UFC 184 will take place tomorrow night from the Staples Center in Los Angeles, California and will be headlined by Ronda Rousey defending the UFC women’s bantamweight title against Cat Zingano.
In addition to the title fight in the main event, the co-main event will also be a women’s bantamweight bout as Holly Holm makes her UFC debut against Ultimate Fighter alum Raquel Pennington.
The fight card will kickoff with the Fight Pass prelims at 7 p.m. ET/4 p.m. PT and the televised preliminary card on Fox Sports 1 will have four fights beginning at 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT. Following the conclusion of the prelims, the main card will start at 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT on pay-per-view with Mike Goldberg and Joe Rogan calling the fights.
Take a look at the five biggest questions heading into tonight’s fight card.
1. Can Cat Zingano end the title reign of Ronda Rousey?
When I think of UFC 184, the only fight that immediate comes to mind is the main event. It’s always a special fight card when the best women’s mixed martial artist is fighting and that is Ronda Rousey. For the second time in her UFC career, she will face an undefeated fighter and this time it’s Cat Zingano.
This matchup was scheduled to take place over a year ago but a knee injury forced Zingano out of the fight. She came back to the UFC this past September and after getting off to a slow start, she scored a victory. She can not get off to a slow start against Rousey to have a shot at becoming the new champion. While she is a big underdog on the betting lines, many people believe she has a good shot.
2. How will Holly Holm preform in her UFC debut?
Just like an injury delayed Zingano from facing Rousey, an injury delayed the UFC debut for Holly Holm. The former boxing champion has made a successful transition into mixed martial arts and she will now meet Raquel Pennington in the co-main event. Initially, they were scheduled to meet at UFC 181, but an injury forced Holm out of the event and Pennington went on to defeat Ashlee Evans-Smith by submission.
We all know that Holm is a great standup fighter and she has shown in previous mixed martial arts bouts that she can end the fight by kicks. While she will want to keep it on the feet, Pennington will likely want to take the fight to the ground. If Holm has an impressive performance, she could be next for Rousey if she gets pass Zingano.
3. Will this be the last UFC fight for Ellenberger or Koscheck?
When you think about veterans of the UFC welterweight division, Jake Ellenberger and Josh Koscheck are two fighters that come to mind. Koscheck made his debut in UFC during the inaugural season of The Ultimate Fighter in 2005 and Ellenberger entered the UFC in 2009.
Both fighter enter this fight on a three fight losing streak and it’s a very small number of fighters will get another fight in the UFC after losing four in a row. Both of them have been stopped in their last two fights and it’s likely that one of them will be released from their UFC contract with a stoppage defeat.
4. Is the sleeper pick for Fight of the Night, Ferguson vs. Tibau?
The opening bout of the main card on pay-per-view will be a lightweight bout between Ultimate Fighter winner Tony Ferguson and UFC veteran Gleison Tibau. Initially, Ferguson was scheduled to face Mederios. However, an injury forced Mederios out and Tibau stepped up on less than thirty days to meet Ferguson.
Personally, I think this fight has the potential to be the fight of the night. Not saying it will be, but I think it has a good chance. Tibau has won three fights in a row and he won the fight of the night bonus in one of those victories. Of course, I do wonder if the short notice fight will have an effect on Tibau since he cuts a lot of weight to make lightweight.
5. Can Mark Munoz avoid his third defeat in a row?
In the main event of the preliminary card, “The Filipino Wrecking Machine” Mark Munoz returns and he will meet Roan Carneiro. Munoz enters the fight with back to back defeats and has only scored one victory in his last four fights. His last defeat came in May of last year as he was submitted for the first time in his career by Gegard Mousasi.
He will be facing a man that is returning to the UFC and has won seven of eight fights outside of the UFC in Carneiro. His last three wins came in a one-night welterweight tournament at BattleGrounds MMA 5. Munoz wants to be on the Philippines card in May and for that to happen, he needs a quick victory over Carneiro.