6 highly anticipated UFC fights that will happen soon
In a lot of respects, 2018 has been a disappointing year for the UFC. We haven’t had any truly major fights – ones that pique the interest of the absolute casual fan as well as the hardcore fan – and the promotion’s efforts to put together a ‘superfight’ simply didn’t take off – Stipe Miocic vs. Daniel Cormier ended up drawing a lower-than-expected pay-per-view buyrate.
With all that said though, it looks like the UFC has somehow loaded the back end of 2018 – and likely the early part of 2019 – with some truly amazing fights.
Here – in likely chronological order - are 6 highly anticipated upcoming UFC fights that the fans can’t wait to see.
#1: Tyron Woodley vs. Darren Till – UFC 228 – 09/08/18
UFC 228 seems to be flying under the radar somewhat as a truly loaded show, top-to-bottom, but clearly the fight that’s the most highly anticipated is the main event, a Welterweight title clash between champion Tyron Woodley and undefeated challenger Darren Till.
Strangely enough, the fight wasn’t supposed to be happening, at least not just yet. Colby Covington was expected to take the next shot at Woodley’s title after winning a contentious Interim title in June, but couldn’t make the date for UFC 228 and so the promotion has handed UK favourite Till the golden ticket instead.
Detractors would probably point to Woodley’s last two title defences – dull wins over Stephen Thompson and Demian Maia – and ask why this is such a highly anticipated fight, but really the selling point is the challenge that Till could provide for the champion.
Unbelievably self-confident, the Scouse striker is coming off a tight decision win over Thompson, but before that fight he’d destroyed respected veteran Donald Cerrone in under a round, and somehow he gives off the impression that he hasn’t quite shown the entirety of his MMA game just yet. At just 25, with 17 wins under his belt, he’s probably just about entering the prime of his career.
Woodley has turned back specialists before – a world-class striker in Thompson and a world-class grappler in Maia – but he’s never been faced with someone as large as Till is for 170lbs, and unlike the counter-striking ‘Wonderboy’, Till is likely to pressure the champion – a tactic used to much success by Rory MacDonald back in 2014.
Add in the fact that the challenger is a master of confident trash talk – not completely braggadocios like Conor McGregor, but simply oozing with an air of invincibility – and this is by far Woodley’s most compelling defense yet. If Till can win, he could well become the next big superstar for the UFC, particularly in the UK market.