Wow, what an interesting fight…
The UFC has had major trouble trying to organise this years Madison Square Garden card.
Following a 20-year ban of MMA in the state of New York, when it was finally lifted three years ago it was clear that an MSG event was going to become one of the biggest fight cards annually.
Initially, the iconic venue lived up to it’s hype. The UFC’s first venture to the home of fighting saw Conor McGregor take over the entire city at UFC 205 in November 2016 when he became the organisations first ever simultaneous two division champion.
They followed up an impressive debut with an equally as good fight card in 2017 as Georges St. Pierre returned from a lengthy lay-off to defeat Michael Bisping for the middleweight strap. Indeed, UFC 217 will go down as one of the most legendary events in the company’s history as three world title changed hands.
2018’s MSG even however has proved to be one of the more difficult cards to fill.
First of all we had the announcement of Nate Diaz’s return against streaking lightweight Dustin Poirier. Given the popularity of both men and Diaz rise as a genuine star following his fights with Conor McGregor, it was thought that maybe this would go down as a main-event.
Its been a long journey but here we are. NYC 1st ever 165lb Title in the UFC! #THEREWILLBEBLOOD #THUGJITSU
— The Diamond (@DustinPoirier) September 26, 2018
However, the UFC’s refusal to put a non-title main event stopped this form happening. This in turn led to both fighters angling for the match to be elevated into the main event slot for the inaugural 165lb belt.
165lbs don’t be scared ..
@ufc
@danawhite pic.twitter.com/JiSzABeQxG
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) September 28, 2018
Dana White stood firm and refused to bow down to the fighter’s demands.
Growing discomfort prompted panic from the UFC. This lead to the organisation announcing a women’s flyweight title main event in Valentina Shevchenko vs Sijara Eubanks.
UFC main events at Madison Square Garden:
UFC 205 – Conor McGregor vs. Eddie Alvarez
UFC 217 – Michael Bisping vs. Georges St-Pierre
UFC 230 – Valentina Shevchenko vs. Sijara Eubanks
— Chamatkar Sandhu (@SandhuMMA) October 2, 2018
The announcement had fans vying for blood giving the fact that most had not heard of Eubanks, and many were anticipating Shevchenko facing Joanna Jedrzejczyk for the vacant title at UFC 231.
This fight has now been pulled, and the UFC has finally found their main event.
BREAKING: Per Dana White, "the fight is done" between Daniel Cormier and Derrick Lewis at UFC 230 on Nov. 3 in New York.
— Brett Okamoto (@bokamotoESPN) October 9, 2018
Derrick Lewis, fresh off his comeback knockout win over Alexander Volkov, will now challenge Daniel Cormier for the heavyweight title at UFC 230 in Madison Square Garden.
Let’s recap Derrick Lewis’ last 3 days:
* Incredible KO comeback on the biggest card ever
* Revelation that his 🍒 were overheating in front of the world
* 600k new Instagram followers
* Title shot at MSGTake a bow, @Thebeast_ufc.
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) October 9, 2018
It has been a couple of very fruitful days for ‘The Black Beast’. Following his devastating knockout win, he gave a memorable interview with Joe Rogan where he claimed to have taken his shorts off because “his balls were hot”. The interview help him gain over 500,000 instagram followers and now he gets a much wanted title shot.
Not a bad few days for Derrick Lewis.
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