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The UFC will close out International Fight Week this weekend with its eighth pay-per-view event of the year as the promotion hosts UFC 290 on Saturday (10 p.m. ET on ESPN+ PPV, with prelims at 8 p.m. on ABC/ESPN/ESPN+, and early prelims on at 6 p.m. on ESPN+).
Two title fights will headline a card full of interesting matchups, 12 in total. Featherweight champion Alexander Volkanovski puts his belt on the line against interim champion Yair Rodriguez in the main event. And in the co-main event, men’s flyweight champion Brandon Moreno defends his title against Alexandre Pantoja.
Former UFC women’s featherweight title challenger and current ESPN MMA analyst Megan Anderson highlights the top storylines to watch during the action this weekend.
But really … what if he wins this fight?
When you look at this matchup, it’s expected that Whittaker, one of the best fighters in the sport (a -380 favorite), will win this fight.
Du Plessis has this uncanny ability to find ways to win, and that’s what makes him so dangerous. He’s not very technical. He gasses himself out and he’s unorthodox in his style. But he keeps winning because opponents keep underestimating him.
On film, his timing looks slow and labored. But he has so much trust in his chin and faith in his punching power that he’s willing to take risks that many fighters might not. These intangibles make his style so hard to replicate in training.
His ability to take a tremendous amount of punishment — while continuing to keep coming forward and pressuring his opponents — is commendable. And from an opponent’s perspective, it can be disheartening. But, if you ask me, not for Whittaker.
Whittaker, the former UFC middleweight champion, needs this win to get another shot at the title. A fight that, according to UFC president Dana White, will be in Whittaker’s hometown of Sydney in September. Of course, that fight would be against the man that took the belt from him, Israel Adesanya.
Leading up to this…
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