The UFC main card sucks for a PPV, but it's 5 fights I'm interested in and it's a very deep card. Just imagine if Jiri-Glover stayed intact and they were were able to do Jones vs. Francis or Stipe. Would have been the biggest PPV this year by a mile.
I feel like the main event is going to be one of those fights where I'm on pins and needles watching it the first time, but in the end it will be kind of boring and I'll never want to watch it again...if that makes sense. Both guys have KO power, so watching to see who's going to land that shot first is entertaining. But both guys are kind of reserved strikers, so once you know how it ends up, it's probably not going to be worth a rewatch. I think Ankalaev is the better fighter, but I think it's a matchup that Jan can win and I don't think he's getting enough respect.
The UFC is matchmaking Paddy perfectly. Giving him fights he should probably win, but just the right amount of steps up in competition. It's not a PPV co-main, but should still be a good fight.
Thank god Robbie pulled out. Ponz is on the back 9 in his career, but he lost to Neal and Pereira via split decisions. He's still a damn good fighter and wouldn't be surprised to see him get back into the rankings. Morono is a solid fighter. Again, not a fight really worth being this high on a PPV card, but a good fight.
I think Till vs. du Plessis is great matchmaking as well. du Plessis is going to push the action. Either Till handles it well and KO's him getting himself back on track or du Plessis gets a win over a big name. Either way, it's a win for the UFC.
Mitchell vs. Topuria is the fight I'm looking forward to most. Not very often do you get undefeated guys entering their prime against each other. I don't have much logic behind it, but my gut feeling is Topuria sleeps him.
Rozenstruik and Daukaus both need this win badly. HW is so shallow that they both probably stick around even with a loss, but it wouldn't shock me if they were let go either. I think Rozenstruik KO's him.
Edmen-Lungiambula probably is a loser leaves town fight. Maybe they'd give Edmen a pass because he's so young, but this is a fight that was made to get him a win.
Curtis-Buckley should be fun, but I think both have limited ceilings.
Hopefully Billy Q-Hernandez gets moved to the prelims. Seems like a perfect fight to kick off the prelims on ESPN2.