Written by David Golden at Oregon Sports News
When I saw my first UFC card, I was fourteen years old; it was UFC 10 in July of 1996. Back then it seemed like you’d almost have to luck into seeing an event. Advertisements were few and in most cases parents weren’t letting their children watch the evolving sport. If you were lucky enough to see a pay-per-view, you’d savor the experience since you had no idea when the next card would come. Three months? Six months? No one knew. Fast-forward about twenty years and it seems like there are fight cards nearly every weekend and this weekend is no exception. In fact, this weekend is even starting early. Thursday night, the UFC will begin a stretch of events that run straight through Saturday night. Sounds crazy, I know. But you know what? The cards they have put together feature some of the best fights to take place in the UFC in a number of years. There is even the potential for a handful of these fights to be instant classics. Let’s take a look at the weekend ahead and get you ready for the onslaught of amazing fights that is coming your way.
Thursday: UFC Fight Night 80: VanZant vs. Namajunas
Thursday’s card is a UFC FightPass event but don’t let that scare you away. Get online and get that free trial set up so you don’t miss out. This card is really a showcase event for some of the top up and coming talent inside the UFC. When people ask UFC president Dana White whom he sees as the future of the UFC, two names seem to keep coming up, Paige VanZant and Sage Northcut. VanZant is just 21 years old but has shown great maturity in the cage. She continues to defeat her opponents rather handily and seems to be on track to earn a title shot in 2016. Her matchup with Rose Namajunas will be her stiffest test to date and some actually consider Namajunas the favorite (myself included). Northcut on the other hand is still an unknown commodity. While his UFC debut was successful, violent, and incredibly exciting we still don’t know what we are going to get from the ultra athletic 19-year-old prodigy. These two clean-cut youngsters will certainly get many tuning into this broadcast but they aren’t the only reason to watch. This card boasts a co-main event worthy of any UFC pay-per-view, as Michael Chiesa will be squaring off against Jim Miller. Both of these fighters are submission experts who love to finish fights. With both coming off of wins the momentum leading them into this fight should make this clash epic.
*Fighters To Watch: Paige VanZant, Rose Namajunas, Sage Northcut, Elias Theodorou, Aljamain Sterling, Kailin Curran
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