THE ULTIMATE FIGHTER 27 FINALE
Israel Adesanya vs Brad Tavares
Israel Adesanya is a very exciting and flashy fighter who’s already being compared to Jon Jones based on his style and physique. The 28 year old Nigerian is currently undefeated in MMA (13-0 and 2-0 in UFC), landing 12 knockouts in the 13 wins he’s secured. Adesanya certainly will have his hands full as he’ll take on veteran and middleweight Brad Tavares, who’s 17-4 in his career. Tavares has been hot lately, as he comes into this match with a four fight winning streak.
Adesanya insists that facing Tavares won’t be as difficult as some of his previous fights, citing the predictability of Tavares and his fighting style. Adesanya claims it will end “in less than three rounds, if not sooner”. Despite his confidence in his ability, he admits that this matchup between him and Tavares will be a good test. Adesanya did struggle a bit with his previous match vs Marvin Vettori, who’s awkward southpaw style made things difficult on the Nigerian.
Never lacking confidence of his own, Tavares believes all of his business will be handled in the Octagon as the two fighters will square off July 6th. The experience of Tavares will help, but ultimately in the end I believe that the New Zealand born Adesanya will finish him off and beat Tavares.
UFC 226
Daniel Cormier vs Stipe Miocic
This will be a UFC matchup made in heaven as Daniel Cormier (20-1) takes on Stipe Miocic (18-2), which many believe is the greatest heavyweight of all time. Cormier will certainly have his hands full vs Miocic. Miocic broke the record back in January for the most title defenses (3), with his victory over Ngannou. Stipe has fought and defeated some serious competition over the years including Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Mark Hunt, and Fabricio Werdum.
Meanwhile Cormier has only lost one fight in his career, that came at the hands of Jon Jones back in January of 2015. His rematch with Jones which resulted in a loss at the time was overturned and declared a no-contest due to Jones testing positive for turinabol. Cormier was then reinstated as the champion.
Both fighters are currently ranked in the top five and they seem to be anxious to get things started in the ring. I think that this will be an outstanding battle in the Octagon and Cormier will win a close and very physical match.