fabricio Werdum is worth watching. However, with Diego Sanchez and Joe Lauzon also out due to injury is it still worth buying, especially on a night the two other top promotions are airing fights live on TV for free? Would it be better to air this card on a night the promotion was the only one fans could choose from? The broadcast options on TV are looking better.
November 15th: The MMA Fan’s Perfect Storm
Personally, I was going to buy UFC 180. Being a Mexican-American like Cain Velasquez and Diego Sanchez, I was very excited for this card. I have had a long relationship with combat sports in general one, which has shown me Mexican-Americans love watching their own in combat sports like boxing. If you mention Julio Cesar Chavez, Salvador Sanchez, or Oscar De La Hoya, all the men in my family will have conversations and debate all night about who is the greatest among those fighters.
Cain Velasquez has that same following and brought a lot of the older members of my family to watch the sport they called “rolling around” and forced them to learn that mixed martial arts is much more than that. Now, with Velasquez injured in the same week as Sanchez and Lauzon, I have already written off the event as a buy but I know that is not fair to the other competitors on the card. It would not be the first time a pay-per-view card went bad for the UFC because of injury problems. TJ Dillashaw’s rematch against Renan Barao was a main event draw for the UFC 177, until Barao got injured during the weight cutting process and had to pull out.
If they move to broadcast television then we would have the perfect storm of fights live and free for MMA fans. On that same night as UFC 180, Bellator MMA has a stacked card in Bellator 131. The main event is Tito Ortiz vs Stephan Bonner with a co-main event of the rematch between Michael Chandler and Will Brooks. Although the injury bug shows it has no promotional preference with a card change. For Bellator 131, Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal will now face Joe Vedepo instead of Tom DeBlass “as a major cut suffered in training has forced DeBlass out of action” according to Bellator. This event is also supposed to be the blueprint of Scott Coker’s future plans for the promotion and so far it seems appealing.
World Series of Fighting will also have WSOF 15 on that night, having Yushin Okami vs David Branch as their main event with Justin Gaethje vs Melvin Guillard. They’ll be accompanied by Jessica Aguilar defending her Strawweight title against Kalindra Faria.
There will be a ratings war for sure on November 15th and the only true winner that can be determined for now will be us, the fans. Will you watch one, all, or binge watch them in the order from favorite to least favorite? Follow the links below for each promotion’s card information and please let us know in comments below.
Full Fight Cards
UFC 180 Fight Card
Bellator 131 Fight Card
WSOF 15 Fight Card
Thank you for reading. Support LWOS by following us on Twitter – @LastWordOnSport and @LWOSworld – and “liking” our Facebook page.
For the latest in sports injury news, check out our friends at Sports Injury Alert.
Have you tuned into Last Word On Sports Radio? LWOS is pleased to bring you 24/7 sports radio to your PC, laptop, tablet or smartphone. What are you waiting for?
