UFC Fight Night 65 Preview
It seems like every time the UFC takes a break there is more to talk about than just the massive string of fights ahead.
It is just about summer and that means the UFC is setting up for the biggest season of their fight calendar with eighteen fights scheduled from May until August.
There are few breaks coming for the UFC but this last week off did plenty of damage for those four months.
With Jon Jones being arrested and stripped of his belt the UFC had a lot of damage control to do with their biggest name potentially never returning to fight.
The loss of one of the biggest names in the UFC is sure to hurt the UFC but there are still a massive amount of fights to come and more fighters to fill that hole.
That includes what should be the return of the heavyweight division over the next few months.
Lost among the controversy and the title race in so many divisions has been the heavyweight division that has remained silent for a long time.
That has been largely because of the absence of the champion, Cain Velasquez who has remained the champion despite not fighting since 2013.
That ends in June when Velasquez finally fights interim champion Fabricio Werdum at UFC 188 in Mexico.
Leading up to that title fight the UFC has schedule many of the best heavyweight fighters in the UFC to sort out the true order of things once the title fight is decided.
The first of this group of heavyweights that will look to find their way into the next title fight will be the main eventers at UFC Fight Night 67.
Mark Hunt and Stipe Miocic will get the chance to show that they belong at the top of the heavyweight division and will try to be impressive and set themselves apart from the other heavyweights looking to make their mark in these next few months.
Miocic and Hunt are standing at the bottom of the top five in the division heading into the fight with Miocic ranking #4 and Hunt at #5.
That puts both of them not too far off from the title especially when Werdum and Velasquez will fight.
They now have the chance to impress in the main event as they look to keep up the thrilling reputation fo the heavyweight division.
The only issue for them is that they are going to be followed by some other major heavyweights in the upcoming fights.
Those heavyweights include Travis Browne and Andrei Arlovski, who will fight at UFC 187, along with Matt Mitrione and Ben Rothwell, who face off at UFC Fight Night 68.
These four top ten fighters all fight within the next four weeks and all can make their presence known before the heavyweight title fight.
Along with these fighters will be Derrick Lewis, Shawn Jordan, Ryan Jimmo, and Francimar Barroso who will all be looking to find their way into the rankings before the heavyweight title.
These fights could all change the heavyweight division within the span of four weeks and when the title goes up for grabs at UFC 188 the fighters who take the wins and do it impressively could find themselves the next in line.
Hunt and Miocic will try to get through the crowd early with their main event and both have the capability to make the biggest impact.
Hunt has long been a heavyweight that cannot gain enough momentum to challenge for the title.
He has been close multiple times as he came into the UFC after losing five fights in a row through Pride and Dream before losing his opening UFC fight against Sean McCorkle.
It seemed as though he may never be ready to make a run at the title but he followed up his debut loss with four straight wins against top fighters.
Beating Ben Rothwell while knocking out Cheick Kongo and Stefan Struve made Hunt a true contender in the division.
Then he met Junior Dos Santos and lost the momentum in a knockout loss to the former champion.
He went on a small run again drawing with Antonio Silva and knocking out Roy Nelson but lost what turned out to be an interim title fight against Werdum.
Now he take on Miocic in hopes that he can earn an impressive win and earn another shot, this time at the real title.
Miocic has also had his ups and downs while in the UFC as he has made multiple runs at the title but can never quite get there.
A nine-fight win streak came to an end in his fourth UFC fight while his most recent three-fight win streak came to an end against Junior dos Santos in his last fight.
After so much promise in his UFC debut the Ohio native has not been able to keep up his momentum recently.
Still he remains one of the best boxers in the division and as a result of his great boxing he has remained one of the top fighters in the division.
In this main event both fighters will look to jump ahead of the man they can’t beat, dos Santos, as he sits out after surgeries to repair damage suffered at the hands of Miocic.
An impressive win will do that and both of these fighters have had their fair share of impressive wins.
They are both great stand-up fighters but approach it a different way as Hunt is looking for the big power shot while Miocic is more of a pure boxer.
Both strategies have earned them plenty of knockout wins and despite Miocic’s better ground game it is likely that they stay standing throughout the fight.
At that point it truly becomes a puncher’s chance to win as the first fighter to land the big punch win the fight.
With Hunt’s wild swings it could easily be him but Miocic is a more measured fighter that knows how to stay out of the danger of Hunt.
Hunt could easily connect but it seems like Miocic will have the upper hand in this fight and take it with a second round knockout to improve his standing in the heavyweight division.
The Sport Addiction 