UFC 259 Preview — The Daily Goat

Final Bell MMA

By: Dylan Saraiva

Twitter: @DJSarv21 Instagram: @DJSarv21

The next big Pay-Per-View for the UFC is happening on March 6th and features three different title fights. This should be one of the most stacked UFC cards to start the year with the Light Heavyweight (205 lbs), Bantamweight (135 lbs) and Women’s Featherweight (145 lbs) titles on the line. The names from the prelims to the main event are completely stacked and there promises not only to be a lot of trash talk heading into fight week for but absolutely fire fights once the action starts inside the octagon. In this issue of “The Final Bell MMA” I discuss the three title fights on this card and how I believe each matchup will play out.

Men’s Bantamweight Championship (135 lbs)

Petr Yan (Champion) vs Aljamain Sterling (Challenger)

Petr Yan has quickly risen up the ranks before capturing the Bantamweight title from Jose Aldo back in July of 2020. Yan has shown not only precise striking in all of his matchup but finishing ability as well in his fights versus Aldo as well as Uriah Faber. On his 7 fight run in the UFC he has yet to lose and has beaten the aforementioned names as well as Jimmie Riveira and John Dodson who are mainstays of the division. Yan has been able to outstrike all of his opponents outside of Riviera, however, he scored two successful knockdowns in that fight on route to picking up a unanimous decision victory. Yan averages a quite high significant strikes per minute average of 6.32, which means he is constantly putting the pressure on his opponents, and not stepping off the gas.

Yan faces an interesting challenger in this matchup with Aljamain Sterling who is often seen as more of a grappler, but Yan needs to use his 88% takedown defense in order to keep the fight standing and then look for the finish or keep his strikes high to guarantee a decision victory.

As mentioned above Aljamain Sterling is the challenger and prevents quite a difficult challenge for Yan’s first title defense. Sterling has won all of his last five fights with his last loss coming to Marlon Moraes. Sterling’s latest win was the first round rear-naked choke over Cory Sandhagen that earned him a performance of the night bonus. Sterling and Yan have had some pretty active Twitter disputes over the last couple of days with Sterling claiming that all it would take to defeat Yan is taking him down once.

The atmosphere on fight week between these two men should be full of verbal sparring as there seems to be quite a bit of hate between the two men. The key to victory for Sterling is to take Yan down and keep him there as he will easily get out struck on the feet.

Women’s Featherweight Championship (145 lbs)

Amanda Nunes (Champion) vs Megan Anderson (Challenger)

The women’s title fight on this card is one that promises to be a fan friendly fight as the “Lioness” looks to continue her dominance at 145 pounds. Amanda Nunes without much discussion is the GOAT of Women’s MMA. She boasts a 20-4 overall record with a 13-1 record in the UFC, with her lone loss coming 7 years ago with a TKO loss to Cat Zingano. Since then no one has come close to beating her.

The list of names on Nunes rise to the top is endless: Ronda Rousey, Miesha Tate, Valentina Schevchenko twice, and then at 145 pounds she beat another fighter who people believed was the greatest in Cris Cyborg. Amanda Nunes has proven time and time again inside of the octagon that defeating her is one of the toughest tasks someone could be asked to do. Nunes has 13 wins by knockout in her career and several submission wins as well. She is one of the most well rounded female fighters the UFC has had, as well as holding the record for Women’s title fights at 8.

Standing across the cage from her is Megan Anderson, this bout was originally scheduled for December but Nunes had to pull out due to injury. Anderson is not a fighter to be taken lightly and is coming off of a two fight win streak. The betting odds currently are not in her favor as Nunes has been seen as a -1200 favorite on some sports books and Anderson is as high as a +750 underdog.

Anderson has several knockout finishes in her career at 145 pounds and also was a former Invicta FC Featherweight champion. Anderson has shown to have some power and that is probably her best opportunity to defy the odds is a shocking KO of the Women’s GOAT.

Nunes has both higher rates of takedowns as well as a demanding advantage in takedown defense where Nunes is at 84% and Anderson sits at only 53% according to UFC.com.

Fans should for the most part expect another dominating Nunes performance and anyone looking to bet on Anderson is taking quite a long shot, but MMA math has been wrong before.

Light Heavyweight Championship (205 lbs)

Jan Błachowicz (Champion) vs Israel Adesanya (Challenger/ Middleweight Champion)

The headline event of this card sees Israel Adesanya jumping up 20 pounds and attempting to become another double champion for the UFC. Izzy has run through a lot of great fighters at middleweight and believes he can handle the large jump up in size to try and grab another piece of hardware. Jan does not believe Izzy has the ability to defeat him and these two strong strikers seem to promise a fan friendly fire fight, and I believe someone is getting knocked out.

Jan Błachowicz has been a presence in the 205 division for quite a while before ascending to the title picture on a multiple fight win streak and after Jon Jones vacated the belt. The Polish born fighter was the first male to capture a title in the UFC, with Joanna Jedrzejczyk being the first Polish born champion in the UFC. Jan’s rise to dominance began with his knockout victory over Luke Rockhold when he moved up to 205. That put Jan on the three fight win streak he was on, heading into the title fight against Dominick Reyes who he beat by second round TKO to claim the gold. Jan has won 8 out of his last 9 with his only loss coming against a former title challenger in Thiago Santos. Błachowicz is on the best run of his career heading into this first title defense as the 37 year old champion probably wants just a few more fights before calling it a career.

Jan’s key to victory in this fight is working that left hook that floored not only Reyes, but Rockhold as well. Jan has said that the top guys will fall to the “Polish Power” and the ability for him to hit that hook from almost any spot seems to be coming true. Jan has a high defense average of 54% of strike defense against his opponent which makes him quite hard to land on. Jan also lands 3.49 significant strikes per minute which shows he normally is putting a bit of pressure on his opponents.

Standing across from him in the octagon is quite arguably the sport’s second biggest star behind Conor McGregor. Israel Adesanya has seen an absolutely Meteoric rise through the middleweight division with precise striking and dominating performances against every man the UFC has put in front of him.

Adesanya debuted with the UFC in 2018 with an undefeated record of 11-0 and quickly picked up his first victory over Rob Wilkinson with a second round TKO and performance of the night bonus. 7 out of his 9 UFC bouts has resulted in an “of the night bonus” including a dominating TKO over the previously unbeaten Paulo Costa in his previous title defense. Adesanya has dominated his opponents so far with pinpoint striking accuracy and leveling them with a wide array of kicks and punches. Izzy lands a shocking 4.10 significant strikes per minute with an over 50% accuracy rate as well as keeping the fight standing with his 86% takedown defense rate.

A huge key in Adesanya’s game is his footwork and ability to continuously switch stances and deliver powerful shots to his opponents that could end the fight. Adesnya is coming up in weight for this matchup and obviously needs to avoid the power in the hands of Jan Blachowicz, but if Israel can avoid and land his own counter shots there is definitely the opportunity for him to become another double champion for the promotion.

This card promises to be one of the best nights for the UFC in 2021 and has three title fights that promise to be worth every penny!