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[ads2]The UFC Fight Night 30 event will take place in Manchester, England, at the Phones 4u Arena on Saturday night. It will be headlined by a middleweight scrap between former UFC light heavyweight champion Lyoto Machida and middleweight contender Mark Munoz. It will mark Machida’s middleweight debut as well as his first fight in the United Kingdom. Munoz headlined the UFC 138 event against Chris Leben in 2012 which took place in the United Kingdom, so he’s no stranger to fighting in in the UK.
The preliminary fights will begin airing online at 12 p.m. ET. The main card fights will transition over to FOX Sports 2 at 3 p.m. ET. So let’s get into the top thoughts/questions going into this event.
-On paper, this event isn’t filled with many names will huge drawing power, and a prime reason why it will air on FOX Sports 2. That and the fact that the event will air LIVE while being broadcast from overseas. It’ll be interesting to see what type of rating this event will pull. I’m not expecting a huge number at all, but anything with six digits would be great because of the odd time slot. Not to mention a ton of college football will be airing at that time as well.
-How will Lyoto Machida fair as a middleweight? He was always a relatively small light heavyweight, and shouldn’t have any issues with making the middleweight limit of 185 lbs. He often weighed in under the 205 lb weight limit, coming it at 202 and 203 lbs respectively at times. He matches up fairly well with Mark Munoz and will definitely have the striking advantage, however, Munoz has a wrestling base and those type of fighters have had a bit of success against Machida in the past. Machida is coming off a controversial loss to Phil Davis in his last matchup, and it was the takedowns that probably helped Davis get the decision in the eyes of the judges.
-Will Melvin Guillard make another run up the lightweight contender’s ladder with a win against the always tough Ross Pearson? Guillard likely avoided being cut from the UFC by winning his last fight against Mac Danzig, a second round KO win. He has lost back-to-back fights going into the fight with Danzig, and two out of his last three before that. He has tremendous physical tools, but often fails to put it all together against top competition. Pearson has won back-to back fights since losing to Cub Swanson in June 2012. He’s a tough aggressive fighter which should make for an exciting fight as Guillard likes to throw leather as well.
-Does Jimi Manuwa continue his ascent up the UFC light heavyweight ladder and keep his unbeaten streak intact? Manuwa fought exclusively in England before making his UFC debut and has fought on the last two UFC cards that have taken place in England. He’ll be taking on Ryan Jimmo who should be a nice measuring stick to test his skills against. However, Manuwa is no spring chicken at 33 years of age, and he’ll need to make a move against stiffer competition soon if he wants to make some noise in the division.
Be sure to make ProMMAnow.com your home for UFC Fight Night 30 coverage. We’ll have LIVE play-by-play of the event on Saturday and we look forward to seeing you then!