UFC Fight Night 143 Preview: ESPN+ Debut, a Look at Cejudo/Dillashaw and Greg Hardy’s UFC debut
With UFC 143 just days away, let’s dive into the most important storylines heading into the first ESPN+ MMA event.
This Saturday will be a huge night for the UFC, as the company will make it’s ESPN debut. Last year, the UFC signed a $1.5 billion TV deal with the Worldwide Leader of Sports, which includes 20 cards on ESPN+, 10 cards on the regular ESPN network, and 12 PPV prelims on the ESPN networks for the next five years.
This weekend’s card will be headlined with a bout between current UFC World Flyweight Champion, Henry Cejudo (13–2), who will be defending his title against current UFC Bantamweight Champion, T.J. Dillashaw (16–3). This is a fight with huge stakes on the line, as it may be the final flyweight division fight in the UFC and will possibly crown the final UFC World Flyweight Champion. Recently, the UFC has seem to be getting rid of it’s flyweight division. The end of UFC’s flyweight division has been a very slow process, as of late. Last fall, the UFC traded their top flyweight, Demetrious Johnson, to ONE Championship. This came after Johnson broke Anderson Silva’s record for most successful UFC title defenses and losing his title to the current champ, Henry Cejudo. After that, they started getting rid of the flyweight division’s smaller stars and a rumor in December stated that they are officially planning to kill off their flyweight division.
With that being said, let’s take a look at this championship fight. Henry Cejudo is coming off the biggest win of his career against Demetrious Johnson at UFC 227, where he also was able to win the Flyweight Title. He’s a fantastic wrestler and that will be able to help him for his next fight a lot, and in his last fight, he showed major improvement in his boxing technique, which was a huge factor into him winning his last fight. Cejudo has shown that he has what it takes to be a potential star and solid champion in the future. A win in Saturday’s fight would be a huge way to keep his momentum going, as well as help him get more popularity.
Then, there’s the current UFC Bantamweight Champion, T.J. Dillashaw. Dillashaw is coming off a great title defense against former champion, Cody Garbrandt, who Dillashaw beat to win the Bantamweight belt at UFC 217. The two time Bantamweight Champion has had an solid career, but this fight will be one that could possibly solidify himself as one of the best of all time. An aspect of what makes this fight interesting is that instead of having Cejudo move up, Dillashaw will be the one moving down a division to have the superfight happen. This will be a bit of disadvantage for Dillashaw, but his size advantage will also help him a lot here. Dillashaw has a fantastic stand up game that he’s shown throughout his whole career and has had a lot of wrestling skills that he has displayed in his career, as well as had a high school and college career in. T.J.’s standing game will be a huge factor in this fight and will be a challenge for Cejudo to defend.
This superfight will be an interesting one and it will be exciting to see these two champions fight. Will Cejudo retain the gold or will TJ Dillashaw become the fourth two division champion in UFC history?
Another interesting, but heavily controversial fight will be Allen “Pretty Boy” Crowder (9–3, 1 NC) facing off against former NFL All-Pro, Greg Hardy (3–0). This fight has been heavily criticized by the media, due to Greg Hardy’s past domestic violence issues that caused him to be suspensed from the NFL, as well as the fact that his fight was announced after fellow MMA fighter, Rachel Ostovich (who is scheduled to face Paige VanZant on the same card), was part of a domestic violence incident. Despite the criticism, the UFC went along with it’s plans and also put Greg Hardy’s debut in the co-main event.
First, let’s take a look at Hardy’s first opponent, Allen Crowder. Crowder was able to earn a UFC contract, after winning his fight and impressing Dana White on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender series in July 2017. He later fought in his first official UFC fight at the UFC 218 PPV, in a KO loss to Justin Willis. Crowder has been an MMA journeyman and has competed on the MMA indies, as well as a KO win at Bellator MMA’s Monster Energy Fight Series. Out of his 9 fights that he won, he has won 5 of them by knockout. Be sure to look out for this prospect in this Saturday’s fight.
Next, let’s take a look at Greg Hardy. Greg Hardy is a former NFL defensive end, who had quite an impressive career. He was a huge part of the Carolina Panthers’ defense and was able to make the NFC Pro Bowl team and Second Team All-Pro in 2013. As mentioned before, Hardy was suspended and put on the commissioner’s exempt list, due to domestic violence issues that took place off the field. His career later ended, after the Cowboys released him, due to behavorial issues with the team. After a short stint in arena football, Hardy later got a second chance with MMA. He won his first amateur MMA fight in the first 32 seconds of the first round by TKO and managed to win his next two amateur fights by KO. He finished his amateur MMA career with a 3–0 record and officially went pro, when he competed on Dana White’s Tuesday Night Contender Series, where he got an impressive win over Austen Lane by KO, in the first 57 seconds of the first round. His performance impressed Dana White so much that he gave another invitation to Hardy for the Contender’s Series, where Hardy won in the first 17 seconds of the first round by TKO. After that, the UFC signed him to a deal and had him compete in an MMA indie first, where, once again, he managed to get a KO win in the first 53 seconds of the first round.
Both men have shown to be great knockout artists and both of their knockout power will be a huge factor in this Saturday’s fight. It will be exciting to see how these two prospects will do in this fight.
UFC Fight Night 143 will air this Saturday at 10 eastern time on ESPN+ and will also have prelims that will air on the main ESPN channel at 8pm eastern time, which features Donald Cerrone vs Alexander Hernandez as the headliner.
