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On a card not blessed with distinctly even-looking contests, a trio of fighters are anticipated to prevail at UFC 267. Something lower than emphatic victories might show this to be a no-win state of affairs for them.
The lot of an MMA fighter coming into a contest as a heavy favourite is just not essentially an enviable one. Cliched evaluation would name out complacency as the best hazard when the expectation based mostly on obvious skill is victory, whereas the fact is extra nuanced than that.
The style of victory can also be essential in these conditions – and Petr Yan, Islam Makhachev and Khamzat Chimaev face opponents whose motivation has been topped up with out the slightest of want for phrases from their groups forward of Saturday’s motion on Struggle Island.
Assured backers should make investments a lot to make sure a hefty return on the trio ought to they succeed within the octagon, such are their quick odds on Saturday. That’s although Chimaev is returning to battle for the primary time since a Covid ordeal that just about made him stop the game, with a dismantling evidently anticipated by bookmakers of Li Jingliang, a fighter whose UFC profession stretches greater than six years longer than his personal.
Chimaev has been filled with menacing phrases forward of his return after greater than 13 months out. Vastly in style on social media, he’s adept at soundbites and will effectively present the sort of speedy conclusion he produced when he wanted a full 17 seconds to cope with the established Gerald Meerschaert in his final struggle.
Li, although, regarded intent on the weigh-in and has by no means been knocked out. UFC president Dana White fast-tracked Chimaev to a US visa for his assembly with Meerschaert in an obvious manifestation of his mooted perception that the Chechen-born star might quickly be a title holder, and the concussive prospect was eager to remind reporters that his earlier quickfire wins have come in opposition to opponets with respectable information.
Li has the tantalizing prospect of changing into the primary identify to provide Chimaev a big contest, not to mention beat him. If he doesn’t come out swinging instantly, anticipate that to be a mirrored image of the tactical experience he has accrued – and an prolonged scrap would improve considerations from Chimaev’s huge fanbase that he has not recovered from the an infection that made him publicly ponder quitting.
Whether or not there’s something to be really learn right into a weigh-in saga during which Chimaev struggled to hit the restrict is debatable, however it’s certainly cause for warning in opposition to one of many extra skilled names he might have confronted in his comeback struggle, and one who grinned his method via a press convention whereas pledging to let his fists do the speaking.
Islam Makhachev is being touted as a successor to Khabib Nurmagomedov, which makes each struggle he’s a part of appear like a decisive second for his future.
Dan Hooker, who he’ll struggle in Abu Dhabi, has ample respect for Makhachev and doesn’t look notably fazed by the thought of going through a person touted as able to following Nurmagomedov as light-weight champion.
Solely a 3rd successive submission can be prone to appease Makhachev critics, and Hooker has been riled by his assertion that the New Zealander is especially motivated by cash, no matter the consequence.
Makhachev is unbeaten in additional than six years. Within the parlance of additional cliches, Hooker has nothing to lose. It’s each a place the Dagestani has needed to familiarize himself with and a state of affairs that the 30-year-old can’t afford to even subconsciously take calmly, with Hooker setting himself as party-thwarter.
Petr Yan stays in a faintly ridiculous state of limbo. The bantamweight was beating Aljamain Sterling when a rash knee noticed him disqualified for an unlawful shot in March, and the summit of the division has been in an odd state of inertia ever since, with Sterling requiring surgical procedure and fascinating in on-line spats with Yan whereas some declare that the American could by no means return to motion.
Yan should suspect that he won’t ever have the possibility to avenge his nominal defeat to Sterling, so his assembly with Cory Sandhagen ostensibly represents an opportuniy to let off some steam greater than seven months since that vastly controversial first defeat of his profession.
All of which represents a big incentive for Sandhagen, who’s greater than a ‘dwell’ opponent and is very able to giving Yan bother together with his timing and expertise.
Sandhagen’s steadfast posture when Yan moved his head in the direction of him throughout their face-off could possibly be construed as admirable proof of his innate confidence forward of their conflict. Yan will probably be in a specific amount of exile ought to he undergo an upset, maybe doomed to be outlined by that unusual setback that was the results of his misdemeanor in opposition to Sterling.
The predicament he faces encapsulates the purpose of all three favored fighters: victory, as all the time, is paramount, however convincing performances make issues incalculably sweeter and of higher worth when title reckonings are afoot.
By Ben Miller
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