The UFC machine is officially up and running and ready for an exciting 2020. After opening the year last week with UFC 246 and the return of Conor McGregor, the UFC is back and ready for action tomorrow in Raleigh, North Carolina.
The main event features a heavyweight clash between a man, who with a victory should no doubt about be next in line for a title shot in Curtis Blaydes and a man who is trying to recapture past glory and make one more run at the UFC heavyweight championship in former champion Junior Dos Santos.
The wrestler with big punching power especially when he gets on top of his opponents versus the powerful striker who also happens to be a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, the main event should be a good one.
Michael Chiesa and Rafael Dos Anjos both former lightweights with Dos Anjos being a former UFC lightweight champion and Chiesa the Ultimate Fighter LIVE winner will face one another in a welterweight clash as they have left the lightweight division in the rearview mirror in search of new challenges, and less weight cutting.
This is going to be a very interesting match up between 2 gentleman that have legitimate pedigrees and can take the fight anywhere, and the winner of will likely place himself in the conversation for possible contenders in the near future.
All 24 fighters on tomorrow’s card had no issue on the scale this morning in Raleigh, North Carolina at the host hotel. There will be no ceremonial face off this evening as this morning’s weigh-in and faceoffs were official and the final time the fighters will see each other until tomorrow night.
The fight to look out for on this card is in the featherweight division and features former M-1 Global Champion Nate “The Train” Landwehr who will be making his octagon debut tomorrow night against the brother of Gilbert Burns in Herbert Burns who is no slouch and does not want to be recognized as Gilbert’s brother, but rather a fighter who belongs here because of his own accolades and accomplishments inside of mixed martial arts, and is out to prove just that tomorrow night.
MAIN CARD (ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
Curtis Blaydes (248) vs. Junior Dos Santos (247)
Michael Chiesa (170.5) vs. Rafael dos Anjos (170)
Jordan Espinosa (126) vs. Alex Perez (125.5)
Hannah Cifers (114.5) vs. Angela Hill (116)
Jamahal Hill (205.5) vs. Darko Stosic (205)
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN+, 5 p.m. ET)
Bevon Lewis (186) vs. Dequan Townsend (185)
Arnold Allen (145.5) vs. Nik Lentz (146)
Justine Kish (126) vs. Lucie Pudilova (126)
Felipe Colares (135) vs. Montel Jackson (135.5)
Lina Lansberg (135) vs. Sara McMann (135)
Brett Johns (136) vs. Tony Gravely (135)
Herbert Burns (146) vs. Nate Landwehr (146)
UFC on ESPN + 24 a.k.a #UFCRALEIGH will air exclusively on ESPN’s streaming service ESPN+
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.