UFC 246: 5 Fights other than the Main Event to watch out for
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is set to start the year 2020 with a bang. During the 28th year of its operations, the largest MMA promotion in the world has a stacked fight card for UFC 246: McGregor vs. Cowboy. The event will be taking place on 18 January 2020, at T-Mobile Arena in Paradise, Nevada, part of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Area.
The main event marks the return of arguably the biggest draw in the history of the sport, former UFC Featherweight and Lightweight Champion, Conor McGregor against the former Lightweight title challenger Donald Cerrone. It is among the most-anticipated bouts in the MMA world. McGregor will make his much-anticipated return after his loss against Khabib Nurmagomedov in October 2018. Despite the bout being a non-title fight, it is expected to break pay-per-view figures. McGregor has headlined the top five highest-selling pay-per-view fights in UFC history, with his defeat to Nurmagomedov holding the record at 2.4 million buys.
In the co-main event, the former UFC Women's Bantamweight Champion, Holly Holm will square off against the former title challenger Raquel Pennington. The former UFC Bantamweight Champion made her mark in the MMA world with her brutal 2015 head-kick knockout of Ronda Rousey. The co-main event marks the rematch against Raquel Pennington. Holm earned her victory by the difference of a point over Pennington on her Octagon debut, utilizing the same solid takedown defense she will require this weekend.
The fight card showcases major bouts featuring upcoming stars of the sport and crafted veterans which is guaranteed to thrill hardcore MMA fans. The fight card showcases some of the veterans, titleholders in multiple promotions, performance award winners, fighters with undefeated professional records, and the Deaflympics wrestling titleholder from 2017. Check out the top 5 fights other than the main event and co-main event that is guaranteed to thrill the hardcore fight fans.
#5 Alexey Oleinik vs. Maurice Greene
Aleksei Oleinik (57-13-1) has his fighting career spanning 23 years since he had his first professional fight in the year 1997. He is a veteran of M-1 Global, ProFC, and IAFC and has competed for Bellator, KSW, and YAMMA Pit Fighting. The only fighter to win a UFC fight via Ezekiel choke, Oleinik has fought 71 bouts throughout his career with a record of 57 wins. Oleinik has also secured Performance of the Night at the UFC four times against Mark Hunt, Jared Rosholt, Viktor Pesta, and Júnior Albini.
The veteran is set to take on the upcoming star Maurice Greene (8-3-0). Greene started training MMA in his early 20s to lose weight after hitting the scale at 330 pounds. The inspiring journey of Greene took him to appear in The Ultimate Fighter 28 TV series ahead of competing in the Heavyweight division in the UFC. Both the fighters are back to compete after a loss and will look forward to reviving their fighting careers.