Fights on Tap is a weekly roundup of all the fights booked in the UFC, Bellator and other promotions.
We have a big pay-per-view event on Saturday. UFC 286 features the trilogy between welterweights Leon Edwards and Kamaru Usman in the headliner, while a potential No. 1 contender at lightweight in Justin Gaethje vs. Rafael Fiziev goes down in the co-headliner. But before we can get to that event, let’s take a look at what we have ahead of us on the upcoming schedule.
The UFC either announced or finalized six fights this week, and the reigning bantamweight champion has his next defense set.
Contracts are officially signed for Aljamain Sterling vs. Henry Cejudo! The much-anticipated bantamweight championship fight is headlining UFC 288, the upcoming pay-per-view event scheduled for May 6 at the Prudential Center in Newark, New Jersey.
Following his second-round TKO of T.J. Dillashaw at UFC 280 this past October, Sterling pivoted to Cejudo, who was expected to return to competition after a nearly three-year retirement. However, the fight would get postponed, as the ‘Funk Master’ underwent stem cell treatment to help with a bicep injury. Now recovered, Sterling has confirmed his next defense against Cejudo. ’Triple C’ has not fought since defeating Dominick Cruz by second-round TKO at UFC 249.
UFC 286 — March 18
Lerone Murphy vs. Gabriel Santos — featherweight (First rep. by Marcel Dorff of Eurosport Nederland)
UFC San Antonio — March 25
Tamires Vidal vs. Hailey Cowan — women’s bantamweight (First rep. by Nolan King of MMA Junkie)
UFC 288 — May 6
Kron Gracie vs. Charles Jourdain — featherweight
Nate Maness vs. Zhalgas Zhumagulov — flyweight
Aljamain Sterling vs. Henry Cejudo — bantamweight (First rep. by Sterling on The Weekly Scraps podcast)
UFC Fight Night — June 3
Mayra Bueno Silva vs. Miesha Tate — women’s bantamweight (First rep. by Dama de Ferro MMA)
Announced Bellator fights:
Bellator 295 — April 22
Kyoji Horiguchi vs. Ray Borg — flyweight (First rep. by Brett Okamoto of ESPN and later confirmed by Drake Riggs of MMA Mania)
Announced Professional Fighters League (PFL) fights:
PFL Newcastle — March 25
Dakota Ditcheva vs. Malin Hermansson — women’s flyweight
PFL 3 (2023 Regular Season) — April 14
Oliveira Aubin-Mercier vs. Shane Burgos — lightweight
Sadibou Sy vs. Jarrah Al Silwai — welterweight
Natan Schulte vs. Stevie Ray — lightweight
Raush Manfio vs. Alexander Martinez — lightweight
Shane Mitchell vs. TBA — welterweight
Abdul-Aziz Abdulvakhabov vs. Ahmed Amir — lightweight
Clay Collard vs. Yamato Nishikawa — lightweight
Magomed Magomedkerimov vs. Don Madge — welterweight
Carlos Leal vs. David Zawada — welterweight
Magomed Umalatov vs. Dilano Taylor — welterweight
Announced Cage Warriors fights:
Cage Warriors 151 — March 24
Agy Sardari vs. Samuel Blasco — lightweight
Cage Warriors 153 — April 29
Taka Mhandu vs. Benoit Blanc — bantamweight
Cage Warriors 154 — May 6
Dylan Hazan vs. Caolan Loughran — bantamweight
Leon Aliu vs. Darren Stewart — middleweight
Announced Invicta FC fights:
Invicta FC 52 — March 15
Calie Cutler vs. Mayra Cantuária — women’s bantamweight
Diana Sanchez vs. Kendra McIntyre — women’s catchweight (120 lbs.)
Announced KSW fights:
KSW 80 — March 17
Wojciech Kazieczko vs. Danu Tarchila — featherweight
Kamil Szkaradek vs. Przemysław Górny — bantamweight
Michał Michalski vs. Giorgi Kvelidze — middleweight
Emilia Czerwińska vs. Yasmin Guimarães — women’s flyweight
KSW 81 — April 22
Marcin Krakowiak vs. Henry Fadipe — middleweight
KSW 83 — June 3
Mariusz Pudzianowski vs. Artur Szpilka — heavyweight
Reserve your user name for the new Bloody Elbow before April 1, 2023. Go here for more details (link).
About the author
