UFC Charlotte: Schedule and Fight Card For Indian MMA fans
UFC Brings their next fight night from Charlotte.
The event will mark the promotion's fourth visit to Charlotte and first since UFC Fight Night: Florian vs. Gomi in March 2010.
A middleweight rematch between former Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Ronaldo Souza and Derek Brunson is expected to serve as the event headliner. The pairing met previously in August 2012 under the Strikeforce banner with Souza winning the fight via knockout in the first round.
A lot has changed since then, with Brunson developing into one of the most lethal fighters on the middleweight roster with knockouts in six of his past eight fights while rising up the ranks in the division. Brunson has evolved his game quite a bit since that first showdown with Souza, and he'll look to show off those skills this weekend.
Featherweights Dennis Bermudez and Andre Fili will both look to establish themselves in the top 15 of a very deep division. While Bermudez has struggled against many of the top 10 opponents he's faced in the past, the former Ultimate Fighter competitor has feasted on the fighters from outside the top 15. Bermudez is a high-paced, action-packed fighter with solid hands and good wrestling coupled with an underrated submission game.
As for Fili, he's gone on a roller coaster ride lately while bouncing back and forth between wins and losses. He's coming off a victory over the always-tough Artem Lobov and that came one fight after losing to Calvin Kattar. If Bermudez employs that tactic where he sticks to Fili like glue and never gives him any space to work, he should be able to edge out a decision on Saturday night.
Gillespie is a former Division I All-American wrestler with a high output grappling game where he's averaging six takedowns per fight, and he's absolutely relentless when he wants to get the fight to the ground. But Gillespie is no stranger to striking either as he has solid output on the feet as well with three significant strikes landed per minute with just under 44 percent accuracy.
Unfortunately for Rinaldi, he plays right into Gillespie's game with his base coming from wrestling and Brazilian jiu-jitsu as well. While Rinaldi will definitely look to stuff those takedowns or potentially reverse positions to grab on to a submission, he's going to have an awfully hard time keeping Gillespie from planting him on the mat time and again.
Both Drew Dober and Frank Camacho will look for a second win in a row when they face off in a welterweight battle on the main card. Dober is a UFC veteran with nine fights already on his record in which he’s picked up some impressive wins along the way over names like Josh Burkman and Scott Holtzman. Dober is a high output offensive machine who lands with solid accuracy and volume on the feet but isn't afraid to mix it up on the ground either.
Main card
- Ronaldo Souza vs. Derek Brunson
- Andre Fili vs. Dennis Bermudez
- Gregor Gillespie vs. Jordan Rinaldi
- Drew Dober vs. Frank Camacho
Undercard
- Bobby Green vs. Erik Koch
- Mirsad Bektic vs. Godofredo Pepey
- Mara Romero Borella vs. Katlyn Chookagian
- Randa Markos vs. Juliana Lima
- Justine Kish vs. Ji Yeon Kim
- Vinc Pichel vs. Joaquim Silva
- Niko Price vs. George Sullivan
- Austin Arnett vs. Cory Sandhagen
Live and Exclusive on 28th January 2018, on SONY TEN 2 HD, SONY TEN 2 SD at 6:30 AM
