There have been some memorable fights and finishes during the UFC’s first slate of Fight Island events but the organization has saved the best fight for last with Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till headlining Saturday’s event.
There isn’t a championship on the line or anything, although it’s a championship-calibre matchup where a middleweight title shot could be awarded to the winner. From a stylistic standpoint, it has everything you’d want in a five-round main event.
Whittaker wore the middleweight strap for more than two years and emerged victorious in back-to-back wars with Yoel Romero before losing his title to Israel Adesanya in October. Whittaker fought aggressively, too aggressively, against Adesanya and it cost him. He can’t make the same mistake against Till but he says taking some time off after his loss has done him well, so expect to see a refreshed Whittaker.
Till beat Kelvin Gastelum in November in his first fight since moving up from welterweight. Till looked strong and sharp in his debut at 185 pounds and had many thinking he could be a threat to the title in the near future.
Even though we saw him fight for the welterweight belt less than two years ago – he was submitted by Tyron Woodley at UFC 228 – we didn’t see the best version of Till in that division because he was significantly depleting his body in order to cut down to 170 pounds.
Both Whittaker and Till are intelligent and aggressive strikers with a multitude of techniques that can put opponents to sleep. They have well-rounded skill sets but prefer to strike so fans are hoping for a battle on the feet.
Whittaker is an orthodox fighter and Till stands southpaw. Naturally, this means straight punches and roundhouse kicks from each fighter’s dominant side are at play here.
Till, who uses feints to set up his strikes, tends to leave his chin high when he’s pressing forward and Whittaker is a quality counter-striker.
Whittaker has rocked many of his opponents with his left sneaky hook and that, of course, is what Jorge Masvidal used to knock Till out last year in the fight that chased Till from the welterweight division.
Adesanya is expected to defend the title against Paulo Costa later this year and the winner of Whittaker-Till could potentially be next in line.
Whittaker is one of four former champions on the card.
One-time light-heavyweight champ Mauricio “Shogun” Rua takes on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the co-main event. These Brazilian legends first met back in Pride FC in 2005 and won Fight of the Night in their 2015 UFC rematch. Rua won both times and this trilogy bout could be the final time we see the 44-year-old Nogueira compete in the UFC. Rua has lost just once since 2015, while Nogueira is 2-4 with three knockout losses dating back to 2014.
Inaugural strawweight champ Carla Esparza looks to hand Mariana Rodriguez her first MMA loss.
Former heavyweight kingpin Fabricio Werdum welcomes longtime light-heavyweight contender Alexander Gustafsson to the heavyweight division.
This is a massive card, literally. Not only are there 15 fights scheduled (there are rarely more than 12 fights scheduled for a UFC event) but only five of them take place below welterweight.
There are more than 5,000 total pounds of athlete set to enter the Octagon on Saturday.
Outside of the main event, the most intriguing tilt is Werdum vs. Gustafsson.
After more than 12 years competing at 205 pounds, Gustafsson stepped on the scale Friday at 240 pounds for his heavyweight debut – just two pounds lighter than Werdum. So long as Gustafsson is still his mobile self, the big Swede could be a real threat to the title.
Gustafsson could look at Werdum’s loss to the 6-foot-7 Alexander Volkov in 2018 as a potential blueprint for how this one will unfold. Gustafsson has terrific footwork and boxing and possesses excellent defensive grappling that could nullify Werdum’s biggest strength.
Heavyweight is always looking for fresh meat and Gustafsson already has significant star power with which to work.
Speaking of the big boys, England’s Tom Aspinall makes his UFC debut and is a name to keep an eye on.
Khamzat Chimaev looked like the real deal in his debut less than two weeks ago. Chimaev could set a record for shortest amount of time in between UFC wins if he can get by Rhys McKee.
There are two Canadians on the preliminary card with Ontario’s Jesse Ronson returning to the UFC for the first time in six years to face Denmark’s Nicolas Dalby, and Alberta’s Tanner Boser has stepped up on short notice to face Brazil’s Raphael Pessoa in heavyweight action.
Here’s a look at the complete lineup with official weigh-in results in parentheses.
MAIN CARD
— Robert Whittaker (186) vs. Darren Till (186)
— Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (206) vs. Mauricio Rua (206)
— Alexander Gustafsson (240) vs. Fabricio Werdum (242)
— Carla Esparza (116) vs. Marina Rodriguez (115.5)
— Gadzhimurad Antigulov (206) vs. Paul Craig (206)
— Alex Oliveira (171) vs. Peter Sobotta (171)
— Khamzat Chimaev (171) vs. Rhys McKee (170.5)
PRELIMINARY CARD
— Jai Herbert (156) vs. Francisco Trinaldo (160)
— Nicolas Dalby (171) vs. Jesse Ronson (171)
— Tom Aspinall (248) vs. Jake Collier (264)
— Movsar Evloev (146) vs. Mike Grundy (146)
— Tanner Boser (235) vs. Raphael Pessoa (264)
— Bethe Correia (136) vs. Pannie Kianzad (136)
— Ramazan Emeev (171) vs. Niklas Stolze (170.5)
— John Castaneda (136) vs. Nathaniel Wood (136)
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