UFC 275: Two title fights and a rematch two years in the making

The UFC is again in the combat cash of Southeast Asia for a fork out-per-check out clearly show headlined by a number of mixed martial artists established to recapture previous glories.

And although title defenses for light heavyweight Glover Teixeira and flyweight Valentina Shevchenko are the principal points of interest at Singapore Indoor Stadium on Sunday, the rematch involving strawweights Zhang Weili and Joanna Jedrzejczyk could establish to be the finest battle of all.

The UFC stacked the prime of the card for its fifth celebration in Singapore and just its next demonstrate overseas anywhere apart from the Abu Dhabi bubble because the start off of the coronavirus pandemic.

The key party is the 1st title protection for the 42-year-aged Teixeira, who grew to become the oldest initially-time winner in UFC record last Oct with his submission victory over Jan Blachowicz. He faces a complicated obstacle from Jirí Procházka, the up-and-coming Czech bruiser in just his 3rd UFC bout, but Teixeira overcame every single other obstacle in a career that has culminated in his existing 6-battle winning streak.

“Each individual battle, just about every acquire, I become a winner,” Teixeira claimed. “Great fighters, excellent warriors, they go more than there and give it their all. It’s difficult for me to encourage – to arrive in excess of listed here and push guys and toss chairs and buses and stuff like that to encourage a battle. But I’m a fighter. Everyone noticed my fight. I’m likely following a end. And (for your) legacy, the a lot more you earn, the bigger you come to be.”

Shevchenko will just take on Brazil’s Taila Santos in the seventh title protection for the seemingly unbeatable 125-pound winner. But Shevchenko received a reminder that no reign lasts permanently when Amanda Nunes, the only fighter to conquer Shevchenko given that 2010, shockingly dropped her bantamweight belt previous December to Julianna Peña.

Santos has talked an extraordinary game primary into her initially title shot right after 4 consecutive victories, but couple of fighters can match the expertise, experience and intelligence of Shevchenko.

“I feel she’s variety of like hypnotizing herself, attempting to convince herself of anything,” Shevchenko said of Santos. “All my opponents, they were being saying the identical above and over. It’s like, ‘No just one is unbeatable. She has some holes in her sport.’ But as soon as they step within the octagon, they come to feel the opposite side. They feel the variation. … She is improper. It is really not going to do the job for her.”

The two title bouts in Singapore could be an anticlimax if the two previous strawweight champions combating proper right before them put on a deserving sequel to their 1st meeting.

Zhang and Jedrzejczyk initially fulfilled at UFC 248 in March 2020, correct in advance of the pandemic began, and they generated a slugfest for the ages. Neither fighter backed down for five rounds, and Zhang emerged with a break up-choice victory even though Jedrzejczyk was remaining with outrage and a grotesque hematoma on her brow.

The rematch is only a 3-spherical bout, permitting both of those fighters to press even extra aggressively if they decide on. Jedrzejczyk however defiantly thinks she gained the 1st bout, though Zhang is keen for a victory that would catapult her again to a different shot at the title.

UFC 275 is the promotion’s initial pay-for each-look at display from Southeast Asia, wherever it has elevated its footprint for the duration of the rise of the Singapore-based mostly One Championship marketing. The UFC’s delegation will not incorporate President Dana White, who is being home for his son’s 21st birthday.