The UFC checks off another nation on its list of countries visited when the company holds its first event in Denmark on Saturday.
UFC on ESPN+ 18 goes down in Copenhagen. Like most UFC on ESPN+ cards, this one won’t go down among the deepest ever held. And like most ESPN+ events, despite that qualifier, there are still several good reasons to tune in.
That includes, in no small part, the main event, which is an intriguing middleweight showdown between Jack Hermansson and Jared Cannonier.
Sweden’s Hermansson (20-4 MMA, 7-2 UFC) has established himself in the top tier at 185 pounds this year. The MMA Lab’s Cannonier (12-4 MMA, 5-4 UFC), meanwhile, is exactly one win over a fighter of Hermansson’s caliber of getting there himself.
UFC on ESPN+ 18 takes place Saturday at Royal Arena and streams entirely on ESPN+.
Without further ado, then, here are five burning questions heading into Saturday’s affair:
Can Jack Hermansson hold his spot?
A 49-second knockout of former WSOF two-division champion David Branch on March 30 announced to the world that Hermansson, was, well, no joke. A short-notice dominant victory over former Strikeforce champion Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza just four weeks later showed that “The Joker” belongs on the short list of serious contenders at 185 pounds.
The problem from there is that those still above Hermansson on the pecking order mostly have fights lined up — most notably the upcoming bout between champion Robert Whittaker and interim titleholder Israel Adesanya — or have fought recently and aren’t ready for another go, like Yoel Romero and Paulo Costa, who had a war with each other at UFC 241.
So for Hermansson, that meant either sit out waiting for one of those big names to maybe give you the time of day and risk losing your momentum if they don’t, or take another fight to stay active and risk taking a step backwards.
The Swedish standout opted for the latter, which honestly isn’t a surprise, given he’s never backed away from a challenge. And now he finds himself on the opposite side of the spot he was in just a few months ago: Cannonier has found his groove since going down to 185 pounds. And while his finish of Anderson Silva at UFC 237 is a bigger name, Hermansson would be a statement over a contender in his prime.
All that makes for one intriguing main event.
Can Jared Cannonier take another step up the ladder?
Few fighters have made more noteworthy improvements in their game since Cannonier left the Alaskan tundra for the deserts of Arizona and took up shop full time at the highly respected MMA Lab.
Over the first three years of his UFC stint, Cannonier looked exactly like a guy with real potential who simply hadn’t figured out how to put it all together, as he went 3-4 in his first seven fights and bounced from heavyweight down to light heavyweight.
Then he switched camps, dropped to middleweight, and began looking like someone who has found what he’s looking for. Cannonier has been superb in back-to-back finishes of Branch and Silva, and a victory over Hermansson would be his turn to announce that it’s time to take him seriously as a contender.
Is Gunnar Nelson destined to be a gatekeeper?
We know what Gunnar Nelson can do at his finest. The SBG Ireland product out of Iceland has four “Performance of the Night” bonuses among his eight career UFC wins, and they’ve usually come when he’s been able to implement his high-level grappling game.
But somewhere along the way, fighters wised up to the notion that Nelson isn’t the most well rounded. And besides, he’s never had the same swagger to his ground game since Demian Maia thoroughly outclassed him at UFC 194.
The Maia loss kicked off a 3-3 stretch, including losses to Santiago Ponzinibbio and Leon Edwards in his past two fights. Those are the sorts of losses that earn you the “gatekeeper” tag. A loss to Gilbert Burns (16-3 MMA, 9-3 UFC), who has been looking for his signature win in the welterweight division, very well might make that tag stick.
Has Ion Cutelaba learned from his mistakes?
Last time we saw the fighter nicknamed “The Hulk,” he was matched up against Glover Teixeira. Ion Cutelaba sure got himself attention, all right, by making fun of Teixeira, one of the nicest guys in the game, calling him old and tearing up his picture at the weigh-ins.
That old man then went out and taught him a lesson, as he weathered Cutelaba’s early storm, surged when Cutelaba gassed out, and then finished him with a rear-naked choke in the second round.
It’s a valuable reminder that respect and humility still mean something, even in this day of exaggerated trash talk.
Cutelaba (15-4 MMA, 3-3 UFC) is on the fence in the light heavyweight division. He’s proven he’s got the power to score fast finishes, but he’s also looked real bad in his losses, and his 3-3 UFC record is about right. Will the embarrassing manner in which he lost Teixeira be the motivation to kick things up another level, or will he be just another guy who does his time in the UFC and moved on? Saturday’s fight with an equally inconsistent foe in Khalil Rountree (8-3 MMA, 4-3 UFC) should help tell the story.
Can Nicolas Dalby make the most of his second chance?
We’ll admit: It’s difficult for us in the media not to have a bit of a soft spot for Danish welterweight Nicolas Dalby, who we’ve seen running around with press credentials at UFC events playing the role of reporter.
But you don’t have to relate to Dalby (17-3-1 MMA, 5-1-1 UFC) on that level to appreciate his path back to the UFC. Dalby was surprisingly dropped by the UFC in 2018 after going 0-1-1 over a two-fight span, with the draw going against future title challenger Darren Till. He got right back to work and has won three straight bouts via finish in the Cage Warriors circuit, earning an interim title along the way.
Dalby openly campaigned for a return to the UFC on the UFC’s debut card in his homeland. And he got his wish. Now he’s got one of the fights truly worth making time for on this card, when he faces a competitor who is always exciting, win lose, in Brazil’s Alex Oliveira (20-7-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC). With a dance partner like “Cowboy,” there’s a decent chance Dalby’s return ends with a “Fight of the Night” bonus.
