UFC Hamburg: Shogun v Smith

UFC Hamburg: Shogun v Smith

By Dan McConnell

The UFC octagon returns to the Barclaycard Arena in Hamburg Germany this Sunday for UFC Fight Night Shogun v Smith. The event will be the second time the company has appeared in Hamburg following UFC Fight Night in September 2016 and the sixth time they have come to Germany.

The card will be headlined by former UFC Light-Heavyweight champion Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua (25-10) who is a legend of the sport. He will face Anthony Smith (29-13) who is a potential contender in the division and will look to add the former PRIDE fighter to his resume. Shogun is on a current 3-fight win streak while Smith is coming off a knockout victory over Rashad Evans.

The co-main and also a Light-Heavyweight bout features Glover Teixeira (27-6) who is currently ranked third in the division against winner of The Ultimate Fighter 19 in Corey Anderson (10-4). This bout is interesting for positional ranking change within the division as champion Daniel Cormier seems unlikely to drop back down to 205 pounds from Heavyweight.

Also on the card Marcin Tybura (16-4) faces Stefan Struve (28-10) in a fight where both men are looking to shake off their 2-fight loosing skids to get back to winning ways within the Heavyweight division. Tybura has always been seen as a possible contender within the division while Struve is a UFC veteran that is no easy man to take down, he is 7-foot tall which always adds an extra challenge for his opponents to overcome.

It is a fight night that offers many fighters the opportunity to get back in the win column including Tybura, Struve, Marc Diakiese and Emil Meek who are all coming off losses.

Main-Event
Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua v Anthony Smith

Co-Main Event
Glover Teixeira v Corey Anderson

Main-Card
Vitor Miranda v Abu Azaitar
Marcin Tybura v Stefan Struve
Danny Roberts v David Zawada
Nasrat Haqparast v Marc Diakiese

Prelims
Nick Hein v Damir Hadzovic
Emil Meek v Bartosz Fabinski
Khalid Taha v Nad Narimani
Justin Ledet v Aleksandar Rakic

Fight Pass Prelims
Davey Grant v Manny Bermudez
Jeremy Kimball v Darko Stosic
Damian Stasiak v Liu Pingyuan