Packed with nine prelims, the UFC 329 undercard has its own fair amount of intrigue.
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Robert Whittaker had one of the most successful moves up in weight class of all time, so it makes sense he'd try that trick again, as he's now up at light heavyweight against Nikita Krylov in the featured spot. Right below that, former Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson makes his UFC debut; he gets a layup of a matchup and is still quite raw, but provides some much-needed fresh blood at heavyweight. Past that is a solid mix of well-matched action, even if there's not clearly much in the way of immediate stakes; Adrian Yanez should make for a fun matchup against former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, and a flyweight bout between Tracy Cortez and Cong ******* could put the winner in position for a big fight with a strong performance.
Light Heavyweights
Odds: Whittaker (-148), Krylov (+124)
Whittaker's move up to middleweight paid off more than anyone could've imagined, so it's understandable that he'd want to try things up at light heavyweight, even if it might not work at this point in his career. Australia's "Reaper" won the one-off “TUF: Smashes” season that pitted Australia against England, and he kicked off his UFC career as a fairly anonymous welterweight, splitting his first four fights before an eventual move up to 185 pounds in 2014. It immediately became apparent that Whittaker made the right move; his boxing popped more than ever with his newfound speed advantage, and his increased cardio made him an absolute terror in terms of overwhelming his opponents -- if he didn't simply just knock them out in short order. Years 2015 and 2016 saw Whittaker begin to stand out as one of the UFC's first stars in the Oceanic region, and a breakthrough win in 2017 over Ronaldo Souza made it apparent that Whittaker could be champion sooner rather than later; that fight saw him break out a high-level wrestling game for the first time, essentially leaving him as a fighter with no clear weaknesses, even at a high level.
Whittaker was indeed clearly the best 185-pound fighter in the world within a year, but he never got the true coronation he deserved, owing to a streak of bad luck. Whittaker won an interim ******* le over Yoel Romero, but never wound up getting a unification bout; Georges St-Pierre came out of retirement to beat champion Michael Bisping and eventually retired rather than face Whittaker, who was simply named the now-undisputed champ. Whittaker also never got his big return home as a conquering hero; cards in Australia were built around Whittaker ******* le defenses against Luke Rockhold and Kelvin Gastelum, only for Whittaker to pull out due to injury before each fight, including a career-threatening hernia hours before the Gastelum bout. By the time Whittaker got his first ******* le defense on Australian soil, it came against New Zealand's Israel Adesanya, who had clearly stole
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship middleweight champion Robert Whittaker had one of the most successful moves up in weight class of all time, so it makes sense he'd try that trick again, as he's now up at light heavyweight against Nikita Krylov in the featured spot. Right below that, former Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson makes his UFC debut; he gets a layup of a matchup and is still quite raw, but provides some much-needed fresh blood at heavyweight. Past that is a solid mix of well-matched action, even if there's not clearly much in the way of immediate stakes; Adrian Yanez should make for a fun matchup against former bantamweight champion Cody Garbrandt, and a flyweight bout between Tracy Cortez and Cong ******* could put the winner in position for a big fight with a strong performance.
Light Heavyweights
Odds: Whittaker (-148), Krylov (+124)
Whittaker's move up to middleweight paid off more than anyone could've imagined, so it's understandable that he'd want to try things up at light heavyweight, even if it might not work at this point in his career. Australia's "Reaper" won the one-off “TUF: Smashes” season that pitted Australia against England, and he kicked off his UFC career as a fairly anonymous welterweight, splitting his first four fights before an eventual move up to 185 pounds in 2014. It immediately became apparent that Whittaker made the right move; his boxing popped more than ever with his newfound speed advantage, and his increased cardio made him an absolute terror in terms of overwhelming his opponents -- if he didn't simply just knock them out in short order. Years 2015 and 2016 saw Whittaker begin to stand out as one of the UFC's first stars in the Oceanic region, and a breakthrough win in 2017 over Ronaldo Souza made it apparent that Whittaker could be champion sooner rather than later; that fight saw him break out a high-level wrestling game for the first time, essentially leaving him as a fighter with no clear weaknesses, even at a high level.
Whittaker was indeed clearly the best 185-pound fighter in the world within a year, but he never got the true coronation he deserved, owing to a streak of bad luck. Whittaker won an interim ******* le over Yoel Romero, but never wound up getting a unification bout; Georges St-Pierre came out of retirement to beat champion Michael Bisping and eventually retired rather than face Whittaker, who was simply named the now-undisputed champ. Whittaker also never got his big return home as a conquering hero; cards in Australia were built around Whittaker ******* le defenses against Luke Rockhold and Kelvin Gastelum, only for Whittaker to pull out due to injury before each fight, including a career-threatening hernia hours before the Gastelum bout. By the time Whittaker got his first ******* le defense on Australian soil, it came against New Zealand's Israel Adesanya, who had clearly stole
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