UFC 299 is set to go down Saturday night from the Kaseya Center in Miami, Florida. The card is stacked from top to bottom, featuring a lineup that is one of the best on paper in recent memory.
Bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley will look to avenge his only career loss against Marlon “Chito” Vera, while Dustin Poirier will look to stave off the new guard in Benoit Saint-Denis in the five-round co-main event.
Michael Page is making his highly-anticipated UFC debut in an action-packed welterweight showcase with Kevin Holland. The rest of the main card features former title challenger Gilbert Burns taking on the boxing-heavy contender in Jack Della Maddalena and former bantamweight champ Petr Yan looking to turn aside surging contender Song Yadong.
But there is a stacked preliminary card first. The undercard features top contenders, a former champion and intriguing prospects. While every fight is worth watching, here are five you shouldn’t miss.
Curtis Blaydes vs. Jailton Almeida
This fight would be on the vast majority of UFC payperview main cards. Blaydes is one of the best fighters to not earn a title shot in the UFC. The perennial top contender is 12-4 in the promotion but has had trouble winning the fight that will get him that elusive title shot. He’s faced the likes of Francis Ngannou, Derrick Lewis and Sergei Pavlovich, who have all fought for a heavyweight title – Ngannou was the champ before he left the UFC for boxing and the PFL. But Blaydes has several high-quality wins on his ledger: Jairzinho Rozenstruik, Alexander Volkov, former champ Junior dos Santos, Alistair Overeem, Aleksei Oleinik and current interim champ Tom Aspinall, who suffered a knee injury in their bout.
With Jon Jones‘ injury backing up the heavyweight division, it’s unknown if this bout can be viewed as a title eliminator, but the winner would almost certainly be just one more win away.
Almeida is 6-0 in the UFC, most recently cruising to a unanimous decision win over Lewis. He also has a win over Rozenstruik. The jiu-jitsu ace should have trouble bringing the standout wrestler in Blaydes to the ground, and Blaydes may not want to risk going to the ground with Almeida, so we may get a striking battle between two great grapplers. One with heavy implications at heavyweight, as No. 5 Blaydes will look to stay in that category against No. 7 Almeida.
Katlyn Cerminara vs. Maycee Barber
Katlyn Cerminara (formerly Chookagian), a former title challenger, will look to turn aside the upstart Barber, who is starting to realize her potential at flyweight.
Barber put a hurting on Amanda Ribas in her most recent bout, finishing her with ground-and-pound strikes to push her winning streak to five. It was easily the most impressive win of Barber’s career. It will be interesting to see if she can replicate that against a crafty veteran in Cerminara, who has a knack for getting women to fight at her pace and outpointing them. She has defeated Ribas, former title challenger Jennifer Maia twice, Viviane Araujo, Alexis Davis, Cynthia Calvillo, Antonina Shevchenko, and plenty more. Beating her would be Barber’s biggest win of her career.
Cerminara is ranked No. 4, while Barber is now No. 6. A win could put either woman another win or two away from a title shot, as flyweight queen Alexa Grasso and former champ Valentina Shevchenko are likely set to continue their rivalry with a trilogy.
Mateusz Gamrot vs. Rafael dos Anjos
Former lightweight champion “RDA” draws standout grappler Gamrot for his next bout. Dos Anjos has fought and defeated a who’s who at lightweight and welterweight. Some of his greatest victories are over the likes of Donald Cerrone, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Nate Diaz, Robbie Lawler, Neil Magny, Kevin Lee, Paul Felder and Renato Moicano. Gamrot would be another worthy win on his record.
The former KSW lightweight champion is 6-2 in the UFC, earning wins over Rafael Fiziev, Jalin Turner, and Arman Tsarukyan. Dos Anjos, the old guard, sits at No. 11 at lightweight while Gamrot is No. 6. An emphatic win over “RDA” could be what Gamrot needs to earn a date against someone ahead of him.
Pedro Munhoz vs. Kyler Phillips
Perennial top-15 bantamweight Munhoz could be putting his ranking on the line against Phillips. Munhoz has wins over Cody Garbrandt, Jimmie Rivera, Chris Gutierrez, Rob Font and Bryan Caraway. For Phillips, a win over Munhoz would be one of the biggest of his career, considering Munhoz has felled a former champion in Garbrandt.
Phillips has a win over Song Yadong, who has come on strong and fights Petr Yan on the main card. Yadong sits at No. 7 while Munhoz is at No. 13. A win over Munhoz would put Phillips in the top-15, where he has pedigree with a win over someone in the top-10. That could fast-track “The Matrix” up, but he has to get by Munhoz first. The stakes are high.
Michel Pereira vs. Michal Oleksiejczuk
This fight should be pure action. Pereira fights are cannot miss events, as he throws everything and the kitchen sink at his foes. Oleksiejczuk has crisp boxing that could trouble Pereira if he isn’t on top of his game. While neither man is ranked at middleweight, a win here should get them a shot at a top-15 opponent. While there are possible implications in the top-15, just sit back and enjoy as violence unfolds.
Honorable mention:
Robelis Despaigne vs. Josh Parisian
The former Olympic taekwondo bronze medalist, Despaigne, who has an 87-inch reach, draws Parisian for his highly-anticipated UFC debut. Despaigne’s last three wins came in a combined 19 seconds. Yeah. Knockouts of 3 and 4 seconds paved the way to his UFC debut at just 4-0.
Parisian, a 22-pro fight veteran, has a lot of experience and makes for an intriguing first fight in the promotion for Despaigne. Parisian has wins over Alan Baudot and Roque Martinez but is trying to snap a two-fight skid.
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