5 likely contenders for the Fight of the Night award at UFC 271
This weekend sees UFC 271 go down from Houston, Texas. While this event isn’t the most loaded card of all time, it should still be an entertaining one to watch.
UFC 271 not only features a huge headline fight between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker with the middleweight title on the line, but a number of other exciting fighters feature on the undercard.
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This means that there should be a number of potential candidates for the Fight of the Night award this weekend, with plenty of fighters vying for that all-important $50k bonus.
With that in mind, here are five likely contenders for the Fight of the Night award at UFC 271.
#5. UFC middleweight title: Israel Adesanya vs. Robert Whittaker
There’s no doubt that the middleweight title bout between Israel Adesanya and Robert Whittaker has the potential to be one of 2022’s most memorable fights.
Adesanya and Whittaker are almost undisputedly the best two 185lbers on the planet right now. Between them, they’ve essentially cleaned out one of the deepest divisions that the UFC has to offer currently.
So can these two middleweight stars put together a fight worthy of winning a $50k bonus? It’s definitely possible. After all, some of their previous clashes – Adesanya’s fight with Kelvin Gastelum, for instance, and Whittaker’s two with Yoel Romero – were outright classics.
There are a couple of things standing against them, though. Firstly, the promotion usually avoids handing the Fight of the Night bonus to the headliner unless it’s a clear classic. After all, the headline fighters tend to be the most highly paid on the card anyway.
Secondly, and probably more importantly, their first meeting was hugely one-sided and there are certainly question marks over whether Whittaker can make the adjustments needed to avoid this rematch going the same way.
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However, with the high stakes and the brilliant ability of both men inside the octagon, then it’d be impossible to write this one off as a contender for the most outstanding fight this weekend.