We are extremely excited for UFC 220. And no, it’s not because the card is great, as a whole. It’s because Francis Ngannou is a terrifying mystery, and if Miocic beats him, he will have officially compiled the best championship run in UFC heavyweight title history.
We tap into the mystery of Ngannou on this week’s edition of Heavy Hands, and explore the options which Miocic might have against him. Daniel Cormier’s title fight with Volkan Oezdemir doesn’t evoke the same giddy, can’t-wait sensation as the main event, but we break that one down, too, in addition to our two favorite undercard fights: Calvin Kattar vs Shane Burgos (probable fight of the night) and Thomas Almeida vs Rob Font (probable second-best fight of the night).
After that, it’s onto our analysis of the events of UFC St Louis, namely Jeremy Stephens’ crushing victory over “Korean Superboy” Doo Ho Choi in the main event, Kamaru Usman’s troubled climb through the welterweight ranks, and Darren Elkins’ mastery of the art of the comeback.
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And if your appetite for spicy fight analysis and banter just can’t be sated, you would do well to check out our Patreon. Halfway through January, and we’ve already got two new bonus shows for you. Bloody Elbow’s own Phil Mackenzie returned for another episode of The Underdogs, where we talk about journeymen and unsung pugs. This time, the focus is on John Makdessi, whose blending of efficient boxing with tricky Taekwondo and Shotokan Karate heralded a new era of MMA striking. There is also our 2017 year-end awards, which we persist in calling the Handies. No grown-ups allowed.
You can hear both bonus episodes via the Heavy Hands Patreon, where $3 a month gets you access to all of our bonus content. If you’d like a preview first, you can check out a teaser of our awards show, here, and you can also listen to the episode one of The Underdogs in its entirety, for free, right here.