LAS VEGAS — Although Ronda Rousey should draw in plenty of casual fans for UFC 207 despite her refusal to promote her comeback fight, there's no shortage of intriguing reasons for MMA aficionados to check out the final card of the year.
Men's bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz and unbeaten challenger Cody Garbrandt have put on a promotional show heading into their own title fight in the co-main event at UFC 207 on Friday (Saturday, Manila time).
The loquacious Cruz (22-1) has cleverly taunted his increasingly irritated opponent, culminating in a thoroughly entertaining joint interview on Wednesday and a subsequent staredown that required UFC President Dana White to break them apart. Garbrandt (10-0) then got into a brief physical altercation with Cruz's teammate, Jeremy Stephens, at the weigh-in.
Cruz relishes the chance to beat another fighter from the Team Alpha Male camp in Northern California.
"None of those guys have a clue what to do with me," Cruz said. "He's going to figure that out after the first round when he's in there punching, he's in there missing. He's looking to land that big punch he's landed on everybody else, and I'm gone. I'm a ghost. I'm not there."
UFC 207 also includes former bantamweight champion T.J. Dillashaw against Brazil's John Lineker, and former welterweight champion Johny Hendricks, who missed weight, against rising star Neil Magny.