UFC 203 will be held at Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland on September and it will be headlined by a UFC Heavyweight Championship fight between new champion Stipe Miocic and Alistair Overeem.
Stipe Miocic scored an upset victory over Fabricio Werdum at UFC 198 to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship, while Alistair Overeem will finally receive an opportunity to win gold in the UFC.
The other highlight of UFC 203 is set to be the long-awaited UFC debut of former WWE Champion CM Punk, while former UFC Heavyweight Champion Fabricio Werdum will be in action against Travis Browne.
UFC 203 Main Event Australian Time
Sunday 11th September 12PM AEST
UFC 203 Fight Card
Main Event
Stipe Miocic has been one of the most improved fighters in the UFC in the past two years and he won the UFC Heavyweight Championship with a very impressive victory over Fabricio Werdum.
Miocic has now improved his record to 15-2 and 11 of those victories – including his past four – have come by knockout or TKO.
It is fair to say that Miocic is one of the most aggressive strikers in the heavyweight division and he lands almost five strikes per minute, but defence is not his strength and he absorbs on average 3.31 strikes per minute.
It has been a long journey but Alistair Overeem has finally received a UFC title shot after recording four straight victories over Stefan Struve, Roy Nelson, Junior dos Santos and Andrei Arlovski.
Three of his past four wins have come from knockouts and there is really very little chance that this fight will go the full five rounds.
Overeem is a far more measured striker than Miocic, but his still has knockout power and defensively he has a clear advantage over his rival.
Overeem’s takedown accuracy is right up there with the best in the heavyweight division and that gives him another option if he feels as though the fight is not going his way.
A number of champions have been beaten in the UFC already this year and I expect a repeat at UFC 203.
Back Alistair Overeem To Win By Knockout @ $2.40
Co-Main Event
Fabricio Werdum had a six-fight winning streak snapped when he lost the UFC Heavyweight Championship to Miocic, but he has an excellent chance to return to winning form against Travis Browne.
Werdum and Browne fought back in UFC 204 and Werdum scored a comfortable decision victory, but Browne was able to hold his on against his very dangerous rival.
Browne – now commonly referred to as the boyfriend of Ronda Rousey – is something of a gatekeeper in the Heavyweight Division and he comes into this fight after being knocked out by Cain Velasquez at UFC 200.
Browne has a number of big wins on his resume – he beat Overeem in 2013 – but he is somewhat of a limited fighter and it is tough to find an area where he has an advantage over Werdum.
He would be able to take this fight to the mat if he wanted to, but Werdum is a dangerous submission artist while there is little doubt that Werdum is the superior fighter.
I expect Werdum to return winning form with another decision victory.
Back Fabricio Werdum To Win By Decision
Main Card
This is the trainwreck fight that we have all been waiting for.
CM Punk officially signed with the UFC in December of 2014 and he is only now getting into the octagon for the first time against the relatively unknown.
It is fair to say that the former WWE Champion has struggled with injuries since making the transition to Mixed Martial Arts and the footage coming out of his training camp has not been very good.
We don’t really know a great deal about Mickey Gall – who has a record of 2-0 – but any young fighter that has grown up in MMA should have an advantage over a 37-year-old professional wrestler that is having his first ever real fight.
I would love to see CM Punk get in there and prove me wrong, but I believe that this will be pretty ugly viewing and Gall should have no problems maintaining an unbeaten record.
Back Micky Gall To Win In Round 1
Jimmie Rivera is considered a rising star in the Bantamweight Division and he has an opportunity to make a name for himself against the veteran Urijah Faber.
Rivera has a record of 19-1 and he is 3-0 in the UFC, but it is fair to say that he has not looked overly impressive.
Faber is on the quick back-up after losing to Dominick Cruz by unanimous decision at UFC 199, but this is obviously a much easier assignment.
Faber does not make a habit of losing to fighters that he would consider beneath him – although he look look sluggish against Cruz.