The UFC has reserved the principal event for the upcoming UFC 238 card as well as the main event for an upcoming Fight Night event. Below are my thoughts on both these bouts.
UFC 238 vs. Henry Cejudo, marlon Moraes The vacant UFC bantamweight title will be up for grabs when Marlon Moraes takes on Henry Cejudo at the primary event of UFC 238, which can be set for June 8 at United Center in Chicago, Illinois. The bout official has been made by the promotion.
Moraes (22-5-1) is the prior WSOF bantamweight champion and he’s appeared incredible since joining the UFC, going 4-1 overall in the Octagon including three consecutive first-round endings over Raphael Assuncao, Jimmie Rivera and Aljamain Sterling in his last 3 fights. Most wanted to watch Moraes get a title shot against former winner TJ Dillashaw, but if the champ tested positive and gave up his belt it supposed the UFC must find a new opponent for him.
Cejudo (14-2) is your UFC flyweight champion and he got the call to fight for the bantamweight belt here against Moraes following the Dillashaw fight fell through. Cejudo is 8-2 overall from the UFC and is now riding a four-fight win series that includes back-to-back wins over Dillashaw and Demetrious Johnson. He is clearly the ideal flyweight in the world, and it’s going to be interesting to see if he can move up to bantamweight and eventually become a rare double winner in his new division.
MMA oddsmaker Nick Kalikas has released the starting line with this particular bout. Moraes opened as a -185 favorite, with Cejudo as a +145 underdog. Click the link to see more of Kalikas’ rationale for why he opened the line the way he did.
Tyron Woodley vs. Robbie Lawler 2 Former UFC welterweight winners Tyron Woodley and Robbie Lawler will rematch at the main event of UFC on ESPN 4, which takes place June 29 at Target Center in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The information was broken by ESPN. That is a rematch of the pair’s previous assembly at UFC 201 in July 2016, when Woodley took the belt out of Lawler after viciously knocking him out in the initial round.
Woodley (19-4-1) is 9-3-1 overall in the UFC and is coming from a critical five-round decision reduction to Kamaru Usman that watched him drop his belt. Before the Usman fight, Woodley was on a seven-fight unbeaten streak and he will look to get back to the horse with a second win over Lawler. If he wants to have any chance of remaining at the title picture at 170lbs, he surely needs to win this fight.
Lawler (28-13, 1 NC) is 13-8 all time from the UFC but has fallen on hard times as of late since he has dropped three of his last four bouts, including a controversial submission loss to Ben Askren in her last fight. Most guessed the UFC would reserve a rematch between Lawler and Askren, but they decided to reserve a rematch with Woodley rather than Much like Woodley, if Lawler has any hopes of ever getting back his belt afterward he absolutely needs to win this battle.
The opening line for this bout has not been released yet, but it is safe to say Woodley is going to be the favorite this time around believing he pumped Lawler out in the first round the last time these two met inside the Octagon.
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