The UFC starts its 2021 roster with a blast on Saturday.
UFC on ABC 1 marks the return of the promotion to network television after a two-year absence since it left former broadcast partner FOX Sports. It is the first of three events in eight days in Abu Dhabi. And the first major UFC event of 2021 looks like a possible barnburner on paper, as UFC featherweight champion Max Holloway faces the rapid rise of Calvin Kattar, who is in five parts.
UFC on ABC 1 will take place on Saturday at the Etihad Arena in Abu Dhabi. The main card is broadcast on ABC and broadcast on ESPN + after the previous steps on ESPN +.
Without further ado, then, here are five hot questions that the UFC should answer on ABC 1.
How will Max Holloway respond at a key professional crossroads?
Max Holloway
Holloway (21-6 MMA, 17-6 UFC) has lost three of his last four fights, but not all stretches from 1 to 3 are the same.
In UFC 236, Holloway, as featherweight champion, gained weight and held out five rounds before losing a decision to Dustin Poirier in a fight for the provisional title. In UFC 240, he defeated Frankie Edgar in a title defense. At UFC 245, he suffered a clear loss against Alexander Volkanovski by unanimous decision. At UFC 251, Volkanovski won a highly controversial split decision, as many, including this reporter, felt Holloway won the fight.
A 1-3 in these circumstances, fighting the best competition in the world, getting away in every fight and probably being stolen in one, is very different from a fighter who loses three out of four and seems to have finished.
But this still does not mitigate the cold facts of the situation: Volkanovsky remains the champion; Holloway will have a long way to go as long as it is, and competition will not be easier. Kattar (22-4 MMA, 6-2 UFC) is in tears, so Holloway’s first untitled fight since 2016 should serve as a gauge of whether he will get another shot.
Can Calvin Kattar make his most definitive statement?
It might seem like Kattar is an emerging perspective that burst in in recent years. After all, we only have three and a half years left in his UFC debut, when he achieved what was then considered an annoying victory against Andre Fili in the UFC 214.
But in reality, this has meant a long climb for Kattar. This week, talks appeared on Twitter noting the fact, but forgotten, that Kattar competed for the bottom card of the legendary June 2008 Elite XC event on CBS, which was headlined by the late Kimbo Slice against James Thompson.
The Bostonian has struggled professionally since 2007, three years before Holloway made his debut.
Some get on the fast track. Some come the hard way. Kattar’s career reaches its peak, with enough experience to have seen it all done, while he is still young enough, at 32, to be at the forefront of his physical game.
Twelve years later, he has a chance to fight a world-class competitor like Holloway. And with that, the opportunity to show that we should be more attentive from the beginning.
Matt Brown against Carlos Condit arrive very late. And what?
Carlos Condit vs. Matt Brown
Maybe you came during Ronda Rousey’s ascent and you don’t know what Matt Brown was like during his heyday.
Or maybe you started watching while Carlos Condit was on a five-game losing streak and wondered what the hustle and bustle of “The Natural Born Killer” was.
If you missed the first ones, well, you missed it. Condit (31-13 MMA, 8-9 UFC) was a championship-level fighter who never lost his talent for exciting bloodbaths along the way. Brown (22-17 MMA, 15-11 UFC) never reached Condit’s title level, but he pulled the most out of his talent and complemented it with a pure heart, culminating in a streak of UFC victories. of seven fights since 2012-14.
Along the way, Brown vs. Condit was promoted as a dream fight in all action. It was scheduled twice and dropped both times.
It’s here now. Brown just turned 40 years old. Condit will be 37 in April. Both have been treated for injuries. Neither will make another title. But Condit manages to win and Brown has won two of three. Condit is in the final fight of his deal with the UFC, and Brown has hinted that this could be his last tango, so they both have a lot of motivation.
Maybe this is not the fight it could have been a decade ago, but we appreciate that this fight has finally come and sit and enjoy.
Can Santiago Ponzinibbio take the place where he left him?
It was both a declarative victory and the culmination of a long journey: Santiago Ponzinibbio eliminated Neil Magny in the fourth round of the UFC Buenos Aires main event, a memorable moment in his hometown, his seventh victory consecutive, his second “Performance of the Night” in three fights, and a definitive statement that he had reached the first rung of the welterweight division.
This fight was held in November 2018, and was the last we saw of Ponzinibbio (27-3 MMA, 9-2 UFC) until this week. Injuries and health problems, such as staph infection, sidelined him just after his greatest moment, and the split has changed quite a bit in his absence.
Will the rust of the ring be endangered or can Ponzinibbio take the place where he left it? It’s really as simple as for the Argentine, who faces a solid substitute for Li Jinliang (17-6 MMA, 9-4 UFC) on the main card of the night.
Can Joaquin Buckley continue to drive the momentum?
Look, unless Joaquin Buckley becomes the next-generation version of a first-person Anderson Silva, it’s unlikely we’ll see anything that comes close to his all-time Impa Kasanganay knockout.
But Buckley seems to be in the process of doing something more important in the long run: establishing that he is on his way to becoming a legitimate candidate in the middleweight division.
Buckley (12-3 MMA, 2-1 UFC) turned from his October viral climax and fought Jordan Wright a month later in UFC 255, and this time showed patience and patience at the time. of Wearing Wright and Using Old School Ground. and delivers to win a second-round TKO.
So Buckley has shown that he can do it both in a striking way and in a sandy way. He is now back in his third fight in three months, facing Alessio Di Chirico (12-5 MMA, 3-5 UFC). This may not be the fight that will make him head of the division, but three wins in three months would be a good way to show that you are eager to prove that you are ready to climb this ladder and climb it quickly.