UFC Fight Night: Overeem vs Volkov (Preview) (Patreon)

By Carrion Toole (@powertooles)

This Saturday on February 6th, the UFC will be returning to the Apex Center in Los Vegas for a deceptively stacked Fight Night card that features long-time vet Alistair Overeem versus up and coming striker Alexander Volkov in a heavyweight main event that could be Volkov's opportunity to force his way into the title picture. Meanwhile, a win for Overeem would make him 5-1 in his last 6 fights, all of them main events. Such an impressive streak could see the old guard earning one more shot at the prize that has eluded him over his illustrious career—the UFC heavyweight title.

In the co-main event, we have one of the new stars of the bantamweight division, Cory Sandhagen, taking on the ever tenacious Frankie Edgar. Sandhagen is hoping to continue his resurgence after coming back from his first UFC loss against Aljamain Sterling to having arguably one of the best performances of his career against Marlon Moraes, stopping the latter with a wheel kick at just 1:20 of the second round. Frankie, on the other hand, is nearing the final stages of his career, but don't let that fool you into thinking this will automatically be an easy fight for Sandhagen. Edgar has had a back and forth record in his last several fights, having his previous three-fight winning streak in 2015, but he's always a dangerous fighter with the potential to upset anyone.

Elsewhere on the card, we have the debut of Manel Kape. The Angolan flyweight fighter had an exciting run in Rizin where he fought in the bantamweight division and earned victories over the likes of Ian McCall and Kai Asakura while also giving champion Kyoji Horiguchi an entertaining fight on route to a submission loss during the Rizin bantamweight tournament. Welcoming him to the UFC will be Alexandre Pantoja. A win over Kape would be quite the feather in the cap for the Brazilian. 

On top of all this is a hotly anticipated matchup between Carlos Diego Ferreira and Beneil Dariush that will determine who deserves the final spot in the lightweight division's top ten. While fight night cards have a bit of a reputation for being optional viewing for fight fans, that is certainly not the case for this one.