UFC Fight Night takes place later tonight from Boise, Idaho. The card is a decent card and is headlined by former heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos as he takes on Blagoy Ivanov. A lot went down this week in the UFC universe which I would like to talk about and so this blog will be a little different to my usual UFC previews.

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UFC 226 Discussion

DC's Happy Ending?

The main event at UFC 226 was a shock result for most. The fight was playing out similarly to how I had thought with DC having some success but also eating shots from Stipe in order to land his own. Then from seemingly nowhere Cormier lands a shot as they separate and Miocic was out cold!

We should have really saw it coming, as Cormier had actually talked about knocking Stipe out in that exact way in the build up to the fight. I had even watched that interview and then went and watched some of both fighters past fights, but dismissed it as I couldn't see Stipe being knocked out by Cormier who despite weighing in slightly heavier was the much smaller man.

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After the fight there was some antics involving a shaved gorilla in a suit and crocadile cowboy boots which many found cringy. However it is quite satisfying to see the good guy finally coming out on top with Cormier now in line for a huge money fight against Brock Lesnar. It is a fight which his arch nemesis Jon Jones wanted and while DC never managed to defeat Jones in the cage picking up both titles and taking the Lesnar fight from him may be the happy ending the the Jones Vs DC rivalry needed.

I just hope that Brock doesn't find a way to ruin things by knocking out Cormier or the much more likely way which he could ruin it by failing a drugs test and having the fight called off.

Rest Of The Card

The co-main event really didn't live up to the hype. I had talked in my preview about it possibly turning boring if both fighters gassed out but there was little chance of that as neither fighter put much energy into anything. The crowd booed as the fight was playing out and many have called it the most boring heavyweight fight ever. Lewis has came out and revealed he had a back injury coming into the fight and Ngannou has said he carried fear from his previous loss into this one. Whatever the excuses, there is nobody begging to see a rematch.

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There was thankfully some more exciting fights on the card. Paul Felder and Mike Parry engaged in a brilliant contest where both took a lot of damage and beat one another up for 3 rounds. Parry picked up the decision win deservedly but Felder broke his arm early in the fight and comes out with a lot of credit too.

Pettis looked great and reminded everybody of the Pettis we saw a few years ago as he grabbed a submission win over Michael Cheisa who had failed to make weight for this fight. Khalil Rountree landed an incredible surprise knockout over Saki which very few people saw coming.

Also on the prelims there was a great fight between Uriah Hall and Paulo Costa!

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Holloway Vs Ortega

It was a major blow to the card that this fight was cancelled, this had the makings to be such a great fight and one I don't doubt would have lived up to the hype. There is still little info regarding the circumstances of Holloway pulling out and no details about a potential return. I really hope that we do get to see this fight though someday.

Ortega for me is one of the most dangerous and I can see him becoming a legend in the future. I was a bit concerned about the fallout. Ortega apparently turned down the chance to fight Edgar or Stephens and opted instead to wait. While this is actually a smart play for him as taking a fight against a short notice replacement you haven't been preparing for can be very costly. Ortega knows this only too well after he himself benefited from Edgar taking him on at short notice which cost Edgar the title shot and put Ortega in contention.

Dana White was making a joke about it in the press conference ahead of the event however you just know he was mad at Ortega. Dana makes no secret of favouring fighters who continue to take fights when their opponent drops out which he always explains is why Conor McGrgeor can get away with most of the things he does. I just hope Dana doesn't hold the grudge against Ortega for not taking the fight.

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FIGHT NIGHT - Dos Santos Vs Ivanov Quick Picks

Because I have been busy I have not had time to look through this card and refresh my memory about certain fighters and see how they match up. So I am just going to make some quick picks largely from memory with no research.

Junior Dos Santos Vs Blagoy Ivanov - Dos Santos - Knockout - R3

Sage Northcutt Vs Zak Ottow - Ottow - Submission - R2

Dennis Bermudez Vs Rick Glenn - Bermudez - Decision

Randy Brown Vs Niko Price - Price - Knockout - R1

Miles Jury Vs Chad Mendes - Mendes - Knockout- R3

Cat Zingano Vs Marion Reneau - Zingano - Decision