UFC 196 will serve up one of the most explosive nights of fighting in years.
Featherweight king Conor McGregor is making the huge step up to welterweight to face Nate Diaz – and with things getting ugly at the press conference, you know it’s going to be war.
The Irishman, who had been due to face lightweight champion Rafael Dos Anjos before injury struck, has predicted a first round KO – but some expect Diaz to take the fight to the trenches and the Stockton fighter is ready to ‘kill or be killed’.
New UFC champion Holly Holm is defending her bantamweight strap against the title-hungry Miesha Tate.
Fans will be wanting to see if Holm’s stunning KO of undefeated champ Ronda Rousey wasn’t just a flash in the pan as she takes on an accomplished wrestler in Tate.
There are some huge predictions flying about from pundits about whether McGregor can keep that frightening knock-out power in the 170lb division and if Tate can dethrone former champion boxer Holm.
So JOE thought we’d take on the bookies at their own game – we put our money where our mouth is and challenged Sky Bet to a bet-off.
We took a punt on four fights from the UFC main card. Who’s your money on?
Corey Anderson vs Tom Lawlor
Both are great wrestlers, however we think Corey Anderson’s skills in grappling will be the deciding factor in this one.
Both have good chins with average stand-up games despite some wins via KO and TKO. We expect some ground and pound from Anderson whereas Lawlor will try to get a sub or sweep from his back for most of the fight.
Sky Bet: Anderson by Unanimous Decision – 1/1
JOE: Anderson by third round TKO via punches – 12/1
Gian Villante vs Ilir Latifi
This is a really well matched fight and could go either way, with both fighters accomplishing first round KO wins last time out. If you absolutely made us bet with your money we would side with a Latifi first round KO to extend his winning streak to three. Regardless of the outcome we expect an exciting fight no matter what.
Sky Bet: Latifi by first round TKO via punches – 2/1
JOE: Villante second round TKO via punches – 9/1
Holly Holm vs Miesha Tate
This one is an interesting fight. Is Holly Holm the real deal or was Rousey’s confidence in attempting to stand with the 19-time world boxing champion her actual downfall?
We’ve been quick to discard Rousey’s record as we feel she hadn’t fought anyone of real pedigree but she was completely outclassed and embarrassed by the elusive and slick Holm.
The one very good fighter who Rousey has fought is Miesha Tate and if she gets to control the fight and take it to the ground we can see her getting a win.
However, Rousey chased Holly around the octagon looking for a takedown but that proved too hard, we suspect Miesha will also find this to be the case.
Sky Bet: Holly Holm by second round TKO – 6/1
JOE: Holly Holm by unanimous decision – 15/8
Conor McGregor vs Nate Diaz
Nate Diaz is a 6ft 1in brawler who balances supremely dexterous boxing skills with an equally well-versed ground game.
If the fight stays standing then Conor wins. So we can only assume Nate is going to try and take the fight down to the ground as he could see it as Conor’s weakness given how often Chad Mendes was able to take him down.
Diaz and his brother are famed for their cardio but we feel a preparation window of just 10 days is going to have too much of a detrimental effect and we expect to see Nate getting tired of punching thin air quickly, allowing McGregor to use that devastating left hand to end this in the second round.
Sky Bet: McGregor by second round TKO – 10/3
JOE: McGregor by first round KO – 11/8
