UFC 276 Preview
The UFC will be invading the T-Mobile arena in Las Vegas on Saturday July 2nd for UFC 276. The card will feature two dynamic title fights with the main event being for the middleweight title between undisputed champion Israel Adesanya and #2 Jared Cannonier.
Adesanya has defended the title four times since claiming the belt at UFC 243 in 2019 with a second round KO of Robert Whittaker. In his most recent fight, he defeated Whittaker in a rematch at UFC 271 winning by unanimous decision. The only blemish on Adesanya’s record is a unanimous decision loss when he moved up in weight in a fight for the light heavyweight title against Jan Blachowicz at UFC 259.
Aside from defeating Whittaker twice, Adesanya has key victories in his career over Marvin Vettori (twice), Paulo Costa, Yoel Romero, Kelvin Gastelum, Anderson Silva, Derek Brunson and Brad Tavares. His title run has begun to look like the same run hall of famer Anderson Silva had. With a win on Saturday Adesanya will be back to business as usual of cleaning out the middleweight division and its contenders.
There is a middleweight fight on the card that Adesanya will most certainly have his eye on between #4 Sean Strickland and Alex Pereira. The champion will have considerable interest in a Pereira win because he is after all the only fighter to KO the champion, albeit in kickboxing and in 2017.
Adesanya recently commented on Pereira and the knockout. “This TikTok generation has 15-second memory, so they forget,” Adesanya said. “All they see is the knockout, but they didn’t watch the first fight or even watch the second fight before the finish. This is not kickboxing, this is mixed martial arts, and these ain’t big pillow gloves. These are four-ounce deadly weapons, and I can’t wait to drive that through his face after I go through Jared Cannonier.”
If Pereira defeats Strickland, it would only be his third win in the UFC and while many pundits are saying that a title shot after three wins is too quick for Pereira, the champ is welcoming the fight and their history builds a great storyline should they both win on Saturday.
It is easy to get wrapped up in the Adesanya and Pereira hype, but both fighters have their hands full on Saturday. Cannonier has fought hard to get his title shot and has dangerous power, so Adesanya cannot overlook him. Strickland is on a six-fight winning streak and believes he is next in line for the title, so Pereira cannot expect to just run through him on Saturday.
Adesanya explained why he believed Cannonier was a threat long ago. “Spirit, if I’m being honest. His fighting spirit and his essence,” Adesanya said. “I recognize that because I’m an empath myself. I can kind of feel the energy from a great man and a great fighter. Yeah, I like to take care of these guys. I call out all the greats. I saw that early on in him before all you guys did. I try to boost him up. He fell short once and then came back and proved his worth as the next contender.”
The champion went on to say, “I feel like he poses a danger the same way all my past opponents pose dangerous threats,” Adesanya said. “They keep talking about, ‘Power, power, power.’ Have you ever heard that before when someone fights me? ‘Oh, power this. Power that.’ It’s the same old song. F*cking get it off repeat. Pick a new song. I’m just glad I have a new blood to fight in this fight. Yeah, it’s time to eat.”
Cannonier has won two straight and five of his last six fights. He most recently defeated Derek Brunson and took home Performance of the Night honors at UFC 271 with his second round KO. The 38-year-old started in the UFC as a heavyweight and battled two former champions and a title challenger at light heavyweight. He most certainly has proven that middleweight is where he needs to be with his only loss coming to former champion Robert Whittaker.
While he is going to have his first title fight at middleweight, Cannonier believes he can be champion where he started in the UFC. “I still think I can be champion at heavyweight; let’s not get that mixed up because it has never changed,” said Cannonier. Whenever I was going down, I still thought I could be champion where I was leaving or going to. I’m going in there and giving it my all, and I wouldn’t be in there doing it if I didn’t think I could go as far as I’ve gone.”
The title challenger is taking a relaxed approach to the biggest fight of his life. “Emotions aren’t too different from normal fight week,” Cannonier said. “I’m not putting too much extra pressure on myself. Fighting is stressful enough, if you will. Not that I’m taking it easy or anything, I work hard regardless. And I’m coming in with the same self-belief, the same confidence, the same energy – BDE – that I plan on using to get the win.”
The Dallas native believes things happen for a reason. “Yes, there have been a lot of drastic changes throughout my career but, to me, they weren’t changes — they were decisions, and they’re all on the same road, same path, and that’s all one journey that I’ve been on.”
Aside from his victory over Brunson, Cannonier has key victories over Kelvin Gastelum, Jack Hermannsson, Anderson Silva and David Branch. A win over Adesanya would send shockwaves throughout the MMA world and make things interesting at middleweight. Would there be an immediate rematch? Adesanya has certainly earned that right, but crazier things have happened in the past.
The co-main event will be a trilogy fight for the featherweight title between champion Alexander Volkanovski and former champion Max Holloway. Volkanovski won by unanimous decision in their first fight, much to the confusion of many fans and Holloway. In the second fight Volkanovski weathered an early storm by Holloway and escaped as champion winning a razor thin split decision, again much to the shock of Holloway.
The champion has won 21 straight fights and his only loss occurred in 2013. He most recently defended the title with a fourth round TKO of Chan Sung Jung at UFC 273 in April. The Australian also has key victories over Brian Ortega, Jose Aldo and Chad Mendes.
The 33-year-old is looking for a big result at UFC 276 over Holloway. “I want to end it and end it early, and I think I definitely can,” Volkanovski said. “And again, I feel like that chin has to go soon. That’s no disrespect to him, but it’s got to go soon. I know I’m landing on it and landed on it big many times. We’ll see what happens. But if it ends inside the three, that’s me getting the finish.”
With a third win over Holloway, Volkanovski can put himself in the position to be considered the greatest featherweight of all time. If he wants the GOAT status, he cannot leave any doubt after this fight, he needs to win and win convincingly.
Holloway has won two straight fights over Calvin Kattar and Yair Rodriguez since losing to Volkanovski. The Hawaiian won the belt in 2017 at UFC 212 with a third round TKO of featherweight legend Jose Also. He then went on to defend the belt three times before meeting Volkanovski.
The 30-year-old is ready to make a statement against the champion. “It’s a legacy fight, man,” Holloway said. “It’s a huge fight and I can’t wait. I’ve got five title wins and to make this guy the sixth title win in the Ninth Island of Las Vegas, in front of fans, friends and family, it’s going to be amazing.”
Should Holloway win on Saturday what would be next for him? Both fighters are two of the best featherweights of all time and both have gone on tremendous runs. Do you immediately book a fourth fight and give Volkanovksi a rematch or do you give Holloway the chance to defend against someone and book the fourth fight later? Both fighters have a chance to cement their legacy but if Holloway wins it would seem as though there is unfinished business between the two and it is unlikely that Volkanovski sits around and waits for a rematch.
The rest of the main card:
Middleweight - #4 Sean Strickland vs. Alex Pereira
Welterweight - Robbie Lawler vs. Bryan Barberena
Bantamweight - #10 Pedro Munhoz vs. #13 Sean O'Malley
The Prelims on ABC and ESPN +:
Lightweight - #14 Brad Riddell vs. Jalin Turner
Welterweight - Ian Garry vs. Gabriel Green
Welterweight - Jim Miller vs. Donald Cerrone
Middleweight - #12Brad Tavares vs. Dricus du Plessis
Early Prelims on ESPN +:
Middleweight - #9 Uriah Hall vs. #13André Muniz
Women's Flyweight - #10 Jessica Eye vs. #13 Maycee Barber
Women's Bantamweight - Jessica-Rose Clark vs. Julija Stoliarenko
