5 Reasons to Watch UFC Fight Night 63
April marks the start of a long and heavy run of MMA—even for the UFC's round-the-clock standards. From now until the end of September, the Ultimate Fighting Championship plans to churn out 25 different events—most of which will be a week apart.
It'll be more than we've ever asked for, but we'll tune in to most. And we'll love it.
First up is UFC Fight Night 63 at the Patriot Center in Fairfax, Virginia. Contrary to the safe assumption behind a heavy amount of fights cards tied so closely together, Saturday night's fight card boasts some pretty intriguing matchups.
Scroll through the slides as we list five reasons to tune into UFC Fight Night: Mendes vs. Lamas.
Poirier Makes UFC Lightweight Debut
1 of 5
Dustin Poirier walked into his bitter clash with Conor McGregor having won three straight and four of his last five. He was poised to be McGregor's toughest test inside of the Octagon.
It only took one minute and 46 seconds to send the Irishman straight to the top and send Poirier straight out. The Diamond decided he was no longer fit for the 145-pound division. As he claims in a video posted to his Instagram account, Poirier was already in decent physical shape while walking around at 180 pounds—almost 35 pounds heavier than the required limit.
Regardless of the cut, moving up in weight will likely prove a difficult transition for the American Top Team fighter who was 8-1 as a lightweight before making his debut at 145 pounds in 2011.
A Greg Jackson-Less Clay Guida
2 of 5
Few fighters have undergone a more drastic change in popularity than Clay Guida has.
He entered the Octagon almost a decade ago as the long-haired dude who always left it out in the cage. He moved forward and swung his arms aplenty as a chorus of cheers circulated the arenas in which he was named the victor.
But then something happened. Something changed.
From one fight to the next (presumably between fighting Benson Henderson and Gray Maynard), Guida had abandoned his fan-friendly fighting style and replaced it with something only Greg Jackson could write up. Once the owner of a five-fight winning streak—a streak that saw him victorious over the current and former lightweight champions—Guida started losing on a consistent basis.
But as he saw his career would not be resurrected by merely moving down a weight class, The Carpenter made a bigger move—a move from Jackson-Winklejohn MMA to Team Alpha Male. Saturday's fight against Robbie Peralta will serve as a measuring stick for the sort of potential the career-changing switch can have for Guida.
The Return of Julianna Pena
3 of 5
Julianna Pena entered The Ultimate Fighter 18 house as the loser of her last two appearances. Boasting just a 4-2 record at the time, many didn't favor her to win the first-ever all-women's TUF tournament.
Then she started swinging for the fences and the world colored itself privy to what The Venezuelan Vixen was capable of as a bantamweight in the UFC. She was tough. She was smart. She was unafraid of moving forward.
But just as the UFC was ready to cash in on its TUF 18 winner, Pena suffered a torn ACL, MCL and LCL, which forced her to abstain from competition for almost two years. She returns Saturday to fight unranked Milana Dudieva.
Though she'd rather people be patient with their hypothetical scenarios, Pena also returns as one of the last viable challengers to Ronda Rousey's crown. It's obviously too soon to tell, but there's only so much the UFC can do from here on out.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
Rise of a Lightweight Contender
4 of 5
Chris Weidman first jumped onto the MMA radar back when he took it to Demian Maia on his way to a unanimous-decision victory on 10 days' notice. He would follow that performance with a knockout victory over Anderson Silva, and, just like that, Serra-Longo MMA was on the map.
As if Weidman's short, but dominant title reign isn't enough to keep the gym on said map, here comes Al Iaquinta to make sure it stays there. Iaquinta enters the cage on Saturday with three straight KO/TKO victories over unranked, but quality opponents.
His opponent, Jorge Masvidal, steps into the cage with a three-fight winning streak of his own. The winner of six of his last seven since dropping a title fight against former Strikeforce lightweight champion and current UFC title contender Gilbert Melendez, Masvidal looks to climb past his No. 14 ranking in a competitive-as-ever lightweight division.
A win for either man won't set him up for the title, but it would certainly certify his place among the toughest division the sport has to offer.
Clash of Former Title Contenders
5 of 5
As time currently stands, Jose Aldo is firmly secured as the best featherweight fighter the planet has ever seen. Much of that moniker rests on the laurels of his two most recent victories against the two fighters slotted for the main event in Fairfax on Saturday afternoon.
With two losses to the champion already under his belt, it'll take quite a bit to get first-ranked Chad Mendes back into the title picture—especially considering how many wins he had to stack up before he could earn a rematch after his first loss. A dominant victory over the the promotion's No. 4 featherweight would do a pretty good job in forcing the UFC's hand.
The same goes for Ricardo Lamas. While also unsuccessful in retrieving the crown after five rounds, the former contender has racked up two wins since his early 2014 loss to the champion—most impressively in a first-round guillotine win against a surging Dennis Bermudez in his last outing.
A return to the top of the lonely featherweight mountain won't be short for either fighter, but a victory on Saturday would be a good start.
Kristian Ibarra is a Featured Columnist at Bleacher Report MMA. He also serves as the sports editor at San Diego State University's student-run newspaper, The Daily Aztec, and as a programming intern at Fox Sports San Diego. Follow him on Twitter at @Kristian_Ibarra for all things MMA.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
