IT'S TIME: UFC 216 - “El Cucuy” Ferguson vs. Kevin Lee (155lbs) interim championship, fight card

---

IIIIT'S TIME: UFC 216 - “El Cucuy” Ferguson vs. Kevin Lee (155lbs) interim championship

---

In the absence of lightweight champion Conor McGregor, Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson takes on the “Motown Phenom” Kevin Lee in the main event for the interim lightweight title (the original interim title bout was Tony Ferguson-Khabib Nurmagomedov, but was canceled due Khabib's weight cut issues). Let's take a look at the fight: Ferguson is on a nine-fight winning streak - the longest in divisional history and if he wins this one, he would likely put himself in position for a title unification match against “The Notorious”. On the other hand, Lee has tasted defeat only twice in nine fights - he lost a fight against Leonardo Santos in the UFC 194 and Al Iaquinta in the UFC 169. Lee had some trouble making weight for tonights fight, but managed to hit the weight on his second attempt.

Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson key wins: Rafael dos Anjos (Fight Night 98), Edson Barboza (TUF 22 Finale), Josh Thomson (UFC Fight Night 71), Gleison Tibau (184). Key losses: Michael Johnson.

Motown Phenom” Kevin Lee key wins: Michael Chiesa (Fight Night 112), Francisco Trinaldo (UFC Fight Night 106), Michele Prazeres (Fight Night 60), Jake Matthews (TUF 23 Finale). Key Losses: Al Iaquinta (UFC 169), Leonardo Santos (UFC 194).

---

---

In addition, Demetrious "The Mighty Mouse" Johnson fights Ray “The Tazmexican Devil” Borg, who is a no.3 ranked flyweight. A win for for the Mighty Mouse would set the record for most title defenses(he is currently tied with former middleweight champion Anderson "The Spider" Silva with 10 straight title defenses. If he beats Borg, he sees a couple of potential challengers despite his dominance at 125 pounds - Henry Cejudo and Sergio Pettis - who is on a three fight win streak.

Demetrious Johnson on Ray Borg: “Borg is young, athletic. He seems very hungry, just like the last 10 of them were.”

---

Heavyweight division: Derrick Lewis and Fabricio Werdum collide in the Heavyweight bout: In June, Lewis announced his retirement after a loss against Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 110, he is now back to take on Werdum in the Heavyweight devision. Lewis adopted a vegan lifestyle for this camp and is feeling in a better shape than in his last fight. Werdum, who is a 40 year old PRIDE vet, recently lost a fight with Alistair Overeem, after losing the belt to the champion Stipe Miocic. Should be an interesting fight to watch. UFC 216 takes place tonight, at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.

---

HERE ARE THE FIGHTS: MAIN CARD:

• 155 lbs - Interim lightweight title: Tony Ferguson (22-3 MMA, 12-1 UFC) vs. Kevin Lee (16-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC)
• 125 lbs – Flyweight title: (C) Demetrious Johnson (26-2-1 MMA, 14-1-1 UFC) vs. Ray Borg (11-2 MMA, 5-2 UFC)
• 265 lbs: Derrick Lewis (18-5-0, 1NC) vs. Fabricio Werdum (21-7-1)
• 135 lbs: Mara Romero Borella (11-4-0, 1NC) vs. Kalindra Faria (18-5-1)
• 155 lbs: Beneil Dariush (14-3-0) vs. Evan Dunham (17-6-0)

Prelims:
• 135 lbs.: Tom Duquesnoy (15-1-0, 1NC) vs. Cody Stamann (15-1-0)
• 155 lbs.: Will Brooks (18-3-0) vs. Nik Lentz (29-8-2, 1NC)
• 155 lbs.: Bobby Green (23-8-0) vs. Lando Vannata (9-2-0)
• 115 lbs.: Poliana Botelho (5-1-0) vs. Pearl Gonzalez

Early Prelims:
• 265 lbs.: Mark Godbeer (12-3-0) vs. Walt Harris (10-5-0)
• 125 lbs.: Magomed Bibulatov (14-0-0) vs. John Moraga (17-6-0)
• 185 lbs.: Thales Leites (27-7-0) vs. Brad Tavares (15-5-0)
• 125 lbs.: Marco Beltran (8-6-0) vs. Matt Schnell (10-4-0)

---

And if you are a betting person, here are the betting odds for the main and the co-main event: Tony Ferguson (-220) vs. Kevin Lee (+180),Demetrious Johnson (-1250) vs. Ray Borg (+800)

---

Conclusion: UFC 216 is a good card overall. It features a great main card and some majorly stacked undercard fights, so I'm looking forward to it.

---

---

MAIN EVENT PICK: My pick is Tony “El Cucuy” Ferguson by TKO - round no.3.

CO-MAIN EVENT PICK: Demetrious Johnson by submission - round no.4.

Who's your pick in the main and the co-main event and what is your method of victory for the two fights?

Image source: 1,2,3

Take a look at my related posts: https://steemit.com/mma/@dbukyo/bellator-183-smooth-benson-henderson-vs-patricky-pitbull-freire,
https://steemit.com/sports/@dbukyo/ufc-fight-night-pittsburgh-middleweights-luke-rockhold-vs-david-branch,
https://steemit.com/sports/@dbukyo/ufc-fight-night-115-stefan-struve-alexander-volkov-fight-card,
https://steemit.com/sports/@dbukyo/mayweather-vs-mcgregor-results,
https://steemit.com/sports/@dbukyo/mayweather-vs-mcgregor-faceoff-purse-size-usdusd-betting-odds,
https://steemit.com/sports/@dbukyo/conor-is-realy-excided-for-todays-fight