The main event features a middleweight bout with former UFC middleweight champion Anderson Silva facing off against former Strikeforce welterweight champion Nick Diaz. The co-feature is a battle of top ranked welterweights as Tyron Woodley battles Kelvin Gastelum.
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There are a lot of reasons to watch tonight’s show and we narrowed it down to five reasons to watch UFC 183.
The Return of the Spider
Anderson Silva returns after a 13-month layoff to battle Diaz in tonight’s headliner. “The Spider” suffered a devastating broken leg when he tried to throw a kick during his middlweight championship rematch against Chris Weidman at UFC 168 in Decemeber of 2013. Questions arose whether Silva would ever return. Silva made it known pretty quickly that he would return to fighting, but it was a question of when the return would happen.
Silva is perhaps the greatest MMA fighter of all-time and before the first fight with Weidman at UFC 162 in July of 2013 was on a 17-fight unbeaten streak with 16 of his victories coming in the UFC. “The Spider” has a lot to prove coming off two straight losses to Weidman. Will he throw kicks? Will he be tentative? He can answer all those questions tonight and with a victory over Diaz UFC president Dana White has stated that Silva could a third shot at Weidman.
Can Nick Diaz win the big one?
The other half of the main event is also coming back from a layoff as Diaz hasn’t stepped in the Octagon since a unanimous decision loss to then-Welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 158 in March of 2013. Following the fight, Diaz announced he was retiring from the sport, although few believed the notion to be heartfelt. The UFC would offer Diaz fights, but he stayed adamant and stuck to his word. Only when the company offered Silva, Diaz decided to come out of retirement.
The question has always been about Diaz is whether he can win a big fight. His biggest wins were over an aging Frank Shamrock under the Strikeforce banner in 2009 and BJ Penn at UFC 137 in October of 2011. Penn had no reason fighting at 170 pounds at the stage of his career and probably shouldn’t have been fighting at that stage of his career. In his biggest fights, Diaz has come up short, losing to St-Pierre, and Carlos Condit at UFC 143 in February of 2012.
This is tailor made for Diaz to get over that stigma as Silva won’t be shooting for a takedown and will keep the fight on his feet.
Tyron Woodley next welterweight title challenger?
Before stumbling against Rory MacDonald UFC 174 last June, it seemed like if Woodley had emerged victorious, he would have just needed one more win to get a shot at the welterweight title. Woodley bounced back though, defeating Dong Hyun Kim in Macau, China by first round stoppage in August. Now facing Gastelum in tonight’s co-feature, Woodley has a chance to knock off an undefeated, fast-rising fighter. There is a logjam in the 170 pound weight class with the likes of MacDonald, Hector Lombard, Johny Hendricks and Matt Brown. Based on that and the fact that Gastelum missed weight by nine pounds at Friday’s weigh-in, Woodley has a lot of motivation.
Next challenger for Ronda Rousey?
The headlining fight on the preliminary portion of the card is a battle of women’s bantamweights as former Strikeforce women’s bantamweight champion Miesha Tate faces off against former Olympic silver medalist Sara McMann.The problem? Both fighters though have already fought current champion Ronda Rousey.
Tate fought Rousey in Strikeforce losing by first round stoppage in March of 2012 and again at UFC 168 in the co-main event of that show by third round stoppage. McMann lost to the champion at UFC 170 in February by first round stoppage. It wouldn’t seem like a win by either lady would get them the next shot at Rousey. But a lack of challengers could get one of them the next shot.
Holly Holm, a highly touted boxer and new addition to the women’s bantamweight division hasn’t even had a UFC fight and won’t make her debut until UFC 184 next month. Then there’s Gina Carano, who prior to embarking on a career in action movies, was headlining Strikeforce cards, but contract talks between the two parties ended up falling apart last year.
The solution? While it may not be ideal, either McMann or Tate could earn a title shot with a victory.
‘Uncle Creepy’ looking for flyweight title shot
Ian McCall is looking for his third straight win as he battles John Lineker on the preliminary portion of the card in flyweight action. The two were set to do battle in November, but McCall suffered a medical issue following weigh-ins and the fight was postponed.
People are expecting a war between the two standup fighters and McCall has a little extra motivation as Lineker missed weight by four pounds. With a lack of challengers for flyweight champion Demetrious Johnson, if McCall can get the victory tonight, we can have a new challenger for ‘Mighty Mouse’.
Steven Muehlhausen is an experienced MMA writer and contributor for Sporting News. Find him on Twitter @SMuehlhausenMMA.
