UFC 248 gives us a main event for the Women’s Strawweight title between Weili Zhang(C) and Joanna Jedrzejczyk. A fight that is guaranteed to live up the hype as Zhang looks to defend the belt against the longest-reigning Strawweight champion in the history of the octagon in Jedrzejezyk. However, there are some other very exciting matchups on this card that are flying under the radar and another one was announced today.
We get a good matchup from the always exciting and stacked welterweight division as we will see Max “Pain” Griffin(15-7) vs Alex “Cowboy” Oliveira(19-8).
An interesting clash of styles in this match up Is what intrigues me about this fight.
Griffin who is coming off a loss in his last outing at UFC Tampa in October against Alex Morano where he lost a unanimous decision will bring a very well rounded striking heavy attack to this fight. However, people tend to sleep on Griffin’s ground game. He can wrestle, and he has jiu-jitsu to fall back on although we don’t always see it because he does like to stand and bang.
Oliveira who is a deadly striker in his own right will make the walk on this night riding a 3 fight losing streak and more than likely this Cowboy from Brazil is fighting for his contract with the UFC. He will come in hungry and looking to finish Griffin as quickly as possible and if he secures a win, it could save his octagon career.
Griffin and Oliveira are fighters that love to strike but are also more than capable of working from the ground even though we don’t see a lot of it from either of them may both have to rely on that aspect of the game to beat their opponent. Griffin I believe is the better wrestler whereas Oliveira is the better grappler. The age-old question wrestling vs jiu-jitsu will be put to the test when these guys meet in the middle of the octagon.
A common matchup they both have had is fighting Platinum Mike Perry. If you believe in MMA math then since Griffin beat Perry and Oliveira lost to Perry, the equation would equal a victory for Griffin. However, this fight doesn’t take place in the classroom, it’s taking place in the octagon, so no math required.
Matchups like this where both fighters are coming in off losses usually end up making some of the best fights. These guys both have something to prove and are going to do everything possible to as the kids say, “secure the bag”!
UFC 248 takes place on March 7th from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas and will be available for viewing across the ESPN family of networks from the start all the way to the pay-per-view portion of the card.
Christopher James has been in the MMA industry for 15 years, Working as a ring announcer for promotions like the XFC, Island Fights, Combat Night and Fight Nights Global during his career. Chris’ love for the sport and the athletes that partake in it led him to writing and doing face to face interviews with the athletes he admired and respected. Chris isn’t conventional by any stretch of the imagination, he has his own style, and takes pride in not being a “cookie-cutter” member of the media. Unique and sometimes controversial takes are what he brings to the table, forcing folks to think a little differently about the world of MMA. He also has a love for music as he has been a dj for 25 years and his love for music gets brought to the MMA world when he gets his guests to sing on his weekly show Cage Side with Christopher James which can be seen Wednesday nights on FACEBOOK LIVE, and soon via podcast.