A STACKED card is on offer by the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) this weekend as it holds “UFC 214” in Anaheim, California.
Featuring three title fights, the latest UFC live event happening at the Honda Center on Sunday (Manila time), has many viewing it as one of the biggest fight cards to date from the organization.
Headlining UFC 214 is the long-delayed rematch between light heavyweight champion Daniel “DC” Cormier against no. 1 challenger and former champion Jon “Bones” Jones.
Also featured is the welterweight title bout between champ Tyron “The Chosen One” Woodley and challenger Demian Maia (#1) and Cris Cyborg and Tonya “Triple Threat” Evinger for the women’s featherweight title.
Also on tap in the stacked event is the welterweight clash between “Ruthless” Robbie Lawler (#3) and Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone (#7) and the lightweight battle of Jim “Poster Boy” Manuwa (#3) against Volkan “No Time” Oezdemir (#5).
With the way it is stacked up, local combat sports writer and observer Mike Miguel expects fight fans to get a kick from UFC 214 and, ditto, urging them not to miss it.
“You know that it’s a big UFC card when there are three titles on the line in one night. Add to that the slugfest between former champ Robbie Lawler and Donald Cerrone, and a preliminary card that has a number of top contenders like ex-champ Renan Barao, Brian Ortega and Ricardo Lamas. Definitely it’s a stacked card from top to bottom and fans are the sure winners from this,” said Mr. Miguel, who writes for DojoDrifter.com and Tiebreaker Times, when asked by BusinessWorld for his thoughts on UFC 214.
“If you’re a fight fan — whether a diehard UFC fan or just a someone who just wants to watch good fights — this is the card for you. It has the all the makings of an instant classic with its plots and marquee matchups,” he added.
Mr. Miguel is particularly high on the Lawler-Cerrone battle, apart from the title bouts, seeing how motivated the two fighters are and how they are expected to bring the fireworks once they engage.
“Other than the three title fights, the Lawler-Cerrone matchup could be the sleeper for this card. Both men throw caution out the window every time they fight which is why even though both are coming off losses, expect them to come out swinging when the opening bell,” Mr. Miguel said.
UFC 214: Cormier vs. Jones 2 will be shown live on Sunday beginning at 10 a.m. over Hyper Ch. 91 in SD or 261 in HD on Cignal TV. Replay is at 6 p.m. on the same day.
In the Philippines, Cignal TV, the country’s foremost direct-to-home (DTH) company, is the home of the UFC after the two groups agreed to an extensive deal that will see the UFC beamed on various platforms. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
