UFC 259 is set for Saturday night from the UFC APEX facility in Las Vegas, and this week’s card has three title fights on the card. Jan Blachowicz will defend his UFC Light Heavyweight belt against Israel Adesanya; Amanda Nunes will see if Megan Anderson can take her UFC Women’s Featherweight belt away, and Aljamain Sterling will challenge Petr Yan for his UFC Bantamweight title.
There’s a full card of excitement, so take a look at the full card as well as our UFC betting thoughts on the three title fights.
UFC 259 Preview
Main Card (Pay Per View)
Jan Blachowicz vs Israel Adesanya (UFC Light Heavyweight Championship)
Amanda Nunes vs Megan Anderson (UFC Women’s Featherweight Championship)
Petr Yan vs Aljamain Sterling (UFC Bantamweight Championship)
Islam Makhachev vs Drew Dober (Lightweight)
Aleksandar Rakic vs Thiago Santos (Light Heavyweight)
Preliminary Card (ESPN / ESPN+)
Dominick Cruz vs Casey Kenney (Bantamweight)
Song Yadong vs Kyler Phillips (Bantamweight)
Joseph Benavidez vs Askar Askarov (Flyweight)
Early Preliminary Card (ESPN+ / UFC Fight Pass)
Kennedy Nzechukwu vs Carlos Ulberg (Light Heavyweight)
Sean Brady vs Jake Matthews (Welterweight)
Rogerio Bontorin vs Kai Kara-France (Flyweight)
Jan Blachowicz (27-8, 10-5 UFC, -+190) vs Israel Adesanya (20-0, 9-0 UFC, -230) gives us one of the best quick success stories in UFC, as Adesanya has only been in the promotion for three seasons. His debut came in a stoppage win over Rob Wilkinson, and it only took him 14 months to win the interim middleweight belt from Kelvin Gastelum. He took the belt full-time from Robert Whittaker six months later. His first middleweight title defense was a bit of a mess against Yoel Romero, as the fight turned into a slog that Adesanya barely won on points. His next defense, a demolition of Paulo Costa, was more of a return to his usual domination.
Now, Adesanya looks to take two titles when he challenges Blachowicz for the light heavyweight belt. It took a while for Blachowicz to become a contender as he dropped four of his first six fights, knocking out Ilir Latifi in his debut and beating an elderly Igor Pokrajac on the cards. After he beat Devin Clark in 2017, though, his style finally clicked as he went more to his jab and relied on picking apart opponents with less technical skill. His knockouts of Luke Rockhold and Corey Anderson were emphatic, and then Blachowicz beat Dominick Reyes in the bout for the light heavyweight title that Jon Jones had vacated. Both of these fighters like to counter, and Blachowicz can bring the bombs. However, Adesanya’s speed edge should help him.
Final Prediction:
Adesanya wins via knockout
Amanda Nunes (20-4, 13-1 UFC, -1165) vs Megan Anderson (11-4, 3-2 UFC, +700) has closed a bit as far as betting odds go, but it still looks one-sided. Nunes has not lost since winning the bantamweight title back at UFC 200, and now she has the bantamweight and featherweight belts, lodging her claim as the greatest female MMA fighter of all time. She finished Ronda Rousey, Holly Holm and Cristiane Justino all in the first round — and only Holm made it past the first minute.
This is an interesting opponent for Nunes, as Anderson is over six feet, the largest fighter that Nunes has faced. Anderson has the strength to bring knockout power, but she has been fairly easy to get to the mat and then beat in the clinch. She did get out of the clinch and delivered a knockout to beat Norma Dumont, and then she beat Zarah Fairn dos Santos with a triangle choke, so her wrestling has improved. Has it improved enough? It’s doubtful.
Final Prediction:
Nunes wins via submission
Petr Yan (15-1, 7-0 UFC, -115) vs Aljamain Sterling (19-3, 11-3 UFC, -105) gives us another champion who shot up the division, as it only took him 25 months to go from UFC debut to bantamweight champion. He demolished Teruto Ishihara, Jin Soo Son and Douglas Silva de Andrade. Then he beat John Dodson, Jimmie Rivera, two more venerable veterans, on the cards. He took down Jose Aldo to win the belt after Henry Cejudo vacated the belt.
Aljamain Sterling has been in UFC since 2014, but alternating wins and losses meant that he had a long road to contender status. He got knocked out by Marlon Moraes in just 1:07. He did come back in 2019, and his striking finally looks polished, to go along with a strong ground game. In June, he steamrolled Cory Sandhagen, choking him out in just 1:28. Sterling will come in looking to win on the ground, but Yan has shown considerable skill down there even though he likes to push forward and keep the fight up. Sterling has the length to keep Yan from coming in, but Yan should be able to impose his will eventually.
Final Prediction:
Yan wins via decision
UFC Betting Odds
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