The UFC 149 event is set to take place on Saturday night at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Canada. It’ll be headlined by the UFC interim bantamweight title fight between Urijah Faber and Renan Barao.

Also, former Bellator middleweight champion Hector Lombard will make his long awaited UFC debut against UFC veteran Tim Boetsch. This card doesn’t jump out at you on paper as must see MMA action in regards to a UFC PPV as it has been ravaged by injuries. Let’s take a look at the three huge questions going into this event.

Does UFC 149 hit the 300,000 PPV buy-rate mark?

I’m always interested in looking at numbers and this question is certainly intriguing with the UFC coming off it’s largest PPV buy-rate in quite some time. UFC 148 reportedly did million PPV buys, so it’ll be interesting to see if there’s any trickle effect for UFC 149. UFC 132 was the last time Urijah Faber headlined a UFC event while participating in a title fight. That event did around 350,000 PPV buys while being relatively similar to UFC 149 in regards to fighters with name recognition. Actually, it might have had a little more than UFC 149 will have. UFC 148 will have taken place just two weeks earlier with UFC 150 not taking place until August 11th. I think the UFC would be happy with this event doing 300,000 PPV buys. It’s possible with UFC 147 reportedly doing anywhere from 175,000-200,000 PPV buys.

Does Hector Lombard receive the title shot against Anderson Silva with a win over Tim Boetsch?

That’s the thought process. Some people think Lombard needs to steamroll Boetsch to get the title shot. He probably will as Boetsch is tailor-made for him to knockout. However, I just think he needs to get the win period and he’ll be given the shot against Anderson Silva. The UFC paid a good amount of money to get Lombard in the UFC, and he’s no spring chicken at 34 years of age. They can market the fight off his win over Boetsch(provided that happens) and long winning streak of fighting mostly journeymen fighters. Also, this will allow the Chris Weidman’s, Michael Bisping, and Alan Belcher’s of the division to sort things out a bit to determine wh0’s next in line. What if Boetsch throws the monkey wrench into all of those plans? Whoa!

Does Ryan Jimmo position himself as a legitimate player in the UFC light heavyweight division in his debut?

Ryan Jimmo has won 16 consecutive fights since losing his professional debut via TKO. He left the Maximum Fighting Championship promotion in Canada and his light heavyweight title to test himself against the best in the world. He’ll be taking on UFC veteran Anthony Perosh who’s had a career resurgence and won three consecutive fights in the UFC as a light heavyweight. Jimmo does have wins over UFC veterans Rameau Theirry Sokoudjou, Wilson Gouveia, Marvin Eastman, and Jesse Forbes. I think this is a good measuring stick to see just where Jimmo is in his career. He’ll be 31 years old later this year, so he’ll need to get to work with the quickness in the UFC if he wants to make some noise.

What fight are you most looking forward to at UFC 149? Also, be sure to check back daily for main card fight previews starting on Tuesday as always for those looking to make some coin on the gambling side of things :).

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