UFC 206: Pettis, Holloway, and Fake Belts - Picks and Predictions

Oh UFC 206 how I wish I could love thee justly. But alas, your foibles loom too large, but most none of it is your fault as fighters. Don't get me wrong, as a Fight Night or a Fox card, this event is great. We have divisional relevance, the long awaited return of high level contenders, but this event is not what you call Pay-Per-View worthy. And that was all before #BeltGate. I have seen many Conor detractors relish in him being stripped of his belt. Many outcries of "well you can't hold up the division" or "he took three fights outside the weight class!" and those are all fair, but none of those factors change the simple truth that Holloway and Pettis would not be fighting for a belt if it were not for the injury of Daniel Cormier. The timing stinks. The reasoning, truly short-sighted. The real reasoning, not the perpetual lies of one Dana F. White. I get he's a promoter, but years of following this sport has made me weary of his partial truths and blatant lies. 

And now we have a late update (edit) from Doc Law himself that Mr. Tony Pettis has missed weight. Now it was REALLY worth it to strip Conor in some futile hope of salvaging this card right? A man who was 1-3 in his last four fights may have become a champion... and now he might still knock out a title challenger, but not be champion for it. Ladies and gentlemen, this is 2016.

Interim UFC Featherweight Championship

Max "Blessed" Holloway vs Anthony "Showtime" Pettis

Stay ready @blessedmma

I had some real analysis for this fight, but the recent break of Pettis missing weight and this pointless interim title fight now being a non-interim title fight... to quote Comic Book Guy, there is NO emoticon for what I feel right now. You heard it on the podcast, I am a heavy lean on Holloway from the start as he brings a power and style that I think could shutdown Pettis. Pettis is an always dangerous striker in his own right, but that post-championship skid really makes you sour on a guy. Now the weight thing. Part of me just wants the full chaos of Pettis winning so maybe, just maybe, the UFC will realize the error of their ways, but it's 2016 and I'm not meant to be happy. Holloway has been absolutely devastating since his loss to Conor, and I expect the Hawaiian tide to keep rising. Holloway by unanimous decision.

Fightin Hawaiian: Unanimous
Pretty Tony: