The UFC's pay-per-view schedule got off to a weak start in 2017. Such is not the case in 2018.
Saturday's UFC 220 event in Boston will feature one of the company's best heavyweight title matchups in years, with defending champion Stipe Miocic taking on Francis Ngannou.
It's a shot at history for Miocic as he tries to become the first heavyweight titleholder to defend the belt three consecutive times. And he'll do so against Ngannou, one of the fastest-rising challengers in recent memory.
In the co-main event, Daniel Cormier faces first-time title challenger Volkan Oezdemir. It's the first light heavyweight title fight since Jon Jones was stripped of his belt for the third time -- in this case, due to a failed drug test.
Daniel Cormier (19-1) vs. Volkan Oezdemir (15-1), light heavyweight championship
Odds: Cormier -300; Oezdemir +270
Leading up to this weekend, Cormier has repeatedly stated "there are levels" to mixed martial arts, and Oezdemir simply isn't on his.
Oezdemir's rise to UFC title challenger has been completely out of left field. He has only been training MMA full time since 2015, which was the year the Switzerland native accepted an invitation to South Florida to be a training partner for former UFC contender Anthony Johnson.
"For the majority of my career, my training was mostly kickboxing," Oezdemir said. "We trained ground, but it was mostly defensive. There wasn't much knowledge of it. It was more about where to put your body weight. It was only when I moved to America that I really started training everything."
When Oezdemir got a call from the UFC in early 2017, asking if would take a fight against Ovince Saint Preux on short notice, many assumed he had no shot. Oezdemir's 12-1 record looked good, but he had fought just once between 2015 and 2016 -- and the UFC would be a step up in competition.
Oezdemir responded by edging Saint Preux in a decision and then posting back-to-back, sub-minute knockouts of Misha Cirkunov and Jimi Manuwa.
It was a truly improbable year for Oezdemir that no one saw coming. Cormier actually laughs as he recalls saying once, "If I'm still hanging around fighting guys like Volkan Oezdemir, I've done something terribly wrong with my money and my time."
When Cormier said that, it was understandable. Oezdemir wasn't supposed to be an elite, well-rounded light heavyweight in 2017. It wasn't that long ago he was merely a sparring partner for another, more promising, title contender.
There are supposed to be levels in this, right? Maybe we've just underestimated which level Oezdemir is on.
"[Cormier] is talking a lot about phases, but he has to realize that it is me facing him now, and I'm bringing the heat," Oezdemir said. "I've had so much improvement, I'm a different animal now."
Fight breakdown
There are two ways of looking at Oezdemir's sub-minute knockouts against Cirkunov and Manuwa.
On one hand, hey, what's better than an instant knockout? There's arguably a "fluke-ish" element to that type of win, except Oezdemir has a history of them. All of his 11 knockouts have occurred in the first round, several inside the first minute.
On the other hand, it's fair to ask how Oezdemir will look if that early knockout doesn't come. Sometimes a 15-minute win is more impressive than a 28-second win, because the fighter gets to showcase a whole lot more.
Oezdemir's long list of early finishes suggests an aggressive striking style, which is accurate. He loves to move forward and is at his best when doing so.
He invites collisions and doesn't need much room to generate power. The short punch that knocked out Cirkunov off the clinch looked like a move Oezdemir would use to close a kitchen cabinet.
Stylistically, however, Cormier is a nightmare matchup. In the lone loss of Oezdemir's career, to Kelly Anundson in 2014, he was repeatedly slammed to the mat, losing one positional battle after another. He has likely improved greatly in that area, but he's facing one of the world's best in that aspect.
And as devastating as Oezdemir's striking can be, he has never faced an opponent who will back him up as much as Cormier -- who has perfected his form of pressure against elite heavyweights and an all-time great in Jon Jones.
Oezdemir has heart, which he showed in defending several takedowns from Saint Preux when he was exhausted late in that fight, but he's going airborne in this bout. Expect Cormier slams, and ground and pound. And expect that to wear on Oezdemir's endurance and psyche.
Prediction: Cormier via submission, third round.