UFC 175 Preview: Weidman vs. Machida

UFC 175 takes place on Saturday, July 5th at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada, featuring two title fights where both champions are undefeated. With just days to go until the huge event, here is our official UFC 175 preview.

Chris Weidman (11-0) will make his second defense of the UFC Middleweight Championship, as he takes on former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion Lyoto Machida (21-4) in the headline match of the evening. In the co-main event, UFC Women’s Bantamweight Champion Ronda Rousey (9-0) will make the fourth defense of her title, as she takes on Alexis Davis (16-5).

The story of UFC 175 revolves around controversy and a lot of fight plans being changed as we get closer to fight night. Originally, Weidman was to defend his title against Vitor Belfort on the show, but due to issues stemming from the banning of TRT, Belfort was removed from the originally intended main event. Instead, Machida was put into the spot, a fight that in many ways could be more of a challenge for the 185-pound king.

Additionally, the third-from-the-top fight on this show was scheduled to feature the grudge match between recent Ultimate Fighter Brazil coaches Chael Sonnen and Wanderlei Silva. The two have had a long-standing rivalry, one that escalated with an infamous shoving match at a convention, and ultimately culminated with a heated scuffle on the set of the Brazilian-based reality show. Both incidents were criticized as being fake, as many felt that the two were simply hyping up a grudge — in pro wrestling fashion — to build anticipation for their eventual showdown inside the octagon.

But then TRT reared its’ ugly head into the situation yet again.

Despite being banned by the Nevada State Athletic Commission, TRT can be pointed to as the reason the “American Gangster” from West Linn, Oregon will not be on the July 4th weekend lineup.

When the time came for random drug testing to take place, “The Axe Murderer” slid out the back door — literally — and fled from the scene. This pretty much guaranteed that the highly anticipated Sonnen-Silva showdown, which had already been postponed and shuffled around in the ever-expanding UFC schedule, would not be taking place when promised yet again.

But fear not. Chael P. Sonnen will fight anyone, anytime, anywhere …as long as he can get licensed.

Welcome to our next roadblock.

After Silva ran away from his drug test, UFC scrambled and booked the man who was originally scheduled to headline UFC 175 — Vitor Belfort — to replace the former PRIDE Champion and battle Brazil’s biggest nemesis. When the news of Sonnen-Belfort broke, the MMA community seemed to respond with a mixed reaction. Some still felt robbed that the Sonnen-Silva fight, which had fans foaming at the mouth in anticipation, was not going to take place. Others were excited about what was considered a more legitimate pairing between Sonnen and Belfort.

And then TRT struck again.

Sonnen, who was one of a handful of fighters who was taking TRT legally, unlike Silva, actually took his drug test. Unfortunately for him, he failed his test.

Without getting into the complicated issue of Sonnen’s drug test failure, the bottom line was UFC 175 lost what was in many ways, to the “casual fan,” the most exciting bout on the card.

Furthermore, Chael Sonnen fans were delivered the sad news that their favorite fighter announced his retirement, as he made it clear that his desire to start a family superceded anything fight-related.

As it should, by the way.

With all of that in the rear-view mirror, UFC 175 comes to us live from Las Vegas next Saturday night and despite the loss of a Sonnen-Silva or Sonnen-Belfort match, on paper, looks to be one of the bigger shows UFC will put on this year. Anytime two world championships are on the line, you know you’re getting a major event.

Hell, anytime a star the level of Urijah Faber is on the preliminary card, even though he has an opponent that lacks star power and the decision to bump him from the pay-per-view lineup was likely done to appease FOX Sports executives, you know you’ve got yourself a well-rounded, high-profile fight card.

For the first time since capturing the UFC Middleweight Championship, Chris Weidman will be standing on the opposite end of the octagon from a guy who isn’t named Anderson Silva. Weidman will defend against Machida, a fighter who since moving to the Middleweight division, has looked as unstoppable as he did during his prime as a Light Heavyweight.

The style matchup is hard to analyze, in the sense that I don’t believe we’ve seen Weidman fight anyone with Machida’s unique set of skills. Honestly, I don’t know if a fighter exists in the UFC, or the sport in general, that brings to the cage what “The Dragon” does. Having said that, it will be very interesting to see if Weidman can leave Las Vegas after Saturday night with his perfect professional MMA record in tact.

In the co-feature of the evening, “Rowdy” Ronda will attempt to continue her dominant run through the Women’s Bantamweight division, as she takes on “The Ally-Gator.”

Despite having a perfect 3-0 record inside the octagon, and despite the fact that she’s currently riding a five-fight win streak, I personally don’t feel there is a person on this planet who is picking Davis to dethrone the face of Women’s MMA.

Davis is a tough, gritty veteran of Women’s MMA, however she doesn’t truly excel in any area that would pose a legitimate threat to the former Olympic medalist. She has wins over some notable names, and always wears her heart on her sleeve, but unfortunately for the challenger, sometimes that simply isn’t enough.

Rousey, on the other hand, seems to get better with each performance. Despite her last two fights not ending the same way her previous seven did (first round armbar), it’s hard to argue that “Rowdy” Ronda isn’t among the most unbeatable champions that the UFC currently has to offer.

Her performance against Sara McMann at UFC 170 ended just six-seconds past the one-minute mark and was the first time the Bantamweight Champion didn’t force her opponent to tap the mat before her arm was snapped in two. Regardless, her standup, which has been criticized in the past, looked much improved. Her takedown ability is off-the-charts. He ground game is nearly flawless. I just don’t see any scenario where Rousey leaves the octagon without a giant gold belt.

UFC 175 also features a pretty well-rounded undercard, as Heavyweights Stefan Struve (25-6) and Matt Mitrione (7-3) will duke it out. Urijah Hall (8-4), who hasn’t looked as impressive as he did on The Ultimate Fighter, will get another chance to “wow” UFC president Dana White the same way he did during his battles on the reality show, as he battles Thiago Marreta (9-2). The opening bout will feature Marcus Brimage (6-2) vs. Russell Doane (13-3), in a fight that is expected to be a crowd-pleaser.

On the preliminary lineup, “The California Kid” Urijah Faber (30-7) will battle Ultimate Fighter veteran “Bruce Leeroy” Alex Caceres (10-5) in the headline attraction on FOX Sports 1. The rest of the preliminary card leaves much to be desired if you’re a casual fight fan, however if you’re a die-hard fan, there’s plenty to look forward to.

All-in-all, UFC 175 looks to be as strong a pay-per-view lineup that UFC has delivered thus far in 2014. The story going into the show was about as complicated as one could be, but on Saturday night things get much more basic. 22 of the best mixed-martial-artists on the planet will step into the truest proving ground in the world. 11 will walk out victorious (draws and controversial finishes notwithstanding). The expected hundreds of thousands of fans, meanwhile, will get a great night of high-level, big-league MMA. A few years ago, that was the norm. These days, shows of this quality are few and far between.

Source: MMANews.com

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