UFC 230 Predictions – Daniel Cormier vs. Derrick Lewis: Fight Card, Chances, Expert Choices

A fighting card that usually overflows with huge names and clashes under marquee seems to have been insufficient to deliver the UFC 230 Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The UFC can not assume all the blame as such, as two fighters scheduled for the main card were injured a few weeks before the fight (Dustin Poirier and Luke Rockhold), but that remains no main event until three weeks before the fight at the World Cup. The famous arena looked more like bad planning.

However, it seems that UFC fell into a rather entertaining main event on Saturday in New York when double-weight champion Daniel Cormier faces Derrick Lewis for the heavyweight title while Chris Weidman faces Ronaldo "Jacare" Souza in the main after have been initially programmed to deal with Rockhold. While questions abound about what's going on here, the amount of solid middleweight battles slated for Saturday night could clear division in 2019, with David Branch looking to bounce back with a big win and Israel Adesanya continuing his fast rise to the rankings. veteran Derek Brunson.

Here is the complete map of Madison Square Garden with the latest odds of Bovada.

UFC ratings 230

With a big map at your fingertips, our experts lingered on each of the main card fights. Here are your decision makers: Brian Campbell (wrestling sports writer), Matthew Coca (producer), Michael Mormile (producer), Jack Jorgensen (publisher) and Brandon Wise (publisher).

UFC Forecast 230

Campbell explains why Cormier will win: Lewis's striking power and his refusal to stop will prevent the dramatic level from collapsing as long at the end of the fight. But a short training camp for both and a painful right hand for Cormier are still not likely to alter the outcome. Lewis, the self-appointed fighter, is simply not up to the level of complete fighter that Cormier is. The champion will enter the Octagon with distinct advantages in speed, experience, endurance and wrestling, the latter allowing him to stink and disarm Lewis as long as he wants if the fight gets hairy. Look for Cormier to perform a clinical dismantling.

Wise on why Weidman will win: The All-American is about to prove in New York. Looking to return in the match for the title, Weidman took a last minute substitute to Jacare to stay active, but I do not see Souza pose a serious threat. Despite a knockout victory over Derek Brunson, Jacare proved much more adept at taking risks and defeating bids. Seek Weidman to control the action with his own fight and taking Jacare with a unanimous decision after punishing him on the pitch.

Jorgensen explains why Jacare will win: For me, this has the potential to become a night fight, even if it was not the main event we expected. It's an interesting match in that they share one last common opponent, the eternal middleweight contender, Kelvin Gastelum, with the bid win in 2017 and the loss of Souza for the shared decision earlier this year . This could turn out to be a kind of war between these two before the main event. It's really hard to do, but I can see Souza put those experienced jiu-jitsu skills to use to win the bid somewhere in the third round. – as long as he can keep his cardio intact, which can require a lot.