UFC heavyweight champion Stipe Miocic and light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier are two of the biggest and most dominant stars in the mixed martial arts world, and Saturday night, it's time to find out who is the best. At UFC 226 on Saturday, these two will square for the heavyweight title.
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It will be one of the very few heavyweight superfights in UFC history, as the company has never pitted the heavyweight and light heavyweight champions against each other. Both guys are coming in after looking fantastic at UFC 220. Miocic beat the man who will step into the co-main event, Francis Ngannou, and was actually favored to beat him in Boston. Instead of being baited into a slugfest with the power Ngannou, Miocic fought incredibly smart and kept the "Predator" at bay to grind out a decision win.
Cormier, meanwhile, obliterated top challenger Volkan Oezdemir in a one-sided TKO win. Now, both fighters a plenty on the line, including a legacy as one of the best ever in the sport.
Let's take a look at the full event with the latest odds from Westgate.
UFC 226 odds
| Favorite | Underdog | Weightclass |
|---|---|---|
Stipe Miocic (c) -250 | Daniel Cormier +200 | Heavyweight title |
Francis Ngannou -350 | Derrick Lewis +275 | Heavyweight |
Paul Felder -135 | Mike Perry +115 | Welterweight |
Michael Chiesa -155 | Anthony Pettis +135 | Lightweight |
Gokhan Saki -140 | Khalil Rountree +110 | Light heavyweight |
Paulo Costa -400 | Uriah Hall +300 | Middleweight |
Raphael Assuncao -145 | Rob Font +125 | Bantamweight |
Curtis Millender -160 | Max Griffin +140 | Welterweight |
Dan Hooker -130 | Gilbert Burns +110 | Lightweight |
| Lando Vannata -180 | Drakkar Klose +150 | Lightweight |
| Jamie Moyle -200 | Emily Whitmire +170 | Women's strawweight |
With a big card on tap, our experts took a crack at picking each of the main card fights. Here are your pick makers: Brian Campbell (combat sports writer), Matthew Coca (producer), Michael Mormile (producer), Jack Jorgensen (editor) and Brandon Wise (editor).
UFC 226 predictions
| Fight | Campbell | Mormile | Coca | Jorgensen | Wise |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Miocic (c) vs. Cormier | Cormier | Miocic | Miocic | Miocic | Miocic |
Ngannou vs. Lewis | Ngannou | Ngannou | Ngannou | Ngannou | Ngannou |
| Felder vs. Perry | Felder | Felder | Felder | Felder | Perry |
| Chiesa vs. Pettis | Pettis | Chiesa | Pettis | Chiesa | Pettis |
| Rountree vs. Saki | Saki | Rountree | Saki | Saki | Rountree |
| Overall (2018) | 14-16-0 | 17-13-0 | 17-13-0 | 17-13-0 | 19-11-0 |
Campbell on why Cormier will win: Being weary of Miocic's concussing power for five rounds is certainly no picnic for anyone. But not only is Cormier unbeaten as a heavyweight, having faced plenty of elite competition, his wrestling advantage will be key if he can close distance and crowd Miocic. Cormier's biggest asset, however, is his gas tank. Should he prove successful in dragging the champion into the deep waters of the championship rounds, this is a fight DC can win.
Wise on why Miocic will win: If Miocic is smart, he is going to take the Jon Jones gameplan and expand it on Saturday night. The setup is there for the taking, it's just a matter of executing it in the biggest fight of his life. Miocic has noted countless times how he's been counted out in these title defenses (most recently against Francis Ngannou), but the fireman from Ohio continues to prove his doubters wrong. He doesn't have many coming into this superfight as the betting favorite, but Miocic will once again keep this fight at a distance and pick apart DC with his precise boxing and kickboxing style.
Jorgensen on why Ngannou will win: I'm going to give Ngannou the benefit of the doubt here and assume that he learned a thing or two about cardio in his loss to Stipe Miocic where we all kind of feared for his safety. I'm not saying Ngannou will go into the cage ready to run the Boston Marathon or anything, but he'll be prepared enough to stand in there and trade with Lewis. Lewis will get just a little more gassed than Ngannou, and I'll go ahead and predict that the "Predator" nails him with the KO shot early in Round 2.
