Yesterday, the UFC announced that Dana White was going to go live across all social media platforms and drop breaking news. That he did. Dana announced six fights for UFC 287. The main event is the rematch between Middleweight Champion Alex Pereira and Israel Adesanya. The co-main is also a mega fight, Gilbert Burns vs Jorge Masvidal. The rest of the fights announced were Kevin Holland vs Santiago Ponzinibbio, Raul Rosas Jr. vs Cristian Rodriguez, Rob Font vs Adrian Yanez, and Gerald Meerschaert vs Joe Pyfer. This card is off to an epic start. The location is still unannounced, but based on most reports will either be held in Miami or Brooklyn.
There has been a lot of talk about Gilbert's next opponent since UFC 283. We posted an article on Thursday about it before all the announcements. Burns even posted a poll that day asking his fans who they want to see him fight next. A whopping 11% picked Masvidal. Sure Burns vs Masvidal is a huge draw, but Burns vs Muhammad is the better fight. 40% of fans would have rather seen Burns vs Muhammad than Burns vs Masvidal. However, this is still going to be a fantastic fight. Jorge always tries to put on a show and I've never witnessed a boring Burns fight. I think Gilbert finishes Masvidal before the third round. I'm honestly surprised the UFC elected to go with Masvidal over Muhammad due to the fact Jorge is still being sued by Colby Covington for sucker-punching him at a restaurant.
Outside of the main event and the co-main event the fight I'm looking forward to seeing most is Raul Rosas Jr. vs Christian Rodriguez. Christian Rodriguez is one-and-one in the UFC, but a total of eight-and-one professionally. Raul is an undefeated eighteen-year-old. He is an absolute beast and is coming off of a victory against Jay Perrin at UFC 282. That was Rosas's UFC debut, the main event of the prelims on a UFC pay-per-view. His second fight is also on a huge pay-per-view. This kid is a star in the making. He's literally beating up grown men and he's still growing. Rosas is probably going to get the finish over Christian Rodriguez, but hey you never know.
As for the main event of the evening, it is the rematch we have all been waiting for! Fighting out of the blue corner will be Israel "The Last Style Bender" Adesanya, a sure-fired UFC hall of famer. He has twelve UFC wins, twenty-three professionally. He has only lost twice in his UFC career, once against Jan Blachowicz, and the other against his opponent. Fighting out of the red corner is the Undisputed UFC Middleweight Champion Alex "Poatan" Pereira! Alex is three-and-zero in the UFC. He is one of two men to defeat Israel Adesanya. If there is one thing Alex is the best at, it is hunting Israel Adesanya down and defeating him. He did it twice in kickboxing before Izzy began his UFC legacy. Alex came to the UFC to dethrone Adesanya. I believe that their UFC fights are going to end the same way as their kickboxing fights. In both the first kickboxing and UFC fights, Alex beats Izzy without knocking him out. In the second fight, Alex knocks Izzy out cold. I believe Poatan will strike again and this time he is going to get his knockout.
Do we know the location yet?