Following a weekend break, the UFC is back with another pay-per view! With a total of 13 fights, the card is stacked and promises to be filled with non-stop action. The UFC 264 event will also kick off the historic the UFC and Crypto.com’s historic partnership. The partnership will see Crypto.com become the UFC’s 1st official Crypto Platform Partner, as well as the UFC’s 1st Global Official Fight Kit Partner.
Early Prelims Card
A middleweight bout between Alen Amedovski and Hu Yaozong is set to start off the night.
Next up, two flyweights seek a victory following losses in previous fights when Zhalgas Zhumagulov takes on Jerome Rivera.
The middleweights head back to the octagon when #13 ranked Omari Akhmedov battles it out with #15 ranked Brad Tavares.
To close out the early prelims, #7 ranked Jessica Eye goes up against #4 ranked Jennifer Maia in their women’s flyweight division match-up.
Preliminary Card
The prelimary card starts off hot as the middleweight division, once again, is on display with Trevin Giles taking on South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis.
Next up, the fighters at featherweight look to topple each other’s fight win streaks as Ilia Topuria goes up against “The Wizard” Ryan Hall.
“Demolidor” Michel Pereira and “The Hybrid” Niko Price clash in what promises to be an entertaining fight with their welterweight encounter.
The feature prelim bout is also at 170 with a fight between “The Natural Born Killer” Carlos Condit and Max “Pain” Griffin. Griffin is coming into this bout with many considering him the underdog but, as he likes to label himself the “UFC Ear Collector”, it will be interesting to see how he holds up in this match-up.
Main Card
Things shift into full gear as we start the main card with a bantamweight bout between beloved Sean O’Malley and a debuting Kris Moutinho. Sugar was initially meant to face Louis Smolka, however, following an undisclosed injury leading to a withdrawal, Moutinho was brought in as the replacement. Moutinho is not to be counted out though, and he is currently on a two-fight win streak.
Continuing with bantamweight action, we cross over to the women as #4 ranked Irene Aldana goes up against #5 ranked Yana Kunitskaya. Aldana is coming off a loss and it will be interesting to see whether this bout begins her story of redemption.
The heavyweights get into action when the “Prince of War” Greg Hardy takes on “Bam Bam” Tai Tuivasa. Although Hardy is coming off a loss, he does have the advantage with height by 3 inches, as well as 5.5 inches worth of arm reach. Also, he has 4.5 more inches of leg reach than his counterpart. This will definitely prove to be an intriguing match-up.
#4 ranked Stephen Thompson looks to prove a point in his bout against #2 ranked Gilbert Burns at welterweight in this co-main event. Durinho’s loss came at the hands of “The Nigerian Nightmare” Kamaru Usman, who is considered one of the best fighters in the world right now. Not to mention his impressive 19-4-0 record – 8 of those wins being by submission. Nonetheless, the Wonderboy will look to shake things up in the division, as he continues his two-fight win streak.
Poirier vs. McGregor III
Finally, the main event arrives as Dustin Poirier, who sits atop the Lightweight division at #1, goes up against “The Notorious” Conor McGregor. The UFC has tweeted some interesting statistics and records ahead of the two’s clash.
The interesting thing about this match is that McGregor is coming off a loss – a loss that came at the hands of the very same man he is going up against. This makes it difficult to know the current state of the sport’s most popular fighter. In the pair’s first meeting, the two were not even the main event. It was UFC 178 on September 27th, 2014 which saw Demetrius Johnson successfully defend his Flyweight championship against Chris Cariaso. Prior to that fight though, MMA fans around the world witnessed Poirier McGregor finish Poirier with a KO at 1:46 of the first round. In the years following that, both fighters would go on to build strong reputations for themselves. Eventually, the two were set to cross paths once more at UFC 257 on January 24th earlier this year. This time, the two met at lightweight and Poirier caused a major upset when he defeated McGregor via TKO in the second round.
McGregor has suffered losses before to major fighters (the likes of Khabib Nurmagomedov) but this loss really made people question whether The Notorious would hang up his gloves. McGregor has already made a name for himself in the sport, and has started ventures elsewhere so that wouldn’t be a major shock. There has been question as to whether McGregor still has that same hunger that once took him to great heights. Poirier, on the other hand, has been getting his flowers ever since. Many are realizing that there might have been some underestimation on their parts and appreciating Poirier’s talents more. Now, the two are set to clash once more to finally settle the score.
At the press conference, Mystic Mac pulled out his purple suit for the occasion and confronted a cool, calm and collected Dustin. During the face-off, tensions rose when McGregor kicked at Dustin.
Conor McGregor will definitely be looking to apply pressure but there’s a reason Poirier’s nickname is “The Diamond”. The pay-per view is set to begin at 6:15pm EST, with the main card beginning at 10pm EST on July 10th.
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