UFC 280: Can Two Former Champions Charles Oliveira and TJ Dillashaw Regain their Crowns in a Action Packed Saturday Night in Abu Duabi
The UFC is gearing up for its biggest fight card of the year, with every fight being a can’t miss.
In the main event you have Charles Oliveira taking on Islam Makhachev for the vacant lightweight title.
Then you have the former bantamweight champion TJ Dillashaw looking to regain his title from Aljamain Sterling.
Also, in the bantamweight division you have the hype train Sean O’Malley taking on the former champions Petr Yan.
Olivera has been on a tear as of late with three finishes in his last three fights. These three fights have been against the best in the division. He has beaten Michael Chandler, Dustin Poirier, and Justin Gaethje within the space of a year. This shows how good Oliveira is because he stopped three top five fighters, in a short amount of time. On the other hand, when you look at Makhachev he hasn’t fought anybody in the top five. Which could suggest that he hasn’t been proven in terms of the level of competition such as Oliveira. Yet, he has dominated every opponent that has been given to him. He finished fighters like Bobby Green, Drew Dober, and Dan Hooker. There is a lot of tension between the two fighters
This is illustrated in the fighter’s face off
When you look at how the styles mesh on paper it looks like it is going to be a great fight. This is because Makhachev is excellent at controlling people from the top. This is like many fighters who come out of Dagestan. An example of one of these fighters is Makhachev’s coach and mentor Khabib Nurmagomedov. Whereas when you look at Oliveira, he has an incredible submission game. The former champion has proven this by submitting his last three opponents. His jiu jitsu credentials suggests that he is great off his back. The threat of Oliveira’s ground game could neutralize Makhackev’s own ground game.
Former UFC fighter Dan Hardy breaks down the fight.
The co-main event is a title fight for the bantamweight title. Where Dillashaw is looking to get back the title he never lost. After, Sterling defended his title against Yan, he silenced the critics and, it was clear to see who his next opponent would be. When Dillashaw defeated Cory Sandhagen on his return. He was the first name to be mentioned when talking about a title shot. There is a cloud hanging over Dillashaw. Of course, it is about his past use of EPO. However, he has always been open about his history.
When talking to BBC Sport, he had this to say
It's not a steroid. It's not going to make you bigger, stronger or faster. It's medication that a cyclist or a triathlete would use yet I wasn't running for eight hours, I'm an anaerobic athlete."
"I was at the time getting ready for the biggest fight of my life and I was just a shell of myself and as you can imagine, when you're supposed to be the baddest man on the planet, that didn't feel very good.
"So I tried to self-medicate to get back to normal and unfortunately I made a mistake."
Dillashaw did an interview with former UFC contender Chael Sonnen about his EPO use.
The next bantamweight clash is O’Malley versus Yan. This could be seen as the most exciting fight on the card. This is because there is so much on the line for both fighters. For Yan he is risking his number one ranking. Then for O’Malley he is risking his potential hype train being derailed. When you look at how the fight could playout with both men being great on the feet. Where Yan has a more traditional style of boxing. O’Malley has flashier striking where he is always looking for a show stopping knockout.
An example of these knockouts.
It is going to be a fun fight no matter with the next title shot being on the line
It is safe to say we are in for a treat on Saturday with great fights from start to finish.