The UFC heavyweight title is on the line in the main event of the promotions first trip to Cleveland, with hometown champion Stipe Miocic defending it for the first time against former Strikeforce champion Alistair Overeem. Both fighters are coming off of impressive knockout victories, and the key statistical comparisons listed below could be the difference this Saturday.Each fighter has his strengths and weaknesses, but if the numbers are any indication, this could be a tight one to call.WrestlingBecause Miocic comes from a wrestling background, including collegiately at Cleveland State, many expect him to try to take the fight to the ground and dominate. While he did take down Mark Hunt six times and landed a record number of strikes in their match, he has not attempted a takedown in his past two fights. Miocic attempts 2.09 takedowns per 15 minutes, but he lands only 34 percent of these attempts. On the other hand, Overeem attempts a similar number of takedowns per 15 minutes (1.65) and lands at a much higher percentage (65 percent). Both fighters have respectable takedown defense: Miocic stops 72 percent, and Overeem stops 77 percent, so there is a very good chance that this fight will remain a standing affair.Striking AccuracyOvereem is the most accurate striker in UFC history. In the Octagon, he has landed 75 percent of his significant strikes, which is far and away the best. The second-most accurate fighter in UFC history, Trevor Smith, has landed 63 percent of his strikes. Miocic is an extremely accurate striker in his own right, landing 50 percent of his significant strikes, and he has been the more accurate fighter in nine of his 11 bouts under the UFC banner. This will be a big test for Miocic, because well see how he deals with someone who is even more accurate than himself.Striking DifferentialBoth fighters land an impressive number of significant strikes per minute. Miocic has the advantage, landing 4.93 per minute compared with Overeems 3.81 per minute. In terms of striking differential, however, Overeem takes the edge; on a per-minute basis, The Reem lands 2.12 significant strikes more than his opponents,compared with a 1.62 differential for Miocic. Defensively, Miocic has allowed opponents to land 3.31 significant strikes per minute, which is fifth-worst among ranked heavyweights. Both fighters throw a lot of strikes, but Overeem has shown the better defense over the course of his career. If the bout turns into a firefight, Overeem could end up getting the better of these exchanges.Average Fight TimeAs a championship fight, this bout is scheduled for 25 minutes. A longer fight appears to favor Miocic, considering his average fight time of 10:26 is much longer than Overeems 6:24. The champion has fought into the championship rounds only twice, however, and he has experienced mixed results in those extra two rounds. He lost via decision against Junior dos Santos in 2014, but defeated Hunt in the fifth round in 2015. Overeem has never fought past Round 3 in his career. His longest fight came in 2005, when he dropped a 20-minute decision to Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at Pride 29. Miocic is 3-1 in fights that go to decision, and Overeem is 4-3. Wholesale Air Max From China . -- Catcher Brett Hayes has agreed to a $630,000, one-year contract with the Kansas City Royals, avoiding salary arbitration. Air Max Free Shipping Online . One game after a miserable showing in Oklahoma City, Gay tied a career high with 41 points and the Sacramento Kings cruised to a 114-97 victory at the New Orleans Pelicans on Tuesday night. http://www.cheapairmaxshoesfreeshipping.com/ . -- Vincent Lecavalier got everything but the desired result in his return to Tampa Bay. Wholesale Air Max Shoes . Batiste, who briefly signed with the Eskimos in 2006, has spent time with several NFL teams including the Pittsburgh Steelers and Washington Redskins. Cheap Air Max Free Shipping . Kozun faked to the forehand and beat Monsters starter, Calvin Pickard, pad side in the second round for the winner. Spencer Abbott also scored in the shootout for the Marlies (25-13-4). NEW YORK -- NBCs plans for the Olympics in Rio over the next two weeks define the term exhaustive.The network, its cable sisters and Olympics website plan 6,755 hours of coverage through the Aug. 21 closing ceremonies in Rio de Janeiro. Obsessive fans have plenty of viewing options, since every Olympic competition will be available live online along with the popular events airing in prime time on NBC.That includes Fridays opening ceremony, which is oddly being aired via tape delay despite Rio being only one hour ahead of Eastern time in the U.S.Bob Costas is the prime-time host for his 11th Olympics, and his continuity defines NBCs coverage. While there are new wrinkles every year -- Ryan Seacrest hosts a new late-night show, Mike Tirico joins from ESPN -- the NBC playbook and personnel remain very consistent. NBCs 170-member broadcast team includes a stable of former athletes, including swimmer Rowdy Gaines, gymnast Tim Daggett and diver Laura Wilkinson, that has combined for 59 Olympic medals.NBC executives strongly believe in how they cover the Olympics, particularly the menu of sports offered on the network each night, and consider the events ratings strength is a public endorsement. The company paid $1.2 billion for the broadcast rights.The opening ceremony will be delayed an hour before being shown on NBC because the network wants the entertainment spectacle, which was seen by 40.7 million people in 2012, to be shown completely in U.S. prime time. NBC was also reportedly upset that because the Portugese language is being used for the parade of nations, the U.S. team (or Estados Unidos) will file into the stadium relatively early.In what is becoming an Olympics tradition, the run-up to the games was filled with foreboding stories: the Zika virus, polluted water, security concerns. HBOs Real Sports aired a thorough investigation last month into the International Olympic Committee and demands placed on host countries, but dont expect something similar on NBC.The network plans to address many of the issues unique to Rio early, perhaps in a one-hour preview scheduled for Thursday night, but will turn to the competition unless something unusual happens.I think when people are tuning in to watch the Olympics, theyll want to watch the Olympics, said Jim Bell, executive producer of NBCs Olympicss coverage.dddddddddddd.Unlike previous Summer Games in Europe, Asia and Australia, the Rio games provide NBC a favorable time zone allowing it to televise many events live in swimming and track and field. With only a few exceptions, those sports -- along with gymnastics and volleyball -- get virtually all of the attention on NBCs prime-time broadcast.The rest of the sports are spread across 10 other networks, many with particular specialties.The Golf Channel, for example, concentrates on the Olympic return of its namesake sport. NBC executives expressed disappointment that several of the worlds top golfers, including Jason Day, Dustin Johnson, Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy, are staying away from the event because of concerns about the Zika virus, and suggested theyd someday regret it.Bravo will be the Olympic home of tennis. NBC is also setting up speciality channels for both basketball and soccer, although those sports will also be shown on other networks.The NBC Sports cable network will be the busiest, airing 330 hours of Olympics programming covering 20 sports. On most days of the games, NBCSN will air Olympics coverage from 8 a.m. to midnight. Other coverage will be spread around CNBC, MSNBC and USA. Telemundo and NBC Universo will narrate events in Spanish, focusing on sports and athletes popular in Latin America.NBC, which likes to use the Olympics as a laboratory for new technology and ideas, will also distribute 83 hours of coverage in the 4K Ultra HD format.Once again, the NBC Olympics website offers live streams of every competition. To access this material, a customer must validate an account with a cable or satellite provider.The attention speaks to the huge economic opportunity the games provide NBC in a fragmented media world. NBC is betting, and in fact has advertised the Olympics, on the idea that viewers can use a pick-me-up from a drumbeat of bad news.Theres been a lot of tough things going on in the world, Bell said. I think it will be nice, fingers crossed, if we can have a couple of weeks to give people something to cheer about.---Follow David Bauder at twitter.com/dbauder. His work can be found at http://bigstory.ap.org/content/david-bauder ' ' '
