Well, the cursed UFC 161 card is almost upon us as it’ll finally take place on Saturday night at the MTS Centre in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.
The preliminary card will begin on Facebook at 7 p.m. ET with more preliminary fights airing on FX at 8 p.m. ET. The PPV portion of the card will air in the usual time slot of 10 p.m. ET.
The event has lost several of the original fights that were booked, and now features two journeyman fighters who are both coming off losses on the PPV portion of the card. Nevertheless, there is some intrigue with some of the fights going into the event, so check out the top five questions below:
Can the UFC 161 event reach the 300,000 PPV buyrate?
Man, it’s going to be tough. The main event features two fighters in Rashad Evans and Dan Henderson who are BOTH coming off loses in what were terrible fights in their last outings. Neither are huge PPV draws on their own, and the supporting cast on the event is very lackluster as well. Roy Nelson is fighting a guy who’s coming off a loss and casual fans are not familiar with him. There also seems to have been very little promotion for this event. The UFC just released it’s UFC 161 extended video preview only three days ago, when it’s usually released weeks in advance. There isn’t another UFC PPV for another month, and it’s been a couple of weeks since UFC 160, so maybe that may entice fans to shell out some money since there isn’t really anything else on TV this time of the year?
Does Dan Henderson retire if he loses to Rashad Evans?
Henderson is ancient when it comes to fighting age, and he’s pretty old numerically as well. A host of injuries, fight mileage, and father time itself have taken a lot out of one of the all time greats in MMA history. He’s coming off a close loss to Lyoto Machida at UFC 157, and missed all of 2012 with injuries. Another loss almost completely takes him out of title contention. Oh wait, this is the UFC where title shots are handed out like freely as of late it seems. But seriously, what else would be left for Henderson coming off a loss?
Will Rosi Sexton and Alexis Davis steal the show in their UFC debut?
The two women bantamweights will be making their UFC debuts on Saturday night. Sexton is thought to be one of the best women fighters out there, but she hasn’t fought in over a year. Davis has won two straight fights with both of them being very exciting submission finishes in the Invicta FC promotion. Both fighters have finished the majority of their opposition via either TKO/KO or submission. All of the women fights in the UFC have delivered, so why should this one be any different?
Does Tyron Woodley avoid the sophomore jinx with a win over the always tough Jake Shields?
Woodley burst onto the UFC scene with his 36 second mauling of MMA veteran Jay Hieron at UFC 156. He was knocked out for the first time and suffered his first loss in the fight before that against Nate Marquardt. He’ll be fighting Jake Shields who is a former title contender at welterweight, and who has only been finished twice in his entire career that spans almost 14 years? Shields is coming off a long layoff after serving a suspension for a failed drug test which could be a factor in the fight.
Can James Krause get it done against Sam Stout in his UFC debut?
Krause has been hyped for some time by some folk in the MMA world, and he’ll finally get his chance to shine in the UFC after agreeing to fight Sam Stout on short notice. Krause had two fights in the now defunct WEC promotion, but came up short in both fights while also losing in his appearance on “The Ultimate Fighter” reality show. Krause is riding a seven fight winning streak, and hasn’t lost since a 2011 split decision against King of the Cage veteran Clay French. Stout has gone (4-2) in his last six fights and is coming off a split decision win over Caros Fedor at UFC 157. Stout likes to stand and bang and has solid takedown defense, so it should be a great test for Krause.
Stay tuned to ProMMAnow.com for more UFC 161 new and coverage.