After an eventful trip to London this past weekend, the UFC is back in the States for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 6 fight card, which takes place in Nashville.
In the main event, former two-time welterweight title challenger Stephen Thompson welcomes former lightweight champion Anthony Pettis to the 170-pound division. And judging from Pettis’ demeanor during his pre-fight interviews, he feels like a different fighter and is looking forward to testing himself in the upper division.
In the co-main event, Curtis Blaydes looks to hold onto his top-10 ranking in the heavyweight division against Justin Willis, who is looking to break into the top 15.
UFC on ESPN+ 6 takes place at Bridgestone Arena. The event streams entirely on ESPN+.
Here are seven burning questions about the fight card.
1. Can Stephen Thompson stay in the title mix?
Thompson has only one win in his past four fights, but the way he sees things, he’s not too far off from getting a third shot at the UFC welterweight title. Let Thompson, No. 5 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMA Junkie MMA welterweight rankings, explain his thinking.
“Having a new champion, I knew it was going to be better for my career,” Thompson told MMA Junkie. “Nobody wants to see Thompson vs. Woodley 3, and I kind of understood that. I would have to have two or three more fights before I even get that shot again. This, now that we’ve got a new champion, is going to be a faster way up.
“The division has changed dramatically since the last time I fought. Got a new champion, Darren Till got knocked out by a guy that I’ve already beat (Jorge Masvidal). It’s up in the air. I’m ranked No. 4 right now, so any one of us could be fighting for that title again.”
Thompson has a point, but the reality of the situation is that the UFC might be reluctant to give someone who’s already had two cracks at the title in the past two years another shot at gold so soon. That means Thompson likely will need a string of impressive victories before he is booked for another title fight. He gets his first opportunity to make his case against Pettis in Nashville.
2. Will Anthony Pettis’ big move have a big payoff?
Pettis is saying all the right things in the lead-up to his first UFC fight at welterweight, but you have to wonder: Is he trying to convince fans/media or himself of the reasons for his move to 170?
Pettis, the former UFC lightweight champ, endured a three-fight losing skid in 2015-16. He dropped to featherweight after that rough patch. While Pettis won his first bout at 145 pounds, he missed weight for an interim featherweight title fight against Max Holloway in 2016. Pettis lost that bout by TKO in the third round. The ex-champ then returned to lightweight where he proceeded to go 2-2. He announced his interest in welterweight in January not long after he lost to Tony Ferguson.
At the time Pettis put out feelers about moving up to 170, it felt like he was searching for something. His record over his past nine fights is 3-6. Those results have to be frustrating for a fighter who began his career at 18-2 and at one time was looked at as a possible crossover star. It’s understandable that Pettis feels a bit unmoored after tumbling from the No. 5 spot in the pound-for-pound rankings in 2015 to the No. 14 spot in the most recent lightweight rankings.
Pettis said the move to welterweight is not a one-off and that he plans on sticking around and staying busy. With a win, I would expect Pettis to stand by that statement, but if Thompson proves victorious in Nashville could that change Pettis’ mind? And where would he go from there?
3. Will Curtis Blaydes shut down Justin Willis’ talk in the cage?
If you take a look at the takedown stats in the UFC’s heavyweight division, you’ll see that Curtis Blaydes, after just seven bouts with the promotion, is near the top of the all-time leaderboard in takedowns landed and takedown accuracy. If Blaydes (10-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC) can land just one takedown against Justin Willis, he’ll move into a tie with Velasquez as the all-time leader. Willis (8-1 MMA, 4-0 UFC) insists he is not concerned about his opponent’s gaudy stats.
“That’s not a pride thing. That’s where I put in years and years of hard work being the nail,” Willis told MMA Junkie Radio. “With Cain (Velasquez) and (Daniel Cormier) I was the sparring partner, literally the only one that stuck around for years until I learned how to become the hammer. My question is: I haven’t seen in any fights where (Blaydes) answers correctly the moment where he became the nail. He automatically went to what he was comfortable with, and that’s his wrestling. I am utterly comfortable there.”
This matchup is a massive opportunity for Willis, who is a rankings honorable mention. He’s unbeaten in four UFC fights, but he’s been unable to garner much momentum from those victories. If Willis can get by Blaydes, who is currently the No. 7 in the division, he should get another shot at a highly ranked opponent in his next outing. However, Blaydes is no easy out as he he was on a six-fight unbeaten streak before Francis Ngannou knocked him out in November.
As for Blaydes, he sees Willis’ talk as just that – talk.
“I’m going to take him down,” Blaydes told MMA Junkie. “He’s not going to take me down; we’re going to take him down. He’s trying to play this thing like he’s a wrestler. He’s doing reverse psychology: ‘I’m so good at wrestling I don’t even have to wrestle.’ If you’re so good at wrestling, why have you never shot? How many finishes does he have in UFC? One? He just hasn’t been that impressive. So for someone to have the mouth he has, you would think he was (Francis) Ngannou. If Ngannou was talking this I would be like, ‘What are you going to say?’ This isn’t that guy.”
Blaydes badly needs a win here if he wants to remain in the top 10 of the division.
4. Can Maycee Barber continue to walk the walk?
Less than two years into her MMA career, Maycee Barber has fought once inside the octagon. Before that contest, a November matchup against Hannah Cifers, Barber said it was time to let her fighting do most of the talking for her.
“I’ve always said I want to be the youngest UFC champion, but it’s better to just let your actions speak and talk a little less,” Barber told MMA Junkie at the time. “So we’re going to say less and do more. You guys know, you’ll see where I go.”
