UFC 220: Miocic v Ngannou, Cormier v Oezdemir preview

Spectacular night awaits in Massachusetts

There’s a heavyweight night of action in store for fight fans as UFC 220 sees two title fights take place at the TD Garden in Boston.

It’s a co-main event as Daniel Cormier defends his light heavyweight title against Volkan Oezdemir. And that’s then followed by Stipe Miocic defending his heavyweight title against Francis Ngannou.

It promises to be a cracking night of MMA and the Coral News Team has delved into both fights for analysis and predictions.

Cormier v Oezdemir

This light-heavyweight bout is rather strange in that Cormier – 3/10 to win here – is the defending champion. And yet he is the one coming off the back of a defeat.

The champion lost to Jon Jones at UFC 214 in brutal circumstances. Jones subsequently failed a drug test and the result was overturned.

That’s in comparison to the challenger, Oezdemir, who has won his last five straights fight. The Swiss knockout artist has won 15 of his 16 MMA bouts, with just one defeat.

Cormier is a world-class all-rounder with good standout up and Olympic-standard wrestling skills. The American will likely look to take this fight to the ground to counter Oezdimir’s superior striking.

The Swiss fighter’s only defeat came by submission to Kelly Anundson at Bellator 115. And that’s probably where Cormier will concentrate his efforts.

But the momentum on both fighters’ end couldn’t be more different – and that could be a huge factor. Cormier has been there and done it – and he only remains the champ by default.

Can he stop the new breed in Oezdemir? The Coral News Team don’t think so. ‘No Time’ is going to rush Cormier and catch him cold.