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On July 10th, the biggest MMA promotion in the world will host UFC 264 at the T-Mobile Arena. The event will be headlined by a trilogy fight between Dustin Poirier and Conor McGregor.
The fight is going to be a huge selling point going into the promotion of the event, and though we do get the third installment of this historic rivalry, there are plenty of other fighters on this card that are worth tuning in for.
We get appearances from plenty of names worth mentioning, such as Kevin Lee, Carlos Condit, Brad Tavares, and Greg Hardy, as well as up-and-coming fighters such as Sean Brady and Sean O'Malley, and even former title contenders in Gilbert Burns and Stephen Thompson.
As we wait anxiously for this third encounter between the two future Hall-of-Famers, the night features plenty of other bouts before the main event that are sure to be interesting and fun to watch.
On that note, let's look at five fights to watch other than the main event at UFC 264.
#5. Jessica Eye vs. Jennifer Maia
Surprisingly enough, the UFC opted to feature this bout on the early preliminary card, which is perhaps a testament to the quality of fights on the entire card. No.4-ranked women's flyweight Jennifer Maia is coming off a high-profile loss to UFC flyweight champ Valentina Shevchenko in November 2020 at UFC 255.
Meanwhile, No.7-ranked Jessica Eye, who has lost three of her last four bouts since unsuccessfully challenging Shevchenko two years ago, is looking to win against Maia.
The winner of the bout is sure to win a title eliminator match against either No.1-ranked Jessica Andrade or No.2-ranked Katlyn Chookagian.
#4. Sean Brady vs. Kevin Lee
'The Motown Phenom' is back after over a year away from the octagon following his loss to current UFC lightweight champion Charles Oliveira.
Kevin Lee recently announced his decision to move up to welterweight and will take on undefeated submission specialist Sean Brady in a bout on the preliminary card. Brady is ranked number fourteen in the division.
Sean Brady, making his fifth UFC appearance, takes on his biggest name to date. The welterweight has been tearing through the bottom end of the division since he started with the promotion in October 2019.
With a win against a former lightweight title contender in Kevin Lee, it would only be a matter of time before Brady begins making his way into the top ten of the welterweight division.
#3. Niko Price vs. Michel Pereira
If you want non-stop action, with unbelievable athleticism, ninja moves, and two savages going at it, look no further than Niko 'The Hybrid' Price taking on Michel 'Demolidor' Pereira.
For first-time watchers of the UFC, even though both Price and Pereira are not household names, you can expect these two men to captivate your attention with the exciting styles they bring.
Should the fight stay on the feet, the advantage would go to Price, but should Pereira take the fight to the ground, it gets interesting.
#2. Sean O'Malley vs Louis Smolka
'Sugar' Sean O'Malley is back once again to put together another highlight for every fan that loves knockouts. It is fairly obvious that UFC is grooming O'Malley to be one of its next stars by feeding O'Malley very light competition. But as we saw with Marlon Vera, O'Malley is not unbeatable.
Louis Smolka has won three of his last five fights; two of those wins came via TKO on punches and one by submission. Even though Smolka isn't a high-level competitor, the UFC veteran has the ability to end the night on a moment's notice.
#1. UFC 264 co-main event; Gilbert Burns vs Stephen Thompson
In a very fun and intriguing co-main event, we have two former welterweight title challengers clashing for the right to get closer to another title opportunity. Gilbert Burns was last seen in a losing effort against UFC welterweight champ Kamaru Usman back at UFC 258 in February.
Meanwhile, Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson enters the octagon for the first time in 2021, with his last appearance being a win against Geoff Neal.
With Thompson being 38, it's safe to say he desperately needs to win this fight as his window is closing much faster. He previously failed to capture UFC gold in 2016 and 2017. It should be fun to see if Burns can impose his style of striking and jiu-jitsu on Thompson's tricky kickboxing.
What fights on the card are you interested in? Give us your answers in the comment section and be sure to tell us why!
