UFC 178: Preview and Predictions

UFC 178: Preview and Predictions

By Alex Dillon @AlexKingdomMMA

Las Vegas plays host to one of the most anticipated cards of the year on Saturday night as UFC 178 comes to town. Demetrious Johnson and Chris Cariaso headline the card in a flyweight title match up. Feature bouts Donald Cerrone vs Eddie Alvarez and Conor McGregor vs Dustin Poirier are also scheduled for the upper part of the main card and the prelims are headlined by the returning former bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz after a two year injury lay off.

UFC Flyweight Championship:  Demetrious Johnson (c) (20-2-1)  vs Chris Cariaso (17-5) 

Many fans and media were hardly jumping for joy when this match up replaced the original Jon Jones vs Daniel Cormier headliner and rightly so as the latter had all the makings of a classic as well as being overly hyped up in the process thanks to a media day brawl. Where this fight is concerned though is that many think it’s a straight forward routine win for the champion Mighty Mouse as Cariaso is ranked down at #8 and does not really have any of the top guys in the division on his resume. Adding to this, Johnson has looked unreal in every outing since winning the belt against arguably, tougher competition (Benavidez, Dodson, Bagautinov). However, there have been instances before where fights such as this have taken place and the heavy underdog has come through (Dillashaw, Serra ) so there’s every chance Cariaso could pull off an unlikely upset as this is the fight game after all and anything can happen. That being said, I fully expect DJ to defend his title and in style.

Prediction: Demetrious Johnson

Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone (24-6) vs Eddie Alvarez (25-3)  

This fight is a hard one to pick and the betting odds back that up. Cerrone is on a four fight win streak and has looked super impressive as of late. Alvarez is the former Bellator lightweight champion and carries hype of his own, he’s been a long time coming in the UFC and a what a way to make your debut against the never dull Cerrone. The winner of this fight could potentially be next in line for the belt so I expect both to put on a show. It’s going to be interesting to see how Alvarez fairs among the world’s elite having being touted as one of the best for such a long time. Cerrone’s current streak and stronger attributes give him the edge and make him my favourite to pick up the win here however.

Prediction: Donald Cerrone

Conor McGregor (15-2) vs Dustin Poirier (16-3)

Easily the most anticipated fight of the night and are we surprised? McGregor, the UFC’s fastest rising star is coming off a glorious home town victory in July and now faces #5 ranked Poirer in which a victory would see him close in on a title shot. This fight presents the first ‘real’ test for McGregor in many fans eyes and should show everyone where he actually is in his MMA career. Poirier is himself coming off an impressive victory after finishing Akira Corrasani last time out. In my opinion, this fight has come at the right time for both competitors, they have both beat the same calibre of fighter in the UFC and both claim they will win the featherweight belt sooner rather than later so this battle will put these claims to the test.  Many questions have been raised about McGregors ground game after losses dating back 4 years ago and Poirier’s chin is also of question after being rocked by both Diego Brandao and Akira Corrasani before going on to finish both.  UFC embedded included an awkward meeting of McGregor and Poirier where the latter seemed to be riled up by McGregor’s antics and this coupled with his tendency to get rocked is going to be Poirier’s down fall in this fight. McGregor in my eyes is a legitimate featherweight and he’s only going to get better, he should finish Poirier come Saturday night.

Prediction: Conor McGregor

Yoel Romero def. Tim Kennedy

Cat Zingano def. Amanda Nunes

Prelims

Dominick Cruz def. Takeya Mizugaki

James Krause def. Jorge Masvidal

Stephen Thompson def. Patrick Cote

John Howard def. Brian Ebersole

Jon Tuck def. Kevin Lee

Manny Gamburyan def. Cody Gibson

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