While last weekend featured offerings from several top MMA promotions (I still haven’t gotten around to watching the two Rizin events yet, but I tentatively plan on writing something about Kai Asakura this week), this weekend is dominated by UFC 252, this month’s big PPV from the Apex in Las Vegas.
Here’s a look at three fights I’m going to be watching particularly closely on Saturday night:
Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier III, UFC 252
There are few things better than a huge trilogy fight. Except, perhaps, a huge trilogy fight that will, once and for all, determine who walks away with the title of greatest heavyweight in UFC history – if not MMA history in total, depending on how you feel about Fedor Emelianenko. Daniel Cormier and Stipe Miocic will face off in the main event Saturday night for what will almost certainly be the last time, as Cormier has indicated that he plans to retire from the sport after the bout, win or lose.
This is one of the biggest heavyweight fights in the history of the UFC – hell, if not the biggest – and if precedent has shown us anything, it happening in an almost-empty room in Las Vegas won’t be any barrier to it doing major pay-per-view numbers. It’s the swan song for one of the best heavyweight rivalries ever in MMA, and the farewell fight for one of the sport’s true greats. This is the fight people would be talking about at the water cooler if that was a thing anybody did anymore. Obviously, I had to write about it.
Cormier enters the fight with his legacy as one of the greatest fighters ever almost entirely secure. The only man to successfully hold and defend two UFC belts simultaneously, DC is one of the indomitable fighters we’ve ever seen: a man who overcame significant personal tragedy to become an Olympian and a record-setting UFC champion, and is now searching for that storybook ending. But a loss to Miocic will mean that Cormier will finish his career on the negative side of his two most famous rivalries, as he never managed to find that elusive win over the roided-up Jon Jones at light heavyweight.
Miocic, meanwhile, may also sneakily be approaching the later stages of his career. The proud Ohioan is now 37 years old himself, and his UFC debut came almost nine years ago. He hasn’t fought anyone who wasn’t Cormier since he beat Francis Ngannou by unanimous decision in January 2018 – for DC, those two fights sandwich a dominating second-round win over the insanely powerful Derrick Lewis in November 2018.
Cormier and Miocic are both strong wrestlers with sharp boxing and powerful hands, but Cormier’s seemingly had something a little extra in the grappling game: with that Olympic pedigree, he’s one of the most dominating wrestlers we’ve seen at heavyweight since Fedor’s prime. But in their first encounter, a hyped champ vs. champ showdown in July 2018, Miocic managed to keep it standing, and he seemed to be gaining an early edge on the feet when Cormier suddenly put his lights out with a short right hand from out of the clinch.
The knockout was shocking for the optics of it, if nothing else. Powerful and cut at 6-foot-4, 243 pounds, Miocic looked every bit what you’d expect a heavyweight champion to look like. Cormier was five inches shorter with a little bit of a pot belly, and was the guy moving up in weight for the fight. But Cormier’s been beating people more physically imposing than him for years, and beating Miocic became the moment that, for me, defines his career.
Miocic got revenge the next August in one of the most stirring comebacks in UFC history. Cormier hit a highlight-reel slam takedown in the first round and appeared comfortable controlling the fight with his sharp and incisive boxing, seemingly showing little respect for Miocic’s well-established knockout power. Everything changed in the fourth when Miocic famously discovered a punishing left hook to the body, battering Cormier’s midsection and then coming over the top with a battering right hand and a flurry of punches that left Cormier slumped against the cage.
This time around, I have to wonder if Cormier will rely a bit more on his wrestling. It’s his greatest skill, and you figure he’ll be a little less likely to keep wading through Miocic’s punches now that he’s truly tasted the champion’s power. Cormier proved in the second fight that he can take Miocic down and keep him down, but his opponent is certainly no slouch in that arena – despite the fact that he was a collegiate baseball player, not a wrestler, Miocic has developed some very strong functional wrestling in MMA, and he even briefly took Cormier down in the third round last time out.
But whatever happens, this fight feels like it carries with it a true significance, and the first two have delivered on the action. Get your bets ready.
Junior dos Santos vs. Jairzinho Rozenstruik, UFC 252
I was, of course, tempted to profile UFC 252’s co-main – a bantamweight fight between the rapidly exploding young star Sean O’Malley and Marlon “Chito” Vera – but that’s a fight that O’Malley should win handily if he is in fact for real, and I don’t think he’ll prove anything by beating Vera that he didn’t prove when he starched respected veteran Eddie Wineland in less than two minutes back in June.
So instead, I’m going to take a look at the other big heavyweight fight on Saturday’s UFC card. Junior dos Santos, to me, is a heavyweight legend: he was electrifying when he ran through the division to become champion in 2011, showcasing some of the most brilliant pure boxing we’ve ever seen in the sport. His spectacular uppercut knockout of future champion Fabricio Werdum may still be the single most impressive UFC debut ever, and I think about it constantly.
JDS knocked out Cain Velasquez, one of the greatest heavyweights of all time, in just over a minute to win the title in the UFC’s debut on national television, but his stock never fully recovered from the two comprehensive revenge beatings he absorbed from Velasquez over the next couple years. But JDS is still one of the most dangerous heavyweight strikers in the world all these years later: look no further than when he put Derrick Lewis’ lights out last March.
Jairzinho Rozenstruik, on the other hand, may be a little more sizzle than steak. The Surinamese kickboxer built some notoriety with a nine-second knockout of Allen Crowder and a 29-second knockout of faded former champion Andrei Arlovski last year, but was being soundly outstruck by the ageless Alistair Overeem in December before he landed a Hail Mary right hand in the final 10 seconds of the bout that exploded Overeem’s face.
That earned Rozenstruik a matchup with Francis Ngannou in May. Ngannou, who has truly monstrous one-punch power and had just picked his teeth with dos Santos’ bones a few months before, basically killed Rozenstruik with the first punch of the fight and derailed his hype in just 20 seconds.
Both fighters sit in the middle-to-bottom of the top 10 at heavyweight, but they’ve only lost to elite fighters in recent years: Rozenstruik’s loss to Ngannou, who appears ticketed for the next shot at the heavyweight title, was the first of his career, while JDS since lost to Curtis Blaydes, who also might have a title opportunity in his immediate sights.
So those losses, while damaging, haven’t completely tanked their stock. Both these fighters could use a win to get themselves looking upwards towards the top of the heavyweight division, and it’s hard to imagine this fight not delivering on some action. Both JDS and Rozenstruik come in ready to throw bombs, and at least one is bound to land.
Herbert Burns vs. Daniel Pineda, UFC 252
Top welterweight contender Gilbert Burns is easily the most dangerous man named Gilbert in the world. Meanwhile, his younger brother Herbert is rapidly making his case as the most dangerous man named Herbert in the world. Burns may be overshadowed by Gilbert – who will be fighting for the championship at 170 sooner rather than later – but he’s been on a hot streak of his own since making his official UFC debut in January.
Burns is a high-level jiu-jitsu player with some power, a keen eye for a finish and an entertaining aggression. Burns nearly put fellow prospect Nate Landwehr’s lights out with a D’Arce choke back in January before absolutely nuking him with a knee, and followed that by quickly taking seasoned veteran Evan Dunham’s back and choking him out in just over a minute in June.
Both of those wins came on the early undercard, and this will be the first time Herbert gets a decent time slot on a UFC card. He’s also facing another veteran with a bit more juice left than Dunham: Daniel Pineda, who has 18 career submissions and could be the kind of guy who can challenge Burns on the ground.
We’ve seen a few pairs of Brazilian brothers enter the spotlight together and tear it up. You’ve got Big Nog and Little Nog, Antonio Rodrigo and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was one of the greatest light heavyweights of all time, but his brother Murilo “Ninja” also fought at a high level for quite a while. I’m excited to see whether the Burns boys are next.
The Big Fight 