UFC 178: Last-Minute Predictions You Can Take to the Bank
Well, it's only hours away now.
The UFC takes to pay-per-view on Saturday evening, offering up a deep card full of meaningful and interesting bouts. While Demetrious Johnson is the headliner, enthusiasm for the action in nearly every fight supporting him is what's buoying excitement for the event.
With the clock ticking on the beginning of the night's festivities, here are some last-minute predictions to take to the bank.
Win or Lose, People Will Be Talking About Dominick Cruz
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When you wait three years for something, it's bound to create some thoughts and opinions. That's exactly what will happen once Dominick Cruz has finished up his first three rounds of in-cage action since 2011.
The last time we saw him, he was a 19-1 champion romping through the bantamweight class, shucking and jiving like a diminutive buzz saw. Then again, women weren't in the UFC, the flyweight division wasn't a thing, and the guy who has Cruz's old spot atop the 135-pound division, TJ Dillashaw, hadn't even fought an official UFC bout yet.
Win or lose on Saturday, people will be talking about Cruz. He'll either be back in a big way or not the man he once was, but he'll be a source of discussion either way.
It should be fun to find out which way it goes.
Someone's Getting Rich out of Alvarez vs. Cerrone
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To those who are unfamiliar with Eddie Alvarez, know this: You will enjoy watching him fight.
Also know this: For your entertainment, there probably isn't a better first fight in the UFC for him than Donald Cerrone.
It's a foregone conclusion that this is going to be a war, probably not dissimilar to Cerrone's bout with Jim Miller in that it will be two guys with no reverse gear trying to decapitate each other for as long as it lasts.
Those showings usually lead to official Performance on the Night bonuses, as well as checks being handed out off the books by Dana White and company. It may cost a few brain cells, but one or both of Cerrone and Alvarez are going to leave the MGM richer than when they arrived.
Cat Zingano Will Earn Her Shot at Ronda Rousey
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Zingano has been through a lot over the past 18 months, but she's been her usual self on fight week. Few athletes in the UFC give off the air of menace that comes from Zingano when she's faced with an opponent, and she's been staring daggers at Amanda Nunes all week.
It seems as though the lengthy layoff has made her particularly hungry to get in the cage and dish out some hurt, which is a scary thought when one factors in how nasty she is without any added motivation.
Nunes is no pushover, but Zingano is probably the best 135-pounder alive not named Rousey, and she'll remind everyone of that at UFC 178.
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Conor McGregor's Star Will Only Be Bigger, Regardless of the Outcome
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At this point, Conor McGregor has transcended any imaginable label and become one of the biggest stars in the UFC. That is a fact.
He talks, he gets people talking, and UFC 178 will be his first staking of a claim to getting people buying, too. He may be polarizing, but the UFC doesn't care as long as you're willing to pay money to watch him fight.
He's the first true superstar of the lighter weight classes since BJ Penn was king, and he's done it with three wins over varying degrees of largely irrelevant opponents. It's a testament to his charisma and personality, as well as how convincingly he's put those marginal tests behind him.
Whether he beats Dustin Poirier or not, his star will only get bigger from here. If he wins, he could easily find himself in a title fight based on promotional talent alone. If he loses, he's the type of martial artist who'll shake Poirier's hand and say he plans to learn from the loss—a guaranteed path to even more fan support.
The Conor McGregor Show is in full swing. All that's left now is a continued increase in viewership.
People Will Leave Before the End of the Main Event
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Perhaps an unfortunate prediction, but it's one that has merit. There's reason to believe that the MGM Grand will begin to empty long before Demetrious Johnson or Chris Cariaso has his hand raised at the end of the main event.
It happened in Johnson's last fight, where he utterly blitzed an overmatched challenger in Ali Bagautinov. And on merit, Bagautinov was a bigger threat than Cariaso.
It happened at the UFC 178 weigh-ins, where people began filing out before the main eventers even got to the scale.
It's probably going to happen again during the fight itself.
Simply put, people are just not that interested in Johnson effortlessly trouncing guys the whole world knows aren't on his level. It's hard to think people would be interested in him even in a competitive bout really, at least based on the obvious indifference that's out there now for him.
It's too bad, but that's the way it is. The arena will be half empty before the broadcast comes close to going off the air.
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