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14th December 2017
05:21pm GMT

That card added absolutely nothing to the general landscape of MMA. No new contenders emerged, no truths were revealed, you could remove that card from the year and it would have zero impact on the MMA world.
UFC Belem is looking dangerously close to following in Sydney's footsteps as its headliner was confirmed on Thursday. In the main event, Lyoto Machida (22-8) will take on Eryk Anders (10-0). The former UFC champion will be hoping to get back to winning ways after suffering three consecutive stoppage losses.
"The Dragon” recently returned from a two-year USADA suspension and was brutally knocked unconscious by Derek Brunson in Sao Paulo.
https://twitter.com/btsportufc/status/924646623866744832
If Anders wins, he will have beaten up a 39-year-old on a three-fight skid. Although Machida is a big name, so is Rashad Evans and neither Dan Kelly nor Sam Alvey got much of a boost from beating him.
If Machida wins, he will get a nice win on home soil, but one that doesn't matter a whole lot in the grand scheme of things.
To make matters worse, the word is Machida didn't even want to be the star of the show. MMA Fighting's Guilherme Cruz is reporting that the UFC supposedly needed to convince him to take the fight.
https://twitter.com/guicruzzz/status/941331951885148162
That's how badly they needed a main event for an already lacklustre card.Explore more on these topics: