By Lourence Alturino
Image from UFC
It's time. The first UFC pay-per-view with fans back in the crowd. 3 big title fights on the most stacked card of the year so far. The main event is the rematch between the UFC Welterweight Champion, Kamaru Usman vs Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal. In the first fight, Masvidal was a late replacement and took the fight on 6 days notice. Kamaru dominated and retained his title. What happens in the rematch?
Kamaru Usman
Last time I talked about Usman was my first ever UFC post with his fight against Gilbert Burns. Kamaru won the fight and immediately called out Masvidal to a rematch. He wasn't satisfied with how he got the win last time, so he plans to finish Jorge once and for all. The welterweight champion now has a record of 18-1. We all know Usman is an amazing wrestler and he's planning to just dominate Masvidal like he did last time. He wants to finish Jorge now, so we could be seeing a new Kamaru Usman.
Jorge Masvidal
Jorge "Gamebred" Masvidal is one of the most polarizing fighters in the game currently. He is best known for the fastest knockout in UFC history when he hit Ben Askren with a flying knee and won in 5 seconds. Jorge is an amazing striker and that's definitely the advantage he has on Kamaru. The interesting thing is in the last fight against Usman, Masvidal actually won that round in my book. Jorge landed a lot of strikes in round 1 and even stuffed 11 takedowns. That is rare against Usman. Jorge was also not conditioned at all since he had to lose 20 pounds in 6 days. Now, he has a full camp and the coronation for Jorge Masvidal could be coming soon.
Keys for Usman
- Use the same game plan as last time
- Use that amazing jab to transition to takedowns
Keys for Masvidal
- Keep this fight on the feet
- Try to end it early
Final Predictions
This fight could go only 2 ways. An Usman domination or a Masvidal knockout. Now that these two have had a full camp, this fight could be different from the previous one. If Masvidal keeps this fight off the ground, he wins. Obviously that's easier said than done. If Usman keeps this fight on the ground again, he wins. My final prediction is for a new UFC Welterweight champion, Jorge "Gambred" Masvidal via a 3rd round KO. This is mostly a bias prediction, but I think Usman goes for a takedown and Masvidal catches him with an uppercut or a knee and wins. AND NEW. I also predict Valentina and Zhang to retain.
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