Barber did get her hand raised in her UFC debut, notching a bloody second-round TKO win over Cifers. The one small blemish on Barber’s victory was that she missed the strawweight limit by a half-pound on her first trip to the scale. She made weight with extra time on her second attempt.
Barber’s fight in Nashville against J.J. Aldrich takes place at flyweight. Aldrich (7-2 MMA, 3-1 UFC) joined the UFC in 2016, a year before Barber (6-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) turned pro. Aldrich is on a three-fight winning streak entering this contest.
5. Could Marlon Vera or Frankie Saenz finally break through?
Two talented bantamweights on two-fight winning streaks meet when Marlon Vera (14-5-1 MMA, 6-4 UFC) and Frankie Saenz (13-5 MMA, 5-3 UFC) face off on the prelims. While neither of these men is currently ranked, a win here could land them a ranked opponent in their next outing.
Vera had spent his entire UFC career laboring under the knowledge that his young daughter needed facial surgery. When she underwent that operation before his UFC 227 knockout win over Wuliji Buren, Vera said he felt as if a weight had been lifted from his shoulders. He followed that victory with a submission win over Guido Cannetti.
Saenz ended a three-fight losing skid in December 2017 with a split-decision win over Merab Dvalishvili. He then earned a decision victory over Henry Briones in his next outing.
Both fighters have been close to breakthroughs earlier in their UFC careers but fell short when they stepped up in competition. Vera saw a three-fight winning streak come to an end when he dropped a decision to John Lineker in 2017 and Saenz saw his own three-fight UFC winning streak come to an end when Urijah Faber defeated him by decision in 2015.
6. Will the two flyweight bouts be a showcase for the division?
The UFC has held two men’s flyweight fights this year. The first saw Henry Cejudo retain his 125-pound title via a quick knockout of now former bantamweight champ T.J. Dillashaw in mid-January. The second saw Kai Kara-France defeat Raulian Paiva at UFC 234 in February. Now, here we are nearing the end of March, and this card features two men’s flyweight battles.
There have been rumors regarding the dissolution of the men’s flyweight division since Jose Torres was released by the promotion in November. And while UFC President Dana White has avoided directly answering any questions, the weight class is on shaky ground at best.
What the future holds for the four men fighting in Nashville is unknown, but I would expect them to be inspired to put on memorable performances.
The card opens with a flyweight matchup between Eric Shelton (12-5 MMA, 2-3 UFC) and Jordan Espinosa (13-5 MMA, 0-0 UFC), while on the main card, No. 5 ranked Jussier Formiga (22-5 MMA, 8-4 UFC) faces No. 6 Deiveson Figueiredo (15-0 MMA, 4-0 UFC).
As of now, the only other flyweight bout on the UFC schedule is the UFC 236 matchup between Wilson Reis and Alexandre Pantoja.
7. Will Alexis Davis or Jennifer Maia keep herself in title contention?
The women’s flyweight title will get its first defense in June when champion Valentina Shevchenko puts her belt on the line against the No. 5 ranked Jessica Eye at UFC 238. As for the the next challenger, it appears that will be determined by the bout between No. 14 Joanne Calderwood and No. 6 Katlyn Chookagian on the same card. After that, things are pretty wide open, which means the matchup between No. 8 Alexis Davis (19-8 MMA, 6-3 UFC) and No. 10 Jennifer Maia (15-5-1 MMA, 0-1 UFC) is an important one.
Another reason this fight carries some weight is that both of these women are coming off losses. The 125-pound division is still sorting itself out, but it’s hard to imagine a scenario where a fighter with two consecutive losses doesn’t get overlooked when the matchmakers are looking for potential future title challengers.
Thoughts to Ponder
Opportunity knocks
With just one UFC fight under his belt, a November decision win over Devin Powell, Jesus Pinedo gets an opportunity to face a veteran UFC competitor in a main-card contest in Nashville. Pinedo meets John Makdessi, who has been on the UFC roster since 2010. Makdessi defeated Ross Pearson by decision in a “Fight of the Night” bonus-winning battle in July to give him his first winning streak since 2013.
This matchup doesn’t do much for a UFC veteran like Makdessi (16-6 MMA, 9-6 UFC), but a win here for Pinedo (16-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC) could help get him noticed in a stacked lightweight division.
Safety first
If you ever needed a reminder not to store a live power drill in your pocket, look no further than Bryce Mitchell. The undefeated fighter known as “Thug Nasty” went viral in August when he suffered a horrifying injury after he decided to save some time and put a drill in his pocket while holding a board over his head. Well, that drill turned on while it was in Mitchell’s pocket. The resulting injury left Mitchell seeking medical attention.
Mitchell (10-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who is coming off a July win over Tyler Diamond, meets Bobby Moffett (14-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in a featherweight scrap. Moffett earned a controversial submission win over Chas Skelly in November.
Over the Hill?
Angela Hill was released by the UFC the last time she lost two fights in a row with the promotion. That happened in 2015. She signed with Invicta FC after she departed the UFC and ran off four straight wins. During that stretch, Hill also won and defended the Invicta FC strawweight title. That successful run earned Hill another shot with the UFC. Now 2-3 in her second stint with the UFC, Hill (8-5 MMA, 3-5 UFC), who is ranked No. 13 in the strawweight division, looks to avoid a second consecutive loss and an uncertain future when she faces Randa Markos on the prelims in Nashville. Markos (8-6-1 MMA, 4-5-1 UFC) is coming off a draw with Marina Rodriguez. Before that fight, Markos had alternated wins and losses in 12 straight outings.
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