We’re fast approaching the final numbered card of the year and UFC 269 looks like the perfect way to wrap up what has been a big year in the UFC. There are two championship fights at the top of the card with two of UFC’s Brazilian champions put their belts on the line. Dustin Poirier gets his shot at the lightweight belt with the main event fight against Charles Oliveira. The women’s GOAT Amanda Nunes will be defending her bantamweight belt in her fight against Juliana Pena to make up the card’s co-main.
An exciting welterweight match-up between Geoff Neal and Santiago Ponzinibbio is in the lead up to the title fights. Former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt is welcomed to the flyweight division by Kai Kara France in Garbrandt’s flyweight debut. The Suga Show continues to roll on with Sean O’Malley taking on Raulian Pava to open up the main card.
Charles Oliveira vs Dustin Poirier – Lightweight Champion Fight
Most of the talk in the build-up to this fight looks to be about Dustin Poirier finally picking up the lightweight belt. A lot of fans see him as the best lightweight in the world and herald him as the people’s champion. Poirier could’ve had his title fight earlier in the year but he decided to pick up a big bag of cash first by rerunning his fight against Conor McGregor. Looking back at it now, it looks to be a master play. Beating Conor McGregor twice would have done no harm at all for his name and his bank balance and now he has the chance to wrap up the year perfectly with the chance at winning the belt.
But all this talk about Dustin Poirier does Charles Oliveira a disservice. In the eyes of some of fighters and pundits in the MMA world, Oliveira is quick to throw in the towel based on some of his previous fights – tapping to strikes against Paul Felder is one moment that comes to mind. But this looks like a completely different Charles Oliveira. That quit wasn’t there when he was rocked against Michael Chandler and went on to win the fight and the lightweight belt. It definitely wasn’t there when he put together his current nine-fight win streak.
Oliveira and Poirier are extremely well-rounded fighters with both being comfortable in the stand-up, wrestling and on the ground. They both have very different fighting styles though. Poirier is more of a boxer moving forward with his square stance and overwhelming his opponent with volume striking. He loves forcing his opponents back against the cage and finishing them off with his range of technical strikes. He’s fought through the best in the division and has given the fans some of the best and gruelling fights.
Oliveira on the flip side has built his game on his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. He’s a master practitioner of the fighting style and makes Brazilian Jiu Jitsu look like artistry in motion. He’s got history of finishing fighters via submission on top, on his back and while standing and has an arsenal of submission techniques that he can use almost at will. As part of his growth in the UFC, his game has rounded out and now he also carries knockout power.
Both these fighters have put their name in the UFC history books. Olivera has the most UFC finishes (17), the most UFC submissions (14) and will be looking to tie the record for UFC bonuses in a win against Poirier. Poirier isn’t a stranger to a knockout or bonus either ranking in the top ten for both. Given what we’ve seen from both fighters in the octagon, I’ll be surprised if we aren’t talking about this fight in years to come.
This is a fight that is going to be difficult to split. A lot of pundits and fans are going the way of Poirier. If he is to win, he’ll have to keep it standing up and use his striking to pressurise Oliveira. If the fight does go to the ground, then it’ll be advantage Oliveira and that advantage will be quite a considerable margin. So a lot of the fight will hinge on whether Oliveira can get the fight to the mat. Oliveira showed that he is very comfortable wrestling in his dominant win against Tony Ferguson and I think that will be key.
I know there’s a lot of talk going Poirier’s way but I’m feeling particularly dogged so I’m going to be backing the champ (and underdog) to get it done. I feel Poirier will have success in the stand-up but ultimately Oliveira will be able to get him to the ground. And once the match is on the ground, it’ll be in Oliveira’s playground.
Charles Oliveira by submission.
Amanda Nunes vs Juliana Pena – Bantamweight Champion Fight
The women’s GOAT will be back in action in UFC 269 in another defence of her Bantamweight belt. In decades to come, people will be talking about Amanda Nunes and her reign over women’s mixed martial arts. She’s become a dominant presence in the women’s game walking in to all her recent fights as a heavy favourite.
Capable of knocking out her opponents on the feet and submitting them on the ground, she’s a scary proposition for both the women’s bantamweight and featherweight divisions. When it comes to her dominance, the cherry on top of the cake is that everyone is well aware of it. The pundits, the fans and most importantly her opponents. When they get locked in the cage with her, the fear in their eyes is visible. If it’s not at the beginning, it definitely is after they get hit in the face.
The thing about being at the top is at some point you’re going to have to come down. Juliana Pena is hoping to give Nunes a helping hand off her lofty perch. Pena is adamant she has the style to beat Nunes. If someone was to dethrone the bantamweight queen, you would think using a wrestling-based approach would be a good way to go so maybe… just maybe she has a point.
Pena would have to smother Nunes, force her into wrestling scrambles, take her down and keep her down for long periods of the fight if she is to have any chance of winning. The problem would be closing the distance to get initiate the wrestling without getting caught.
Since Amanda Nunes captured her belts, the impression is that the UFC have been lining fighters up and Nunes has been knocking them down, one after the other. That’s no disrespect to the fighters she’s fought but rather an indication that she’s so far ahead of the rest of the crowd, it looks like no one on the current UFC roster can beat her. The last time there was any genuine consideration of an Amanda Nunes loss was against Cris Cyborg and she ended that fight in less than a minute.
This fight looks like another notch on Nunes continued road to growing greatness. It’s difficult to look past anything but a Nunes win here.
Amanda Nunes by KO.
The White Belts 