UFC 244: Preview

On November 2nd, Madison Square Garden hosts the biggest card of the year with Masvidal vs Diaz as the East coast vs West coast headliner. However, Masvidal/Diaz isn’t the only mouth-watering fight on the night there are plenty others which I will preview in this article.

Kicking off the night Julio Acre will face Hakeem Dawodu, who is on a three-fight win streak, in a featherweight bout. With both fighters entering their fifth UFC fight it should be an exciting opener to the card. Lyman Good faces off against fellow welterweight Chance Rencountre. Both fighters are relatively unknown, however, Good is coming off a defeat to Demain Maia earlier on the year and will be hoping to bounce back up the rankings with a win over the ‘Black Eagle’. Finishing off the Early Prelims, #1 Women’s flyweight, Katlyn Chookagian, matches up against #5 Jennifer Maia. Both of their last 7 fights have gone the distance, so don’t expect fireworks in the cage.

Arlovski at the weigh-ins before his last fight.

After maybe falling asleep watching that last bout this fight is sure to wake you up. Former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski is looking to extend the record of UFC heavyweight division wins, currently at 17, with a win over unbeaten Jairzinho Rozenstruik. Jairzinho is yet to go past the 2nd round and this sure to be a slobber knocker and the perfect way to kick off the Prelims. This is followed by a middleweight contest between #11 Brad Tavares and the undefeated #13 Edmen Shahbazyan. Tavares has been out of UFC competition for 16 months and Edmen is the favourite to continue his win streak and capitalise on Tavares’ inactivity. Edmen has finished all but one of his professional fights in the first round so be alert right when that bell rings to start the fight because you might just miss it.

Burgos faces off against Makwan Amirkhani in the second featherweight bout of the evening. Burgos is on a high after securing the biggest win of his career over Cub Swanson back in May. Can he build on that momentum with a win over Amirkhani? The final fight before the main card is #7 Corey Anderson versus #11 Johnny Walker. This light-heavyweight fight is matching up two contrasting styles, so it will be very interesting to see who’s hand will be raised at the end of the contest.

‘The Motown Phenom’ at UFC Rochester

Onto the Main Card we venture and it all starts with Kevin Lee going against undefeated Gregor Gillespie in a very risky fight for the ‘Motown Phenom. Lee is coming off the back of two straight defeats and will want to resurrect his form of 2016-17 starting with a win of ‘The Gift’. Moving from which I expect to be a grappling affair to the opposite with these two heavy hitters taking to the Octagon. Fan-favourite, “my balls was hot”, Derrick Lewis faces Blagoy Ivanov in a heavyweight barn burner. The ‘Black Beast’ is on the hunt for some success after losing his last two fights.

‘Wonderboy’ Stephen Thompson battles Vicente Luque in a vital match for Thompson’s future in the welterweight division. Losing 3 out of his last 4 fights, Wonderboy needs to quickly turn his career around or he may never find his way back up the rankings. Meanwhile, Luque is on a 6-fight winning streak and will look to bypass Thompson on his way up the welterweight rankings and one step closer to a title shot. Now, here is my personal favourite fight of the night as #4 Kelvin Gastelum is looking to secure a rematch with Israel Adesanya if he beats UK native Darren Till, who is making his middleweight debut. Gastelum’s dangerous knockout power is going to cause some serious issues for the scouser but if Till can avoid Gastelum’s heavy punches then the Liverpudlian will fancy his chances.

Per Haljestam-USA TODAY Sports

Till’s meteoric rise in the welterweight division led him to a title shot with Woodley but, sadly, he fell short. Then a surprise knockout defeat to the card’s headliner Jorge Masvidal has left Till in a precarious position. However, a win over one of the best middleweights in the world will make everyone forget about those two defeats.

per – btsportufc/twitter.com

It’s Timeeee! – sounds better if you imagine it in the voice of Bruce Buffer. East coast fights West coast for the inaugural BMF belt. Jorge Masvidal has risen to UFC fame with wins over Till and the fastest knockout in UFC history, 5 seconds, against Ben Askren with that sensational flying knee which knocked Askren into unconsciousness. Former street brawler turned #3 UFC welterweight, Masvidal’s next step is likely to be a title shot, if he beats Nate – no doubt Diaz will have something to say about that though. The West Coast representative is no push-over, self-proclaimed baddest motherf***er has only been stopped once in his UFC career, all the way back in 2012, and is feeling fresh after his return win over Pettis in August. This is without a doubt a fight ever UFC fan is desperate to see and the main event of UFC 244 is expected to round off an excellent night of fighting.

I cannot wait to see all of this go down on November 2nd starting from 10:30 GMT and 00:00 on BT Sport 1.

Taylor Toney-Green.

#diaz #ufc #masvidal #msg #ufc244