If you look at Saturday’s UFC Vegas 33 main event in just the right light, you could see a future No. 1 contender by the end of the evening.
Maybe that’s a stretch. Maybe I’m putting too much stock in the most consistent run of Uriah Hall’s roller-coaster career or Sean Strickland’s unexpected surge at 185 pounds. Maybe I’m trying too hard to find a fresh challenger for the UFC middleweight championship once the Israel Adesanya-Robert Whittaker rematch is in the books.
But even if you just want to take tonight’s headliner at face value, it’s a compelling matchup, featuring one of the division’s true knockout artists and an opponent who has developed a reputation for busy standup battles and an even busier mouth.