UFC Fight Night 112: Michael Chiesa vs Kevin Lee
Date: Saturday 25th June 2017. 2am (BST)
Location: Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
Venue: Chesapeake Energy Arena
Michael Chiesa vs Kevin Lee
This is a highly anticipated lightweight bout mainly due to the bad blood between the two. At the UFC Summer Kickoff press conference in May, with all the cameras and attention on them, things heated up rather quickly. Chiesa and Lee stole the headlines by getting into a scrap on stage. Talking about how the fight will play out, Lee exclaimed: ‘I just hope he shows up cos I know his momma got tickets...’. This went down like a sack of spuds, provoking Chiesa to storm across to the stage where Lee threw a punch, forcing the two to be quickly broken up and escorted off.
Fans will undoubtedly hope to see this animosity continue in the cage. Both fighters will look to test each other’s chins but their strengths lie in their grappling. This fight promises to be an incredibly even contest with hardly anything between them regarding the stats.
See below for a statistical breakdown:
Tim Boetsch vs Johny Hendricks
Both these men have had a rather turbulent time in their last few fights, struggling for any consistency. They have been around for a long time and are true UFC veterans, but will probably be thankful they are not up against a young gun looking to make a name for themselves.
Hendricks has finally decided to move up to middleweight as he kept missing the 170lb mark, and enjoyed his first win in four fights against Hector Lombard. He looked more like the Hendricks that took Georges St. Pierre the distance, and although Boetsch lost to Ronaldo Souza in his last fight, he will be hoping the best Hendricks turns up to put on a war.
See below for a statistical breakdown:
Felice Herrig vs Justine Kish
A tantalising match-up between two high-level Kickboxers. Leveraging her strong background in Kickboxing and Muay Thai, Herrig has earned her place in a very talented strawweight division, and although her most recent fight with Alexa Grasso was won with a controversial decision, prior to this she put on her best career performance in cinching a rear-naked choke against Kailin Curran.
Kish is also an elite-level Kickboxer and possesses a 2nd degree black belt in Kempo Karate, which has aided her in a flawless start to her promising MMA career. She is 6-0 and desperate to prove herself and outclass Herrig, but both ladies also have strong ground games so the fight really could go anywhere:
See below for a statistical breakdown:
Joachim Christensen vs Dominick Reyes
Reyes steps in at late notice for Azamat Murzakanov and cannot wait to perform on his UFC debut. He boasts another flawless record and has looked spectacular in the process, with five finishes (four KO’s and one submission) from his six wins. He takes on the elder statesman looking to make a run in the light heavyweight division after losing two of his three UFC fights. The Dane will have to call on all of his experience to prevent Reyes from stealing the show.
See below for a statistical breakdown:
Tim Means vs Alex Garcia
‘The Dirty Bird’ takes on Garcia, who looks like he was designed in a laboratory – an immense athlete with many touting him to compete for a title in the future. The Dominican Republic native intends to notch up his fifth UFC win with a finish, which should produce a spectacle as Means is a dangerous slugger with the same intentions. He would love nothing more than to put his ‘no contest’ and loss to Alex Oliveira behind him with a KO.
See below for a statistical breakdown:
BJ Penn vs Dennis Siver
One of the biggest MMA legends of all time and a UFC ‘Hall-of-Famer’, BJ Penn graces the octagon. Although thoroughly past his prime and on the back of a brutal loss to the young Yair Rodriguez, it is great to see him back in the cage. Here he faces an appropriate opponent in Siver, who is the same age and also heading towards the end of his career. Although Siver is still dangerous, this should be a more even contest.
See below for a statistical breakdown:
