This weekend the premier fight promotion returns to sin city to host an epic PPV event in UFC 285. Jon Jones is returning for the first time in 3 years but also at heavyweight against Ciryl Gane for heavyweight gold. On top of that the most technical female fighter on the planet right now is returning, Valentina Shevchenko is defending her belt against Alex Grasso. Here are five reasons to watch UFC 285.
The G.O.A.T returns at UFC 285
After 3 years away, Jon Jones returns to the UFC to fight for the UFC heavyweight belt against Ciryl Gane. Jones put together a legendary reputation down at light-heavyweight during his reign. Beating fighters like Daniel Cormier twice, Alexander Gusstafson twice, Shogun Rua, Rampage Jackson, Chael Sonnen and Anthony Smith and many many more. Gane is coming off a win over Tai Tuivasa after knocking him out in Paris last September. Both men are arguably matched in the stand-up but you can argue that Gane is better than Jones in the stand-up. However, Jones is a very very talented wrestler so it’ll be very interesting to see how Jones performs with 50lbs extra pounds on fight night now being at heavyweight.
Bullets Will Fly
Valentina ‘Bullet’ Shevchenko returns to defend her 125lbs belt against no.6 contender Alexa Grasso at UFC 285. Last June Shevchenko successfully defended her belt against Talia Santos in Singapore, however many scored that fight in favour of Santos. Despite that fact, Shevchenko is going to come back with something to prove and make it clear that she is the queen of that division. Both women are incredible stand-up fighters with crazy knockouts on both resumes, on the other hand, Shevchenko is a more well-rounded fighter. Seeing how Shevchenko will respond to the criticism will be critical in how the fight will play out.
Rahkmonov’s Moment Has Arrived at UFC 285
There’s been a few fighters from the Dana White Contender Series in the past few years that have made the community excited. Bo Nickal, Jamahal Hill, Sean O’Malley and Shavkat Rahkmonov are the biggest out of them all. Some media members and fans dubbed him the next GOAT. Admittedly a tad premature but he’s a very talented fella. 16-0 in his professional career, 8 knockouts and 8 submissions. Has never been to a decision. Surely he’ll win, right? His record suggests that he should win but Geoff Neal is a bad bad man and he’s one big test for Rakmonov. If Rakmonov can get through Neal then a title fight is right around the corner.
Penn State’s Finest Makes His Debut
Penn State has one of the best American wrestling programmes in America at this current point in time and they’ve produced some incredible athletes. However, Bo Nickal is above them all. 120-3 in NCAA wrestling and 28-10. A very talented wrestler and it’ll be interesting to see how he can inflict his game plan onto Jamie Pickett.
UFC 285 Has Star-Studded Prelims
Cody Garbrandt is returning to bantamweight after a long layoff and a trip down to flyweight. Derek Brunson is taking on Dricus Du Plessis in a middleweight bout, as well as Ian Machado Garry is returning to welterweight after a long layoff, getting married and having a child will be very interesting to see how that’s changed him as a fighter.
Do you agree with our five reasons to watch UFC 285?
Featured image credit to Embed from Getty Images
