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UFC on FOX 17 ‘Dos Anjos vs. Cerrone’ event preview, full fight card & start times

Published

7 years ago

December 15, 2015

You’d think that after putting on three fight cards in three days the matchmakers over at the UFC would have run out of decent players to fill a card for a least a month or three. Fortunately for us, this will not be the case.

One week after the leading mixed martial arts promotion in the world leaves Las Vegas, the madness will continue in Orlando, Florida when Rafael dos Anjos makes the long awaited first defense of his lightweight title in a rematch against the one and only Donald ‘Cowboy’ Cerrone. Since defeating Cerrone via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 27, Dos Anjos worked his way up one of the toughest divisions in the sport by beating four out of five contenders, ultimately collecting the top prize at 155 lbs by dethroning Anthony Pettis via a one-sided drubbing that nobody saw coming. Cerrone himself hasn’t been too shabby since that night in Indianapolis either.

Cerrone will enter the octagon on the strength of an 8-fight win streak on December 19th when he fights for a world title for the first time since losing his 3rd straight WEC title fight back in 2009 against Benson Henderson. Is Cerrone simply not capable of winning the big one? Or will we see one of the most prolific fighters in the game further cement his legacy by finally putting a title on his mantle Saturday night in Orlando.

In the co-main event of the evening a former UFC heavyweight champion will battle a man who has held just about every other heavyweight strap. Dos Santos, once regarded as a top P4P fighter in the world, is always just one fight away from another title shot. He’ll be facing a fighter in Overeem who the UFC has done everything in their power to put in the right position to earn one. Whomever emerges victorious on this night will put himself right at the front of the line for a shot at whomever wins the Werdum-Velasquez rematch early next year.

Rounding out the FOX broadcast, Michael Johnson will look to get back to his winning ways when he takes on 209 representer Nate Diaz. Diaz has been absent since losing to current lightweight title holder Rafael dos Anjos late last year at UFC on FOX 13. Before that, Michigan Top Team’s Randa Markos will attempt to get one step closer to a title shot when she welcomes undefeated Polish standout Karolina Kowalkiewicz into the octagon.

On the FOX Sports 1 portion of the card, Charles Oliveira will return to the cage for the first time since suffering a strange injury to the neck that rendered him unable to continue against Max Holloway in the main event of UFC Fight Night 74 a few months back in Saskatoon. He’ll face a fighter in Myles Jury who will be making his featherweight debut nearly one year after losing the first fight of his professional career to Donald Cerrone.

Also on the FS1 prelims, middleweights C.B. Dollaway and Nate Marquardt will both look to end their respective 2-fight losing streaks, former Strikeforce champion Sarah Kaufman will take on short notice replacement Valentina Shevchenko, Tamdan McCrory will return to the UFC to mix it up with the red-hot Josh Samman and Danny Castillo will take on Nik Lentz in a must win bout for the Team-Alpha Male fighter. This will all take place after featherweights Cole Miller and Jim Alers open up the festivities at right around 5 p.m./2 p.m. ET/PT on FOX Sports 1.

Check out the full lineup, as it stands today, with the start times for all three hearty portions of the card below.

Main Card (FOX – 8 pm/5 pm ET/PT)

Lightweight Title Bout
Rafael dos Anjos (c) (24-7) vs. Donald Cerrone (28-6)

Heavyweight Bout
Junior dos Santos (17-3) vs. Alistair Overeem (39-14)

Lightweight Bout
Nate Diaz (17-10) vs. Michael Johnson (16-9)

Women’s Strawweight Bout
Randa Markos (5-2) vs. Karolina Kowalkiewicz (7-0)

Preliminary Card (FOX Sports 1 – 5 pm/2pm ET/PT)

Featherweight Bout
Charles Oliveira (20-5) vs. Myles Jury (15-1)

Middleweight Bout
C.B. Dollaway (15-7) vs. Nate Marquardt (33-15-2)

Women’s Bantamweight Bout
Sarah Kaufman (17-3) vs. Valentina Shevchenko (9-1)

Middleweight Bout
Josh Samman (12-2) vs. Tamdan McCrory (13-3)

Lightweight Bout
Nik Lentz (25-7-2) vs. Danny Castillo (17-9)