UFC 208 - A New Queen Will Be Crowned
On February 11th in Brooklyn, New York the first ever UFC women’s featherweight champion will be determined. Women’s Mixed Martial Arts continues to grow, with the UFC creating their third female division, marking the occasion with a main event title fight for a pay-per-view card. This should be an absolute barnstormer between two of the very best female strikers in combat sports, let alone MMA. Both are well versed in kickboxing but Holly Holm is a multiple world boxing champion and Germaine de Randamie is one of the most decorated Muay Thai fighters in the world. We cannot forget Holm is also the former UFC bantamweight champion after shocking the world and knocking out Ronda Rousey. Only in MMA could we get to see such a spectacle.
The co-main event welcomes back a legend in Anderson Silva in a glamorous match-up where we should see another striking spectacle. Silva’s stand up skills have electrified the MMA world throughout his career and he will hope that his opponent, Derek Brunson, will keep the fight on the feet to prove his own tenacious abilities.
See below for a full statistical breakdown of the main card:
Although De Randamie prefers to stand and strike, this is not a good match-up for Holm; she is an expert striker but was outclassed on the feet in her last fight against Valentina Shevchenko. De Randamie is one of the only female fighters to have superior striking statistics to Holm – will she be outclassed again?
Both fighters are uber confident on their feet. Silva relies more on his timing and precision whereas Brunson relies on his power and aggression. The stats suggest the ageing Silva will have enough to outclass Brunson, however he has had an extremely turbulent time in the octagon since his last win way back in 2012 – Brunson will do everything to make sure this continues.
A match-up the Souza camp surely can’t be happy with. Souza has been patiently waiting at the front of the line for a middleweight title fight, but injuries and bad luck have seen other fighters jump ahead of him and now he has been fed a fighter ranked outside the top ten. Boetsch is ranked #13 yet still poses a serious threat; he edges the stand up game with pure knock out power and is a strong grappler. However, Souza arguably has the best ground game out of any middleweight in the world. The multiple time Jiu-Jitsu world champion won’t be afraid to stand with Boetsch but will look to make quick work of him on the mat.
Another very exciting match-up. Teixeira is hoping to bounce back after Anthony Johnson uppercutted him into orbit in his last fight. Unfortunately for Teixeira, Cannonier is another terrifying prospect. The former heavyweight is making his second appearance as a lightweight and will have the weight and power advantage. He will hope to win the fight standing as the stats suggest, however the experienced Brazilian will be confident wherever the fight goes.
The stats are very even between these two veterans, and that is exactly what we should expect to see in the cage; a close, gritty contest between two very well-rounded and experienced fighters.