For a fight card that featured one of the most hyped fights in UFC history between Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier and no Australian fighters this past weekend, UFC 214 certainly delivered plenty of news for Australian fight fans.
Cyborg vs. Anderson in Sydney?
Brazilian phenomenon Cris Cyborg continued her push to be called the greatest female fighter of all time by easily dismantling American Tonya Evinger. Evinger to her credit was tough and pushed Cyborg to a third round, but the massive gap in striking class between the two fighter eventually showed and Cyborg got the victory via knock-out.
Australian Megan Anderson was originally slated to fight the Brazilian but pulled out of the fight a month before due to personal reasons that have remained undisclosed.
However, in her post UFC 214 press-conference Cyborg remained open to fight Anderson, even saying that she would come out to Australia to do it.
“I don’t know about Megan, maybe she can’t fight in (the) USA, maybe I can go to Australia and fight her, I want to fight,” Cyborg said.
With a UFC card in Sydney coming up in November, a fight between the now UFC featherweight champion Cris Cyborg and Megan Anderson would certainly continue the rise of MMA in Australia.
Cyborg however, also expressed interest in fighting Holly Holm next, and it would seem that Dana White is on board with the matchup.
“I was just talking to Holly Holm back there and it seems like she’s interested,” White said. “I like Holly versus Cyborg, I think it’s a good fight.”
Whittaker’s path becomes clear
Interim middleweight champion Robert Whittaker’s path to his championship shot has become much clearer after the co-main event of UFC 214 for the welterweight championship.
Yes. You read that right, the middleweight title picture is now very clear after the welterweight title bout.
“If you ask the fans whether they want to see Woodley fight again, I think you’ll get a flat out no,” were the words of UFC president Dana White after Tyrone Woodley’s unanimous decision victory over Demian Maia.
Both fighters were told before the fight that the winner would get to fight MMA legend Georges St-Pierre. However, Woodley’s performance was seen as not being anywhere good enough to earn him what would be a massive payday against St-Pierre.
White has now stated that Michael Bisping vs. GSP is now the fight that is going to happen and the rumours swirling around are that it is going to headline the Madison Square Garden card this November.
So where does Robert Whittaker fit in to this picture?
“So, whoever wins that fight between Bisping and GSP, Whittaker will fight the winner,” were the words of Dana White, providing a sense of calm to fans of Whittaker who may have been fearing he might be getting lost in the return of GSP.
Whittaker won’t be able to fight again until 2018 due to the knee injury that he sustained in his victory over Cuban Yoel Romero.
The aftermath of the biggest fight card of the year so far has thrown up many exciting possibilities for Australian fight fans and hopefully a few announcements about these fights are to be heard in the coming weeks and months.
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