Although 2015 has proven to be a truly vintage year for the Ultimate Fighting Championships with the likes
of UFC 189 being one of the biggest events yet, 2016 is already shaping up to give the competition some of its most hard-hitting contests ever.
And it’s the hugely-anticipated UFC 196 that looks to deliver UFC one of its biggest events with the Werdum Vs Velasquez bout predicted to go down in mixed martial arts history.
The UFC 196 event will take place on February 6 at the prestigious MGM Grand Garden Arena that has also
hosted many other celebrated bouts including last year’s massively-hyped
Mayweather Vs Pacquiao boxing match.
But whilst that bout turned out to be something of a disappointment, we can expect UFC 196 to deliver some exceptional fighting performances thanks to the two contenders competing for the UFC Heavyweight Championship title.
The main showdown will be a rematch between the current champion Fabricio Werdum and the former champion Cain Velasquez. The Brazilian champion Werdum famously beat Velazquez in June’s UFC 188 thanks to a third-round guillotine submission, and the 38-year-old looks to be in it for the long haul having recently signed an eight-year contract with UFC for a multi-million dollar sum.
But although Werdum may be feeling a little more financially-secure, he definitely won’t be able to rest upon his laurels in February as Velasquez will be especially keen to reclaim his fighting crown. Although the Californian Velasquez has been battling cardio-problems, many esteemed fighters such as Junior dos Santos have stated that Velasquez could cause Werdum some serious issues
The stare-down between Werdum and Velasquez earlier this month produced a predictably fearsome confrontation, but already the fighting odds mentioned on BettingSports shows that this epic bout could go either way depending on Velasquez’s match fitness.
As the competition will take place on Super Bowl weekend, many are expecting the event organisers to go all
out on the Vegas glitz and glamor. And the addition of a keenly-fought welterweight match between Stephen ‘Wonderboy’ Thompson and Johny Hendricks will definitely add a touch of drama to the proceedings.
Thompson is currently on a five-fight winning streak and Hendricks will be keen to impress given the disappointment suffered at UFC 192 due to weight cut complications. And with no less than three further mixed martial arts competitions taking place that evening, it looks that UFC 196 will start the year with a bang.
