This weekend this UFC return's to the biggest stage of all them as Madison Square Garden will host UFC 230 with a card that has been everywhere and has left everyone scratching their heads. When the event was almost only a month away, nobody really knew what the main event was gonna be. Many were wondering if it would be the return of Jon Jones but as we learned with the announcement of his upcoming title fight with "The Mauler" Alexander Gustafsson in a historic rematch.
The #1 ranked Middleweight Yoel Romero was scheduled to face the undefeated #8 ranked "The Eraser" Paulo Costa, but doctors wouldn't allow Romero to fight until he healed fully from the injuries in his previous fight with the UFC Middleweight Champ Robert Whittaker. The #9 ranked Lightweight Nate Diaz was set to make his long-awaited return to take on the #3 ranked lightweight Dustin Poirier. That fight was scrapped after it was revealed that Dustin was dealing with a hip injury so most likely the fight will be set for a later date as Dustin has recently said the injury is not too serious.
After the amazing night that UFC 229: Mcgregor vs. Khabib was a few days would pass, and it was determined that the UFC Heavyweight Champion Daniel "D.C." Cormier will defend his title against the #2 ranked Heavyweight Derrick Lewis after his amazing comeback victory at UFC 229 with the brutal knockout of Alexander "Drago" Volkov. Many were left once again scratching their heads as many suspected that the former UFC Heavyweight Champion the #1 ranked Stipe Miocic would get his rematch.
The #2 ranked middleweight Luke Rockhold was set to have a rematch with the #3 ranked former champion, Chris Weidman but unfortunately Luke suffered a few injuries leading up to the bout. It was then announced that the former Middleweight Strikeforce champion #5 ranked "Jacare" Ronaldo Souza who was supposed to face #7 ranked David Branch would now be facing Weidman in the Co-Main Event. Now for the #7 ranked David Branch he will be taking on "The Killa Gorilla" Jared Cannonier who will step in to save the fight for this event. In another Middleweight bout, unranked Karl Roberson will face Jack Marshman. To open up the Main Card hot prospect #9 ranked Israel Adesanya takes on #6 ranked Derek Brunson.
Last time we saw D.C. in the octagon was when he defeated Stipe Miocic for the Heavyweight Championship at UFC 226 by a brutal knockout. Derrick Lewis is coming off of that monstrous comeback victory over "Drago" Volkov at UFC 229 with the quick turn around for his upcoming Championship fight with Daniel Cormier.
Chris Weidman makes his return to the octagon as the last time we saw him was when he got a submission victory over Kelvin Gastelum in 2017. On the other hand, Jacare is coming off of a unanimous decision loss to Kelvin Gastelum at UFC 224. In his upcoming bout with Cannonier, David Branch is coming off of a huge knockout victory over the always dangerous Thiago Santos at UFC Fight Night 128. Jared Cannonier is coming off of a TKO loss to the undefeated Dominick Reyes.
Karl Roberson is coming off of a submission loss to Cezar Ferreira at UFC 224. Jack Marshman is also coming off of a submission loss that he suffered from Antonio Carlos Junior at UFC Fight Night: Jacare vs. Brunson. #6 ranked Derek Brunson is coming off of a knockout loss to Ronaldo Souza. While the hot prospect undefeated #9 Israel Adesanya is coming off of a dominating victory over Brad Tavares.
