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| Holly Holm, Miesha Tate |
This afternoon the UFC finally announced that Holly Holm will defend the UFC Bantamweight Championship against Miesha Tate on UFC 197 Mar. 5 at the MGM Grand in Las Vegas. In the co-main event, Rafael Dos Anjos will defend his UFC Lightweight Championship against UFC Featherweight Champion Conor McGregor. This was first reported last week by Jeremy Botter of Bleacher Report. Today the UFC issued a press release and there will be a press conference next week. This show was supposed to happen in Brazil. But the UFC recently moved it to Las Vegas. There was some wrangling going on that delayed the announcement. Last month, the UFC insisted that Holly would sit around and wait for a Ronda Rousey rematch probably on UFC 200 in July. Fortunately they came to their senses and agreed to have Holly defend the belt against Miesha Tate. They can still do Holly vs Ronda in July. Of course Miesha was promised the title shot that Holly was given. So she was on the outs with the UFC for a while. And she said she even considered retirement. Now she is getting the title shot that she rightfully earned. Here's the thing about Holly Holm. It's one thing to win the title. It's another thing to keep it especially when her coach Mike Winklejohn admitted to deliberate sandbagging in her first two UFC fights. You can only do that once. Now there are no surprises. If Miesha can take Holly down and grind her as Miesha did in her most recent win over Jessica Eye, she can win the fight. If Holly can keep it standing, she can win the fight with one of her head kicks. Of course Miesha could win by submission but five rounds of lay and pray is a possibility. That would be a very long fight if the ref allows it. The atmosphere at this show is going to be insane. You'll have the Brazilian fans for Dos Anjos and McGregor's Irish fans. But also, NASCAR is in Las Vegas that weekend. And NASCAR's Kevin Harvick manages Miesha Tate. A lot of the drivers like Jimmy Johnson and Dale Earnhardt Jr. are big UFC fans. I expect a lot of them will be at the show. And Harvick also manages Rose Namajunas so put her on the show too. I don't know about setting records but this will be a big show.
I am glad for Miesha Tate, she has paid her dues now its time for her to get another shot at the title. We will see if Holly Holm can defend the title successfully or not. I guess this is where I may break down and actually pay for a UFC show for once, if for no other reason than to see a crazy crowd if Vegas going Batshit at the fights. Hope to see you on Twitter that night Frank, it should be a fun, crazy night of fights. Yours Defshepard.
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