Tonight at 10:00 p.m. ET on pay-per-view UFC 187, the biggest fight card of 2015 will get underway. UFC 187 is headlined by a battle between the light heavyweight division's best striker Anthony "Rumble" Johnson, and the best wrestler, Daniel Cormier in a fight for the vacant light heavyweight title. Fans can live stream the main card by clicking this link. They can find the Fox Sports 1 prelims online here, and the early prelims here.
Johnson was originally slated to take on Jon "Bones" Jones for the crown, but Jones found himself suspended indefinitely and stripped of his title following a hit-and-run incident in New Mexico that left a pregnant woman with a broken arm. Cormier, whom Jones beat in January, was the replacement and Johnson said he may be even tougher for him than Jones.
"This is [Cormier's] second opportunity at a title shot and when people get second chances they come back 10 times stronger and harder," Johnson said.
"He's hungry. He's so determined to win a title and he didn't succeed the first time he had an opportunity. This is his second opportunity. Why wouldn't he come back and give it his all like he did the first time? I think he's going to go absolutely crazy in the fight just to get a title."
While Cormier's only loss of his career came against Jones, Johnson's taken a more circuitous route to stardom. He nearly washed out of the UFC entirely earlier in his career before re-dedicating himself to the sport, moving up in weight, and becoming a destroyer with one-punch and one-kick stopping power.
Prediction: Cormier def. Johnson by unanimous decision. Cormier is a natural heavyweight, and while Johnson's power should be feared, Cormier is unlikely to go down off one shot. Cormier will be able to take Johnson down, and once on the mat he'll sap "Rumble" of his fighting spirit.
In the co-feature, undefeated Chris Weidman will put his middleweight title on the line vs. dangerous veteran Vitor Belfort in a much-anticipated fight. Belfort is one of the final challenges Weidman has left in the middleweight division that he's owned since beating Anderson "The Spider" Silva twice.
Weidman's first win over Silva was considered lucky by some after he knocked out Silva, who was clowning in the octagon. In their second fight Silva's leg snapped horrifically on a leg kick gone wrong.
"I wish his leg didn't break," Weidman writes for The Player's Tribune. "It's not the way I'd like to finish a fight. I know there's no way Anderson Silva could ever beat me, but it still bothers me that it ended that way."
Weidman said that he wants to prove he is "head and shoulders" above everyone else in his weight class.
Prediction: Weidman def. Vitor Belfort by submission.
Full Fight Card Including Prelims
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