The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) will be live from Las Vegas, NV on Thursday, December 10 with UFC Fight Night 80: Namajunas vs Van Zant. The stacked 11 fight card kicks off a three-card UFC weekend and will be live entirely on UFC Fight Pass, with the main card getting going 10pm ET and preliminary action preciding it at 6:45pm ET. If interested in betting on this fight card, all betting lines will be made available at at Several Bookmakerss. Kicking things off for the UFC Fight Night 80 main card will be a middleweight affair between undefeated TUF: Nations winner Elias “Spartan” Theodorou and the Brazilian, Thiago “Marretta” Santos. The Canadian looks for his fourth straight Octagon victory and the Brazilian looks for his third. Theodorou has been training in Brazil and has made improvements with every fight. Santos is a step up in competition for him and is a legitimate threat, as the Brazilian has picked up all three of his Octagon victories via knockout in a combined time of 3:19. Next up on the evening’s main card will be a lightweight scrap between much hyped undefeated prospect Sage Northcutt and Texas’ Cody Pfister, who still does not have a Wikipedia page after lacing up his gloves for two wars inside the Octagon. “The Pfist” took on James Moontasri in his promotional debut and lost the bout via second round rear naked choke. In his next outing, he took on Yosdenis Cedeno and, in an upset, defeated the Cuban via unanimous decision on the judges’ scorecards. I don’t think Pfister is ready for Northcutt and believe he is completely outgunned. I expect a similar outcome to the Moontasri bout, where Pfister was dominated until the second round submission. Have to hand it to the kid, though, he is not easy to put away with strikes, so Northcutt will have his hands full. The main reason I expect a similar outcome is because of the size difference. Northcutt has competed at welterweight and admits that division is his future, whereas Pfister is an undersized lightweight who should be competing in the featherweight division; arguably bantamweight. Needless to say, I think this is a squash match-up for Northcutt, a star the promotion wants to build up. Pfister seems to be the ideal opponent to serve for him to earn an impressive victory against. The co-main event of the evening will see the veteran Jim Miller take on TUF 15 winner Michael Chiesa. This is a “passing of the guards” type of match-up in which New Jersey’s Miller finds himself playing the role of gate-keeper. This fight is a big step up in competition for Chiesa and he is hopeful to earn the biggest victory of his professional mixed martial arts career. This is a very important fight for him, as it is for Miller, who looks to hold his spot as one of the best in the division. Headlining the evening’s main card will be a five round strawweight contest between a pair of Invicta veterans in “Thug” Rose Namajunas and “12 Gauge” Paige VanZant. This is one of the most aniticipated fights of the entire three card weekend. After being submitted by a third round rear naked choke against Carla Esparza in a bid for the UFC’s inaugral women’s strawweight title, “Thug” bounced back strong with a first round standing rear naked choke technical submission against fellow TUF 20 veteran Angela Hill. Meanwhile, “12 Gauge” has been dominant inside the Octagon, going 3-0 with two finishes. She will be aiming to make that 4-0 with an impressive win over Namajunas and put in her bid for a title shot. Namajunas looks to derail the VanZant hype train and throw herself into the mix for a fight with Joanna Champion. In a razor-thin division, she could make things very interesting by pulling off the upset. Regardless of the outcome, this is surely to be a scrap that leaves fans pleased. These women’s 115-pounders are expected to deliver fireworks in what will surely be the favorite to take home the evening’s ‘Fight of the Night’ bonus.
