Mixed martial arts is rapidly developing all over the world. The popularity of the sport is growing by leaps and bounds. What could be better than to see the world’s strongest men fighting in the best leagues and using all the strength of their bodies, not just their hands in huge gloves?
Usman – Edwards
Kamaru Usman, who is the welterweight champion and also on the list of fighters regardless of weight classes, is back in action. The Nigerian is on an amazing streak of 19 straight wins, 15 of which have been in the strongest league in the world. More news on martial arts can be found on our website.
Usman’s nickname is “The Nigerian Nightmare.” However, he didn’t live up to it in his early days in the UFC. In his first 8 fights, Kamaru was only able to win two early victories. All other victories were by decisions. In the title fight, Usman showed a great fight against champion Tyron Woodley but also failed to finish his opponent. After winning the belt, everything changed.
The Nigerian nightmare tightened up his striking considerably and started to show more spectacular fights. In 5 title defenses, he knocked out his opponents three times and transformed from a boring decision-winning fighter into one of the major stars of the league.
Camaro’s opponents will be poor man’s Brit Leon Edwards. If you have to find the most unlucky fighter in the UFC, this is it. Leon is on a nine-fight losing streak. But his boring decision wins don’t impress viewers. Leon is #2 in the welterweight rankings but is one of the most unpopular fighters from the top.
In addition to media problems (which is an important factor in the UFC), the British fighter is constantly accompanied by injuries and moments where Edwards doesn’t look in the best light. For example, after one of his fights, Leon decided to go at Jorge Masvidal, who is a star in the UFC.
The conflict ended with Masvidal punching Leon backstage with three unanswered punches after which the fighters were separated. Edwards decided to get high on a popular fighter and ended up leaving the arena with a broken face. It’s a bit of a shame about this guy. He’s not a bad fighter, but very unlucky.
Bookmakers estimate the odds of Usman winning at 1.2. You can bet on Edwards for 3.8. That’s the real balance of power. It is unclear why the Briton will win. The Nigerian is fighting on a different level, and he’s not likely to knock out his opponent. The last time he was beaten by TKO was four years ago.
Chimaev – Diaz
On September 10 a very hot fight will take place between No.3 welterweight Khamzat Chimayev and Nate Diaz, who has been absent from the heavyweight rankings for years. From an attention-grabbing point of view, this is a terrific fight. But it’s not going to be very competitive.
Chimaev got into the strongest league in the world with four wins in a row in dominant style. In total, his opponents could hit him 1 time. In the fifth fight, he was given the number 2 ranking Gilbert Burns. The guys came out and had a bloody chop, in which Chimaev was the stronger. Now he is one of the top stars of the UFC and a contender for the fight against Kamaru Usman.
Nate Diaz defeated Conor McGregor. That would have been the end of it. In all seriousness, Diaz is a star in the UFC only because of his two fights against Conor. Overall, he can be described as a solid middleweight with rabid stamina, and pretty good boxing and jiu-jitsu. However, the UFC PR machine made him a real superstar. This will be Diaz’s last fight under contract in the UFC.
It’s not clear if it’s legal to make such fights. The opponents are not just on different levels, but on different planets. Hamzat is a heavier puncher, better in standup, and much better in wrestling. Perhaps Chimaev will tire after three rounds, and Nate will survive the initial onslaught and be able to make the fight at least somewhat competitive.
Bookmakers are betting on Chimaev for a ridiculous odds of 1.09. You can bet on the Stockton gangster for 8.55. Something tells me, though, that Diaz won’t look like a gangster on September 10.
Oliveira vs Makhachev
What kind of fight MMA fans can expect on October 22 in Abu Dhabi? Khabib Nurmagomedov’s successor will try to take the title away from dominant champion Charles Oliveira. After Khabib announced the end of his career, Charles Oliveira and Michael Chandler played for the vacant title. The Brazilian proved to be stronger, after which he made two defenses. In total, Oliveira’s winning streak is already at 11 fights. The fighter made a great journey from a mediocre flyweight fighter to a top lightweight fighter.
Many experts call Islam an improved version of Khabib. He has a great wrestling style which usually defeats his opponents, but he’s also good at standup. During his career, Makhachev fought 23 fights and had 22 wins. At the moment his winning streak is 12 fights.
Surprisingly, Makhachev is the big favorite for this fight. Bookmakers offer to bet on his victory for 1.38. Betting on Oliveira is accepted for 3.16. What a disrespect to the champion. No doubt about it, Islam is good, but not 1.39. Charles is stronger than Makhachev in the rack. He’s been good with his Thai boxing. Islam has the advantage in wrestling, but he hasn’t had as good a jitters as Oliveira in his career. All in all the fight will show who is stronger, but the odds of 3.16. on the current champion look very tempting.
Peter Jan vs Sean O’Malley
At the same tournament where Oliveira and Makhachev will fight the Russian Petr Yang and the American Sean O’Malley. It’s a very interesting fight if you know the backstory. Jan is ranked number 1 in the lightest division. He started his way with 6 wins in a row in the world’s strongest league before going for the title fight and winning the belt.
His first defense was against Aljamein Sterling. The fight was carried out with the overwhelming advantage of Peter Yang. In the 4th round, he landed an illegal knee blow, after which Sterling showed all the acting skills he had and showed with all his looks how bad he was. Ian was disqualified, but the entire fighting community thought he was the champion.
After this misunderstanding, Ian defeated stalwart top Sandhagen and he and Sterling were scheduled for a rematch. In the second bout, Sterling’s main thing that started working for him was wrestling. In two rounds Aljo was better in wrestling, in two rounds Petya was breaking up his opponent in the standup. A very even fight, where the winner was American.
While Petr Yang was winning the belt, somewhere on a sack diet was Srn O Malley. The American is ranked number 13, but in his career, he had only one serious opponent, Chito Vera. He beat Sean by the way TKO. All his other opponents were not in the top 10. Sean himself had this to say about it: “I’m not going to fight the top guys for the same money. If you want me to fight the toughest guys at this weight, you’ve got to pay for it”.
Pretty interesting statement and similar to the truth. Sean is one of the most popular fighters at this weight. He runs several YouTube channels, participates in shoots with other bloggers, and knows how to attract an audience. To see content featuring O Maley, you can type “pickup girls with Sean O Maley” into the youtube search bar.
There was a lot of talk after the announcement of the fight, but we can forget about the competition in this fight. Peter Ian is more technical, stronger, and better in every aspect of the fight. The maximum that the American can count on is a victory in the first round. It is meant that the judges may give this segment to O Maley. Ian is traditionally a slow starter, but even if that were to happen, the remaining two rounds would be under Peter’s belt.
Costa – Rockhold
A fight between two troublemakers Paulo Costa and Luke Rockhold. Costa was at the top of the middleweight division and earned the right to fight for the title. In the biggest fight of his life, Costa was lost by TKO. It would have been okay, but after the fight, the Brazilian began to look for excuses.
It turns out that Paulo could not sleep the night before the fight and be forced to drink a bottle of wine. It would have been better if he had kept quiet. After losing the title shot, Costa lost again and once again made his mark. At the weigh-in, the drunken master could barely make it under the light-heavyweight limit, although the fight was in the middleweight division.
Rockhold was once the middleweight champion and worked as a part-time model. He had everything to hold the belt for a long time, but Rockhold didn’t make a single defense of the belt and began to suffer one loss after another.
The bookies have Costa at 1.3 and Luke at 3.8. If Costa doesn’t get addicted to alcohol or does something unbelievable again, he’s going to destroy Rockhold. No one knows why Luke would want this fight.
