After a relatively quiet week for MMA last week (check UFC Fight Pass to catch up on two stellar Cage Warriors cards, if you missed them) the UFC is back with a bang as it brings two title fights to the VyStar Veterans Memorial Arena for UFC 273.
Reigning featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski headlines the card as he looks to make it 21 wins in a row with victory over “The Korean Zombie” Chan Sung Jung, who will be hoping the second time’s the charm as he gets a second chance to capture UFC gold, eight years after his first.
The co-main features a bantamweight title unification battle between reigning champ Aljamain Sterling and the man whose disqualification gifted the title to “The Funkmaster,” Petr Yan. To say there’s some heat in this one would be an understatement, but who will come out with bragging rights, and the belt?
Remarkably, despite the two title fights at the top of the card, the welterweight contender clash between Gilbert Burns and Khamzat Chimaev has already threatened to steal the show. The level of anticipation for this one is right up there, and may even be higher than the two title fights in terms of sheer fan interest.
It’s the acid test for Chimaev, who has looked every inch a title threat without ever actually facing elite-level opposition. That will change on Saturday when he faces No. 2-ranked Burns, who briefly had reigning champ Kamaru Usman on skates before eventually losing out to “The Nigerian Nightmare.”
It’s a big night in Florida, and ahead of UFC 273, Simon flies solo to mark your card ahead of fight night as he previews the big matchups, along with some pre-fight comments from reigning champions Volkanovski and Sterling, plus Burns, as The Brit Pack MMA Podcast sets the scene ahead of the UFC’s latest pay-per-view extravaganza.
Enjoy the fights, and don’t forget to like and subscribe!
UFC 273 preview: The deck is stacked in Jacksonville!