Rest of main card
[autotag]Francis Ngannou[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jairzinho Rozenstruik[/autotag]
It’s time to find out how good Rozenstruik really is, and if he’s going to be able to shake the tree at all when it comes to the very top heavyweight contenders.
Rozenstruik was four seconds from taking a decision loss to Alistair Overeem in December, but he escaped with victory by scoring a buzzer-beater finish. On paper it’s a quality win, but in practice it generated some doubts about how he’d fair against the next level.
Ngannou will provide clarity. “The Predator” is a proven commodity and is the division’s top title contender behind Daniel Cormier. Ngannou is the betting favorite and expected to win then go fight for the title, so Rozenstruik has a great chance to play spoiler and prove the Overeem win was no fluke.
[autotag]Jeremy Stephens[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag]
After 33 UFC fights it’s pretty well established what Stephens is at this point. Therefor, Kattar takes the greater chunk of attention going into this featherweight matchup because of his perceived higher ceiling.
Kattar is coming off a main event loss to Zabit Magomedsharipov in a contest many believe he could’ve won if he had the standard five rounds to work with for a headliner, or pushed a little bit harder during the 15-minute window he had. He said he learned from that experience, and now he’ll have to put that knowledge to practice.
Stephens is a hard-hitting, durable and well conditioned fighter. He may have the most losses in UFC history at 16, but one look at his resume shows he doesn’t lose to slouches. Kattar putting him name on the list of fighters to get one over on “Lil Heathen” would be nothing to sneeze at.
[autotag]Greg Hardy[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Yorgan De Castro[/autotag]
Whether we like it or not, Hardy is here to stay and is going to keep getting prominent card position until every bit of his usefulness runs dry. How long will that be? This fight against De Castro will play a telling role in what the future holds for the controversial former NFL standout.
Hardy rolled the dice on himself with a short-notice fight against Alexander Volkov in November. He didn’t get blown out in the manner many had anticipated, and that should serve as a major motivator for Hardy to evolve his fighting skills. Six months later, we’ll find out how far he’s come.