The UFC is going to the Philippines for the first time when it holds UFC Fight Night 65, which takes place May 16 at Mall of Asia Arena in Pasay, Philippines. Here is the current card, which features a killer main event along with some other scraps featuring Asian fighters: Frankie Edgar vs. Urijah Faber The main event of UFC Fight Night 65 features a fantastic five-round featherweight battle between former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar and former WEC featherweight champion Urijah Faber. Fans have been asking for this fight for years and it’s finally here. Even though both men are older now, both are still in their prime and this is an awesome matchup on paper. Having said that, I heavily lean Edgar in this one. I like Faber a lot, but moving up a weight class to fight Edgar, who has just been tearing through the featherweight division, is a difficult task. I think Edgar is better in every aspect of the game other than submissions, and I fully expect him to get his hand raised here. It’s difficult to see Faber being too big of a dog, but I really do think Edgar should be at least a 2-to-1 favorite in this fight and possibly even higher. Kajan Johnson vs. Zhang Lipeng A lightweight bout between Kajan Johnson and Zhang Lipeng is most certainly a loser-gets-cut matchup. Johnson is a veteran of the Canadian regional circuit but seeing him get brutally knocked out by Tae Hyun Bang at UFC 174 was hard to watch. As for Lipeng, he’s coming off of a decision loss to Chris Wade, but overall he’s actually performed better than most expected. This fight could go either way, but I do lean towards Lipeng here to grind out a decision win. Jon Delos Reyes vs. Roldan Sangcha-an A flyweight bout between Jon Delos Reyes and Roldan Sangcha-an should be exciting. Reyes is 0-2 in the UFC but both of his fights, against Dustin Kimura and Kyoji Horiguchi, were both exciting. As for Sangcha-an, he lost against Richie Vaculik in his debut, but it was overall a respectable performance by him and I could see him winning this fight. It’s a close one, but I lean slightly towards Sangcha-an to get the job done. Tae Hyun Bang vs. Jon Tuck A lightweight bout between Tae Hyun Bang and Jon Tuck should be one of the best fights on the entire card. Bang looked phenomenal in his KO win over Kajan Johnson at UFC 174 while Tuck has been serviceable in the UFC, going 2-2 overall in the promotion. I do like Bang though and I think he wins this fight, and I’m just hoping we can get a good line on him. Li Jingliang vs. Roger Zapata A welterweight bout between Li Jingiang and Roger Zapata also takes place at this event. Jingliang is 1-1 in the UFC with a win over David Michaud and a loss to Nordine Taleb while Zapata will be making his official UFC debut after falling short on TUF 19. I actually really like Jingliang in this fight and I think he’ll get his hand raised at the end of 15 minutes. Nolan Ticman vs. Zhuikui Yao And finally, a flyweight bout between Nolan Ticman and Zhuikui Yao will take place at this event. Ticman lost to Frankie Saenz in his UFC debut last summer at bantamweight, while Yao lost to Royston Wee. This fight can go either way but I think you have to lean towards Ticman here, but there’s no way I would bet either fighter.
