THE ULTIMATE Fighting Championship closes out an eventful year with a slam-bang two title fight-headlined event this weekend in California.
Dubbed “UFC 232,” the match on Sunday, Dec. 30 (Manila time) at The Forum in Inglewood will see the rematch between former light heavyweight champion Jon “Bones” Jones and Alexander “The Mauler” Gustafsson in the main event for the undisputed light heavyweight title with the women’s featherweight title clash of reigning champion Cris Cyborg against challenger Amanda “The Lioness” Nunes serving as co-main event.
Also part of the main card are the welterweight battle of Carlos “The Natural Born Killer” Condit against Michael “Maverick” Chiesa, light heavyweight Ilir Latifi against Corey Anderson, and featherweight Chad Mendes versus Alexander Volkanovski.
In the preliminaries will see fighters like heavyweight Andrei Arlovski, women’s featherweight Cat Zingano, lightweight B.J. Penn and middleweight Uriah Hall in action.
Stacked as it is as a year-ending offering, Mike Miguel of RealFight PH (http://www.realfight.ph/) said fans should stay tuned and brace for an action-packed UFC 232 affair.
“Definitely it’s an action-packed card from start to finish. Aside from the two title fights, you’ve got top contenders in Carlos Condit and Chad Mendes taking on marquee contenders Michael Chiesa and Alex Volkanovski, respectively, in the main card. While the likes of Uriah Hall, BJ Penn and the ever-dangerous Petr Yan will kick off the preliminaries,” said Mr. Miguel when sought by BusinessWorld for his take on UFC 232.
The combat sports writer and observer went on to say that the main fights at UFC 232 should deliver the goods commensurate to their high-profile billing.
“I’m excited to see how both title fights would go down. First, with all that has happened surrounding Jon Jones, we can expect him to be extra motivated to do everything to reclaim the title and put everything behind him with a repeat over Gustafsson. Meanwhile, the The Mauler is ever more determined to get even with the former champion and win his first UFC belt,” said Mr. Miguel, referring briefly to the drug-testing issue involving Mr. Jones early this month that prompted the relocation of the contest from Las Vegas to Inglewood.
“Cyborg vs. Nunes gives the fans the women’s superfight they wanted since Cyborg’s fight with Ronda Rousey didn’t push through in the past. With her dominant reign, Nunes may have one of the best chances to hand Cyborg her first Octagon loss but at the same time, the champion shows new tricks every time she steps in for another challenge,” he added.
Mr. Miguel admitted that calling the fight is going to be tough, seeing how open they can be. But he nonetheless is giving Mr. Jones and Cyborg the nod.
“We can see this (Jones vs. Gustafsson) fight to be like their first — an instant classic. If Gustafsson can push Jones like he did in their previous fight, he has a good chance to get the win. But Jones also can pull off some surprises of his own. Jones finishes things in the latter rounds. Cyborg might outwork Nunes who has some issues with her cardio before teeing her off. I see her winning by late-round stoppage as well,” Mr. Miguel said.
UFC 232: Jones vs. Gustafsson 2 will be shown over Hyper. — Michael Angelo S. Murillo
