It's been a long journey but the UFC has finally reached the third milestone they had aimed for -- UFC 200.
If UFC 1 was the first milestone, UFC 100, featuring the heavyweight title clash between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir was the second one. UFC 200 be the third milestone.
The last two days have been tumultuous for the UFC officials, especially UFC President Dana White, as they had to pull out former light heavyweight champion Jon Jones from the fight card, owing to an alleged anti-doping violation by him with just three days to go for the fight night.
With no solution at hand, Brazilian MMA legend Anderson Silva stepped up right away, announcing his willingness to take on current light heavyweight champion Daniel Cormier in a non-title bout.
The reshuffle of the main event also came as a boon for UFC women's bantamweight champion Miesha Tate, who will now headline the pay-per-view (PPV). She will defend her title for the first time inside the UFC octagon against Amanda Nunes.
WWE superstar Brock Lesnar was the biggest surprise, however, of the fight card as none expected 'The Beast' would return to the UFC after his tragic battle with diverticulitis forcing him to quit the MMA world in 2011. His return, after five years, has taken the anticipation levels a notch higher. UFC 200 is unmissable now. Lesnar will take on one-punch knockout veteran Mark Hunt in a three-round heavyweight title contest.
It's been a long ride. Conor McGregor was scheduled to take on Nate Diaz first but that didn't work out. Jon Jones' rematch with Cormier was later finalised but even that didn't work out. Times were tough, but the best thing is that the event has finally taken a proper shape and it is by no means, going to be any less exciting than what we had initially expected.
UFC 196: Tate vs Nunes schedule:
Date: July 9, 2016.
Venue: T-Mobile Arena, Las Vegas.
Time: 10 p.m. EST / 7 pm PST (7:30 a.m. IST, 3 a.m. BST, 1 p.m. AEDT)
TV listings: Sony ESPN, Sony ESPN HD (India), PayPerView (US, Canada), BT Sport 2 (UK), Combate (Brazil), Main Event (Australia).
Main card:
Miesha Tate vs Amanda Nunes - women's bantamweight championship
Brock Lesnar vs Mark Hunt - heavyweight
Daniel Cormier vs Anderson Silva - light heavyweight
Jose Aldo vs Frankie Edgar - featherweight
Cain Velasquez vs Travis Browne - heavyweight
