UFC 300 is almost upon us now, and here at Combat Sports UK we will preview the fights. This is an event of incredible magnitude and it carries the potential to be one of the greatest UFC events ever. The stakes couldn’t be higher for multiple fighters on this card in Las Vegas on April 13th, so let’s dive in and break it down fight by fight before the action begins.
UFC 300 Main Event Preview: Alex Pereira vs Jamahal Hill
This isn’t the main event people would have envisaged for such a card, but it’s a quality fight nonetheless.
The light heavyweight division was in tatters for quite some time. Serious injuries occurred and titles were vacated. That is all in the past now and we have a champion in the mighty Alex Pereira.
The two-weight champion has enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top. He captured middleweight gold against rival Israel Adesanya back in 2022, before knocking out former champion Jiří Procházka to claim the vacant light heavyweight title. His hands of stone have made him a star, and he will attempt to defend his belt against a hungry Jamahal Hill at UFC 300.
Hill is returning from an Achilles injury and hasn’t fought since winning the title at the beginning of 2023. He defeated Glover Teixeira that night who is now coaching Pereira, adding to the drama of this matchup. Hill is an accurate, powerful striker who will feel he can reclaim the belt that he never lost.
Coming back from a lengthy layoff straight into a title fight against a devastating finisher like Pereira is a tall order, but if Hill looks anything like he did against Teixeira, this will be a wildly entertaining fight between two technically brilliant strikers. UFC 300 is due to end with a bang.
UFC 300 Co-main Event Preview: Weili Zhang vs Yan Xiaonan
It’s China vs China in the UFC 300 co-main event.
Weili Zhang is well on her way to becoming one of the greatest female mixed martial artists of all time. The strawweight champion’s improvement over her time in the UFC has been evident for all to see, and she has become a complete fighter.
Her five round war with Joanna Jędrzejczyk will go down in history as one of the best fights of all time. After her defeats to Rose Namajunas, she picked herself up and went on a three-fight win streak and reclaimed the strawweight title in the process. Zhang is a dangerous striker and grappler who finishes fights more often than not, and she will be a nightmare for Xiaonan.
Xiaonan is not here by accident though. In her last bout she knocked out Jessica Andrade in the very first round to stake her claim to the title shot. She is fast, agile, and certainly capable of causing some problems for Zhang on the feet. Zhang’s wrestling is superior to Xiaonan’s, but this has a high chance of being another striking battle.
Prepare for another thriller.
The BMF Belt: Justin Gaethje vs Max Holloway
This fight is exciting for so many reasons. There are so many ways in which this can go, and all avenues lead to violence.
Justin Gaethje became the BMF champion after knocking Dustin Poirier out cold with a head kick at UFC 291. Once known as simply a brawler willing to take shots to land his own, Gaethje has become a more well-rounded fighter over the past five years. Working with coach Trevor Wittman, ‘The Highlight’ became more defensively sound while tightening up his striking and keeping his violent edge. Arguably the hardest hitter in the lightweight division, Gaethje has a breathtaking 20 wins via knockout on his professional record.
Gaethje has fought for the lightweight belt twice and came up short both times, but in recent fights he has reminded everyone that he is far from done. A spectacular win over the up-and-coming Rafael Fiziev made sure of that. His epic battle with Michael Chandler won Fight of the Year in 2021 and is always worth revisiting for the spectacle that it was.
Max Holloway is one of the best featherweights to ever do it. Here though, he moves up to lightweight to take on Gaethje for the BMF title. His loss against Poirier in an interim lightweight title fight back in 2019 was a classic, but the difference in power between the two was quite clear. Holloway admitted that he didn’t gain the weight in the correct way last time around, but this time he isn’t making that mistake.
Gaethje’s power could be the biggest problem for ‘Blessed’, but Holloway’s volume punching and legendary chin gives him a real shot in this one. It is unclear whether Holloway will return to featherweight or try his hand at 155 after this fight.
Fight of the night material.
Charles Oliveira vs Arman Tsarukyan
The battle at lightweight between the old guard and the new continues in this exciting matchup. Former champion Charles Oliveira faces one of the most promising fighters in the division. Arman Tsarukyan.
Since 2018, Oliveira has been near perfect, racking up 12 wins in 13 fights. The rebirth of ‘Do Bronx’ was a joy to behold after his inconsistent UFC run between 2010 and 2017. Oliveira is another deadly finisher who holds the UFC record in that department with 20. He also holds the record for most submissions with 16. He is a top striker too making him dangerous wherever the fight goes.
Oliveira had the chance to recapture the title against Islam Makhachev after he was stripped for missing weight against Gaethje, but was submitted in the second round. He bounced back in style in his last outing though with a stunning knockout over Beneil Dariush last summer.
The rematch with Makhachev was booked, but Oliveira had to withdraw due to cuts sustained in sparring. He will have to earn the shot again against number four-ranked Tsarukyan.
Tsarukyan lost his UFC debut to Makhachev, but since then has only lost one fight in nine. He is on a three-fight win streak that includes two knockout wins over Dariush and Joaquim Silva. The Armenian has not fought anyone quite like Oliveira, but has the skills to hold his own on the ground with him. He has shown that he can strike too, but isn’t as defensively sound as Oliveira. It will be interesting to see if Tsarukyan can deal with the pressure Oliveira brings to every fight.
Bo Nickal vs Cody Brundage
We have reached the bottom of the main card in this UFC 300 preview where breakout star Bo Nickal will take on Cody Brundage.
Brundage was a Contender Series hopeful who was knocked out there and sent packing. He was called up to the UFC as a late replacement at UFC 266 but lost that too. He was given the opportunity to stick around though but has been inconsistent since. The 29-year-old will have to be at his absolute best to challenge Nickal who seemingly has better skills everywhere.
Nickal is a decorated wrestler who has recently transitioned to MMA. He is 5-0 with all finishes and has not been tested in his mixed martial arts career yet. The promising prospect comes with a lot of hype thanks to his finishing abilities, but the UFC are bedding him in slowly with the matchups that they are providing the American. This fight is a chance for him to gain more traction with fans on a massive card and set himself up with a bigger name next time around.
On paper, Brundage is Nickal’s toughest fight to date. Can the hype train roll on?
