Ultimate Fighting Championship will surely celebrate more landmark fight events before the world’s premier mixed martial arts organization presents UFC 500, but it will be awhile before the impact of reaching UFC 200 is matched. The card for the July 7 debut of MMA at T-Mobile Arena during UFC’s annual Fight Week is topped by the second clash of Jon Jones and Daniel Cormier, this time for the undisputed light heavyweight title. The co-main event features the return of man-mountain Brock Lesnar from pro wrestling, with the four-time WWE world heavyweight champion taking on “Super Samoan” Mark Hunt. With two more title fights on the bill, UFC’s loss of Conor McGregor to early retirement in April seemed to be a distant memory.
That is until it was announced that McGregor would take on Nate Diaz—who handed the now-unretired featherweight champ his first and only defeat—in a welterweight rematch at UFC 202. What that means is reduced risk of post-UFC 200 anticlimax after Jones, UFC’s No. 1 pound-for-pound fighter, once again attempts to defeat Cormier. Anticlimax has never been an issue for UFC impresario Dana White before, though. The road to UFC has been long and brutal, with stars rising fast and sometimes falling faster. Before Lesnar and fighters such as UFC 200 interim featherweight championship contenders Jose Aldo and Frankie Edgar, there was a procession of top draws that now represent the eras they fought in.
Randy Couture and Chuck Liddell were the first to have their names included in the title when they met for the second time at UFC 52 in April 2005. By that time, fighters such as Vitor Belfort, Rich Franklin, Forrest Griffin, Matt Hughes, Frank Mir, BJ Penn, Georges St-Pierre, Tito Ortiz and Wanderlei Silva had already become the first superstars of the UFC, which launched in 1993 but entered a new era when brothers Lorenzo and Frank Fertitta of Station Casinos became investors in 2001. White took the helm and UFC evolved from an event in which fighters competed to prove whose martial arts style was best into a phenomenon in which fighters blended those styles into mixed martial arts.
Although fighters began entering the sport as mixed martial artists, they generally did have a specialty. Grappling, grounding and pounding, strikes and submission holds became the primary skills. The second generation of dynamic UFC fighters included Diaz, Urijah Faber, Rampage Jackson, Lesnar, Lyoto Machida and Anderson Silva, but in recent times it’s been fighters such as McGregor and Ronda Rousey drawing attention for the sport. McGregor perfected attention-getting antics, while Rousey drew the spotlight to the sport’s expanding roster of female competitors. Nowadays, it’s unusual to have a fight card without women.
UFC 200 has two matchups featuring fatal femmes. Bantamweight champion Miesha Tate puts her title on the line against Amanda Nunes, while Cat Zingano takes on Julianna Pena. Meanwhile, Edgar hopes a victory against Aldo will allow him to face McGregor in November’s UFC 205, which means Edgar is confident McGregor will defeat Diaz in August for UFC 202. UFC considers Lesnar’s return valuable enough to reduce his drug-testing windows and let him use his WWE walkout music at T-Mobile Arena.
With McGregor already bringing pro wrestling PR sensibilities to the table, who knows what the sport will resemble at UFC 500? One thing is for sure: with UFC breaking ground on a new 180,000-square-foot headquarters and training facility this year, MMA has a firmer foundation, and UFC appears to be here to stay.
UFC Fight Night, MGM Grand, 3 p.m. July 7, $44-$204 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
UFC Fan Expo, Las Vegas Convention Center, 10 a.m. July 8 & 10, $45 plus tax and fee, July 9, $50 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
The Ultimate Fighter, MGM Grand, 3 p.m. July 8, $44-$204 plus tax and fee. 800.745.3000 Ticketmaster
UFC 200: Daniel Cormier vs. Jon Jones 2, T-Mobile Arena, 3:30 p.m. July 9, starting at $205 plus tax and fee. 888.929.7849
