The Australians and New Zealanders will probably remember the UFC 284 fight card for the sheer number of representatives from both regions entering the event. From the title fight to the bottom of the roster, it’s a celebration of many fighters from the Aussie and Kiwi ethnicity. Now Tyson Pedro will get a chance to do his people proud after he gets a shot against Zhang Mingyang.
Pedro is currently 9-3 in his MMA career while his opponent is looking to make his debut for the UFC with 16-6 record in his previous MMA bouts. Before making the big return in 2022, Tyson was going through a three and a half year layoff from the organization. He made a strong statement with his comeback as he defeated both Ike Villanuev and Harry Hunsucker with first round KOs.
Mingyang is no slouch either as he is currently on a nine-fight long win streak. For his bout against George Tokkos under the Road to UFC banner, the Chinese scored a brutal first round KO. In fact, all 16 of his wins have come in the very first round.
Why is the UFC 284 Fight Card significant?
UFC 284 presents us with a very unique match up and a super rare opportunity. Alexander ‘The Great’ Volkanovski currently holds the number one position in the pound-for-pound rankings while Islam Makhachev holds the second place. It’s super rare that the top two position holders in the P4P rankings get to duke it out to see who is the best and have a potential two division championship on the line.
While talking with Michael Bisping, the Aussie champion said, “No disrespect to them, but that’s why this fight is so big to me. It’s the Dagestani wrestling, no one can figure this out, they’re on a roll and all that.”
He also added, “Khabib’s there. Islam, what he’s been doing his last few fights. All that. I was chasing the champ-champ, that’s what motivated me before I knew who I was fighting. As soon as Islam won and the people talked, something was just like, bang, that’s all that I cared about is taking out Islam”
UFC 284 is scheduled for February 12, 2023.
